I HAD TO USE TISSUES AND COTTON WOOL WHEN I STARTED MY PERIODS-KALEKYE MUMO

Radio personality Kalekye Mumo has talked about the complex relationship she has with her mother Ruth Mueni. Speaking at Engage Talk, Kalekye gave a sneak peak into her experiences growing up and her mother’s fears, desires and dreams.

Mumo said the first time she got her periods, she told her mum but she did not believe her, “For my mother my kind of life, my choices were so difficult for her to handle. From a very early stage were already conflicting on a lot of things that she had concerns and fears about. Her biggest fear was that I would get pregnant before get married.

I will never forget her reaction when I told her I had gotten my first period; it was Christmas day, I was 13. My mother said, ‘there is no way, your lying’ and with that I was completely mortified, who else would I turn to? The rest of the house was men and a baby sister. So, I kept it to myself and for three years struggling with the worst pain you can imagine, having nothing to use. I was balancing myself and keeping this a secret using either cotton wool or tissue.

I thought I did something wrong by starting my period. I thought I really messed it up for my mom so I’m gonna really work this by myself, it was a tough time and I kept wondering every time the school called her and told her I was in a lot of pain and I needed to go home, her reaction was, ‘what did you eat again.’ She never really connected the two that this was happening every month on a systematic order.”

Though she did not understand and like her daughter’s career choices, she made a turn around when Kalekye started working for Radio Africa’s Kiss 100,

“It was not until I got a slot to finally join Kiss 100 that her eyes lit up, she knew the station. She was more happy to hear that I was going to do something she could explain. Suddenly, whenever she heard people say ‘have you heard this presenter Kalekye Mumo’, she would turn and be like ‘that’s my daughter.’

Over the year’s things got better we were able to speak, were now at place where we could talk and we could actually see eye to eye. Funny to hear her now say, ‘even if you are not getting married you can now have a baby, even one’ and the I laugh it off. I can easily tell her I am waiting just like you said I should. She is the reason I work hard even without wanting to.”