There was a spectacle to behold in Dago, a sleepy village in Nyamasaria area in Kisumu County, after an enraged woman stormed her daughter-in-law’s house and attacked her using human waste.

This was after the daughter-in-law, only identified as Akinyi, used the privacy of her mother-in-law’s house to relive herself in a plastic bag, but forgot to dispose the waste.

The area is said to be facing a serious water and sanitation crisis and most locals still relieve themselves in bushes, exposing river Nyamasaria to pollution.

However, for fear of stewing in the indignity of queuing to use the bush, getting busted defecating or attacked and raped, most girls and women poop in plastic bags in the privacy of their houses then dispose the dung in nearby aforementioned river.

On this day, for unexplained reason, Akinyi used the privacy of her mother-in-law’s house to relieve herself, but never cleared her mess. When her mother-in-law, a grocer at a nearby market, returned in the evening, she found her house stinking, yet she had left it in good condition.

Upon a thorough scrutiny, the aging woman stumbled upon a plastic bag with poop, hidden in the corner of her living room.

Without much ado, she grabbed the plastic bag and made a beeline for her daughter-in-law’s house — the probable culprit, seeing as she is the only one who accesses the house during the day.

“Ng’a manikaa? Apenjo ni ng’aa manikaa? (Who is here? I ask who is here?),” shouted the furious granny, as she busted through the door. She pelted her with the excrement, whilst demanding to know why she did such a smelly poo in her house and never bothered to dispose it.

Cordial relationship

“Nyisa gimoniya inyalo pielo miwe chieth madum malich ni e oda (Why did you do such a smelly poo and left it in my house)? Hissed the mother-in-law. “Ofuwa ni. Ere kaka inyalo pielo e juala tiketo na e ot. Ichaya achaya manade! (You fool. How can you relieve yourself in a plastic bag and keep it in my house? This is very disrespectful of you),” she yelled angrily.

A verbal combat ensued, attracting neigbours who brokered peace between the two women. The cordial relationship they previously enjoyed now hangs in the balance, considering they no longer talk to one another.

Following the incident, locals appealed to authorities to build toilets in the area.

“People around here always complain of their clothes smelling human waste, especially after washing them in the river,” said Ken Oluoch, a resident, adding that River Nyamasaria is regularly polluted by locals who bathe, and at times relive themselves in it.