Boniface Mwangi holds 'Form Ni Gani' exhibition on sex education

Boniface Mwangi’s “Form Ni Gani”, a crusade that let’s Kenyans know of their rights under the Constitution, has put up an exhibition in front of the Kenya National Archives on Moi Avenue, Nairobi.

The exhibition contains photos of more than 60 people of either sexes from different backgrounds, religions, counties and occupations, who Boniface talked to about where they got their initial information on sex from. The subjects were sampled over a three-week period.

LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX

“Form Ni Gani” (translates to “what’s the plan?”) is a movement by “young creatives”, which emphasises having a plan about one’s life; in this case, what’s your plan in having or starting a family?

Boniface said the movement aims at protecting young people’s futures by making them plan their sex life and/or when to have children, just like one plans their finances.

“The Constitution’s Health Act, Section 6 says reproductive health is a right but most people don’t know about this part. If I’m a man I should be able to get a pill, condoms or vasectomy at a public hospital. If I’m a woman I should also be able to get a coil, Depo Provera injection or implants from the same,” says Boniface.

The topic of the exhibition “How did you know about sex?” was stemmed from Boniface’s realisation that parents are not giving out information on sex. As a result, many adolescents seek this information from their peers, house helps, pornographic material or older siblings.

“Some people had been told sex is of the devil, others that it’s always best to have sex, and some that if you have sex you will get HIV. Sex is a taboo subject and there’s a lot of misconception about it. This exhibition is meant to get people to talk about these things,” he said.

RESPONSIBILITY

He said the exhibition aims at talking about the future of Kenya, because with planning all the resources of the country can be managed accordingly.

The population has been growing exponentially since the country’s independence, but are people planning for this growth or just rolling along with it?

The crowds gathered at the exhibition were curious to learn people’s stories, even though the general public is shy about telling their stories.

“When I asked them when they first learned about sex, they thought I was asking them when they first had sex and would decline to talk to me. When I clarified the question then they would open up.

“Most of the respondents said they learned it from their peers. As a father, it called on me to take up the responsibility to talk about sex to my three children; it’s not the work of the television, pastors, or a film board,” said Boniface.

He noted that in some communities even the word ‘sex’ is forbidden. Quoting Kingwa Kamencu, Boniface said: “Sex is all about pleasure. Yes, you can have this pleasure but you have to be of a particular age to get involved in it with someone else and you have to know the repercussions of having sex. People who know their rights are more empowered and will most likely make the right decisions.”

When the campaign was being launched, he had men put on prosthetics to depict pregnancy. And even during the football tournament they held on April 28 and 29, male players had to wear these costumes while playing, because men are the ones who have sex a lot without worrying about what happens afterwards.

UNPLANNED PREGNANCIES

Unplanned pregnancies many times weigh down women and he thought this provocative artistic presentation would get men more involved in family planning.

However, the crowd’s reaction to the photos, the stories and the whole topic in general has been different.

Mr Kamau, a 70-year-old man, said: “I think the message is good, but if you’re not conversant with Sheng then you won’t know what “Form Ni Gani” means.

“Some people are pulled by photos of attractive people then that’s when they read and find out what it’s all about. Some of them don’t even bother to read because the fonts are so small and the text looks long.  If they just took punchlines from what the people said it would have made the fonts easier, been more provocative and caused further engagement.”

Ibrahim Muyonga, a third-year Pharmacy student at Kenya Medical Training College and a volunteer at the exhibition, said they had to give a clearer picture of what the stories are about to the audiences.

“Some people are really against the topic of planning your family, some claim the population is actually reducing so this shouldn’t be an issue. They start saying that even the holy books order that we fill the earth, and I ask them whether we were told to do it without a plan.

“So it becomes really debatable, although I tell them that in some families having another child means forfeiting certain meals for the day for those people.”

Some asked for the stories to be longer so that they could learn more about exactly how certain people, later in life, overcame the misinformation they had heard about sex. It is an exhibition worth checking out for yourself.

The exhibition runs until the end of the week before the team moves to Bungoma next week for a concert, boda boda race and another exhibition.