A few weeks ago, NTV courtesy of one John Allan Namu exposed
us to a shocking reality about a tiny alcohol brewery inside the dingy filthy
slums of Korogocho where alcohol is ‘sweetened’ with ARVs and formalin.
In a gripping documentary titled Sisters of Death, NTV peeled back the mask on a booming alcohol business
by HIV positive women in Korogocho slums who use their ARVs to make alcohol for
sale.
If it were not for the always inquisitive Allan Namu, maybe
we would never have known that ARVs can act as an ingredient for alcohol. With their
super Einstein brains, no scientist in the world had figured this out except
for a few ‘geniuses’ in the poverty-stricken Korogocho slums.
It is said that these industrious women bumped on this
knwoledge after some of them complained of feeling drowsy and a little tipsy
after taking the ARV tablets (the same effect alcohol has on its faithfuls). They
decided to experiment with the drugs and voila! The alcohol was sweeter and
addictive too!
This they say has attracted more customers who claim that
the quality of their alcohol has improved, and they can now go home drunk and
staggering than ever. And the profit is awesome!
Even at a time that donors have threatened to withdraw
funding on HIV/AIDS in Kenya, the women from Korogocho apparently do not think
that ARVs are such a big deal to HIV+ victims. Instead of using the tablets to
prolong their lives, they would rather crush them to powder and mix in alcohol.
Most HIV + victims can attest that it is always hard if not
impossible to obtain ARVs, because they have to hop from one clinic to the next
in search of the wonder drug that is their only hope of a longer life.
And so it is an absolute criminality that somewhere in
Korogocho, is a secret business of ARV misuse where women are intentionally endangering
the lives of their unsuspecting customers by lacing alcohol with ARVs and
formalin.
Formalin was intended for only one purpose, to preserve dead
bodies in morgues and not to preserve the drunken living.
This special brew is then packaged into clean bottles where
each bottle is branded in popular brand names together with real stickers and
seals which the women obtain by stealing, after which they hit the market fast
to rival other major legitimate breweries.
This is proof that the next time you are out shopping for a
bottle of liquor, you can never be too sure if it the true brand or it is made
in Korogocho.
It is high time the drinking population became vigilant
because our Chinese brothers have taught us that looks can be deceptive; just because
it is written on the sticker doesn’t make it original.
This chilling revelation has left many perturbed with a few
of my friends swearing to stop taking alcohol, which I know can never work
because they have “been there, done that” several times but I still find them
sitting at a bar table licking the alcohol from their fingers.
The effects this alcohol has on its consumers is yet to be
known as NACADA has ordered tests to
ascertain its possible effects on human life, and we sure hope it is not tragic
because Kenya has already lost so many due to illicit brew.
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