“Pesa Inaweza Kukuita Uirudishe Mahali Uliitoa” Here Is What Always Happen In Mombasa

In Dandora, I had a neighbor from the Coast who used to tell us stories about certain creatures that roamed the streets of Mombasa at night. These creatures were typically very beautiful women, but they had one flaw: they had hooves instead of feet. As such, they would usually be dressed in very long dresses to hide their feet. These were the hoofwomen. Yaani, Warembo wa Makwato.

She used to say that these ladies were so beautiful, you could not resist their charm. The only caveat was that you should never, under any circumstances, look at their feet, because once you discovered their secret, you were done. Run and hide behind closed doors, it didn’t matter. They would unlock the door just as if it was open.

The last thing you would hear were the hooves approaching your room.. closer, and closer, and closer.

She used to tell us that you can’t hit a Mombasa street cat or collect money on the streets too. She used to say pesa inaweza kuita usiku uirudishe mahali uliokota.

She used to tell us if anyone wronged her, she would visit her coastal village for a few days…..

Do you believe in jinis? Ama these were just fairy tales she used to scare us with because she had beautiful daughters?

She used to jokingly tell us, “msichana wangu ukila kumuoa sio tafadhali!”