THE CHIPS-FUNGA ISSUE

Its 9p.m, the place is darkly-lit. A smoke machine at the back keeps making a whirling noise as it ejects its smoky contents into the air. Young girls are gyrating their bodies to the rhythm of the booming music in total abandon. The bulk of them are dressed in the shortest mini-skirts I have ever laid my eyes on, the rest are clad in clothes so tight I wonder how they fit them on. Welcome to the Nairobi party scene, where Thursday is the new Friday, rules, if any, are meant to be broken and no apologies are made.

At around ten o’clock into the night, a group of about seven girls, dressed in similar fashion make their way into the club and occupy a table by a corner. This group draws particular interest from me because they look so sophisticated. Much like the ladies men fear approaching. I decide to become the silent observer.

Drinks are ordered, they chat at an exceptionally high pitch drawing serious attention from the male patrons and envious glances from the women, the drinking graduates to harder stuff, tequila, sambuka. Soon the group turns into a rowdy bunch. They hit the dance floor with extreme zeal.    

I soon discover how wrong my initial assessment was; this is not a group of serious ladies out to have some girl time. After chatting up a less intimidating member of the crew I realize that they are college girls. “Its girl’s night out!” she declares. My curiosity is aroused,”exactly what happens in girl’s night out?”

It turns out that the typical girl’s night out has acquired new meaning. Ladies are dominating the club scene relegating men into observer mode. The funny bit is that these girls are not only out to have a few drinks, dance and go back home but there are also looking for someone to take home or some one to take them home. Hence the origin of ‘Take-away’. Kenyans being the creative lot we are, this has been modified to ‘Chips Funga’.

 For those unfamiliar with chips-funga, it is a person of the opposite sex, mostly met in a club, with whom you spend the night with after clubbing. For one to qualify as Chips-funga, sex has to be involved.

Initially the word was only used to describe girl’s  who went out looking for older men, fat-wallets and all, exchanging sexual favors for the wallet’s contents but now I’m made to realize that it describes anyone who spends the night at the residence of another met at a club; with the funny twist for men being Sausage-funga.

The group of girls I meet on this particular night are out for exactly that. I work some level of trust in them and they soon open up. The girl I talk to, her name is Mitchell, tells me that her friends do this every week and more often than not each of them ends up going home with a different guy. “Life has become extremely boring, with society placing the virginity burden on women while men get away Scot-free.” She intelligently defends the behavior.

“Who said that its only men who can make the first move, we make the moves and dictate the game.” She goes on when I ask her how they pick the potential partners. From my conversation with her, it suffices that, for most of these girls it’s the search for thrill and adventure that drives them to do this.

“Is there any money involved?” I ask. “No, we don’t need no-ones money,” her friend Janice answers. This baffles me and I seek to understand the motivation behind them. What follows is a life-story of almost each girl which sounds strangely similar.

Three of the seven girls have had bad relationships in the past. They each had a first boyfriend in their first-year of campus that they gave their all to. “I mean the guy took my virginity, what more do men want?” she asks me with a dejected look. At this point I am tempted to ask the same of women but I desist. They dated for over two years before she discovered that the guy had several side-dishes ( mipango wa kando), and she went over-board.

The stories seem to read from the same script. After the break-up the relationships became an on and off thing until they decided that enough was enough. That’s when the excessive partying began and eventually evolved to the strange stories I’m hearing.

  “Why should you guys let one guy define your lives?” I ask. “Exactly our point, no guy should peg any woman down.” Janice says. She philosophically explains that men have overly been at an advantage, “when a guy sleeps with many women, he is a hero among men, when a woman sleeps with many men, she is a slut,” she says. Her friends applaud her comment with loud boos. “You give a guy everything and he becomes a self-centered baby who thinks the world revolves around him,” Mitchell states. My attempts to object to this are futile as the ladies gang-up.

“By being Chips-fungwad, do you guys think that it in any way changes the way everyone thinks? Won’t you be putting yourself in the same spot that you are fighting?” I fight back. What follows is a string of accusations against men and our inability to be faithful and a whole charade that almost turns wild.

From what I gather, the chips-funga phenomenon is here to stay. Sex for fun has become the new way of life for the young men and women who all seem to believe that society needs to adapt to the young generation and not try to change it. Talking to some men they defend their case and declare that anyone, whether male or female, who is ‘taken-away’, wants to be ‘taken away’.

This lifestyle instills fear in every parent because of the apparent dangers involved, none of which the participants seem to appreciate. Sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, even physical harm are all dangers that lurk around.

Sophie (not her real name), a fourth year student in CUEA (Catholic University of East Africa) recalls going home with a man after meeting him in a club in Westlands. The man insisted on having unprotected sex with her in spite of her resistance and even threatened to beat her. His home being in Karen, he told her that her screams would be futile. “I was lucky to contract gonorrhea coz its curable.” She says vowing never to do it again.

A similar story resonates for, Mike, a second-year at University of Nairobi. He met an older woman, also in Westlands and accepted to spend the night at her place in Lavington. At around 4a.m, the lady became hostile and asked him to leave immediately. He did not know the place well and the night watchmen were not very helpful. He ended up spending the night at central police station after police officers arrested him in the area for loitering.

Despite all the dangers involved, the thrill seeking youth make no apology for their behavior and the risks are accepted contingencies. This is the Chips-funga generation and its here to stay.