The birth of David (not his real name) was regarded as an evil omen. Aged barely three weeks old, his mother shoved him into a dusty sack of iron nails and dumped him at a construction site at Marereni village in Kilifi, leaving him to the elements.
The reasons for his mother’s decision to shove him inside the sack are a subject of conjecture. Maybe she left him behind to suffocate or to be rescued by a well-wisher. David was born intersex in 2021.
According to Mzee Tsuma Nzai, a Kaya elder and custodian of the Mijikenda traditions at Magarini Cultural Centre, intersex children are considered a 'kijego' meaning a curse in the populous community of the Coast.