An Idea Still Looking for Traction in Kenya
East African Women Vote With Their Feet Against Baby Strollers


By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 18, 2004; Page A08

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Irene Wambui can't imagine why anyone would buy a
baby stroller. She says she sees it as a cold cage filled with useless
rattles, cup holders and mirrored headlights. Imagine children being
stuffed into such a contraption and pushed around town like some kind
of pet.

Yet here she is in the middle-class Westlands shopping district, trying
to sell her store's newest merchandise, the four-wheeled plastic and
metal tool of modern motherhood. But so far, strollers have been a flop
in Nairobi, an affront to a time-honored tradition.

Across Africa, women can be seen carrying sleeping or sometimes giggly
babies on their backs, swathed in cloth. The babies move to the sway of
their mothers' hips, synchronized throughout the day, bending with them
as they collect water or sweep the floor and rising again when the
women stop to rest. They hang on as their mothers sell food in the
market or pray at a church or mosque.

The introduction of strollers and baby carriages, both known here by
the British word "pram", horrifies traditionalists, even someone such
as Wambui, who sells them. The stroller is appearing in major cities
around Africa, but so far has not been a hit.

"It's not so wonderful. In Africa, we just carry our children or let
them roam. They can't sit like lumps," said Wambui, 24. "Besides our
roads aren't even good enough for these devices. If everyone had a pram
it would cause jam-ups in traffic. Then we would be bad to our children
and bad to our roads."

Irene's boss and manager, Zara Esmail, was pacing back in forth in
front of the strollers one recent day. She said the store had sold only
one baby stroller in two months, and that was to a visiting U.N. worker
from Britain, who complained later that she had been disappointed by
the small selection.

"In general, I thought they would sell far better," Esmail said.
Perhaps, she added, it's a question of directing more advertising
toward middle-class, working moms. "We thought these modern ones would
be a hit."

The stroller has sparked debate among African pediatricians who think
the device -- first crafted as a labor-saving tool for the European
middle class -- may damage the relationship between a mother and a
child.

"The pram is the ultimate in pushing the baby away from you," said
Frank Njenga, a child psychiatrist in Nairobi, Kenya's bustling
capital. "The baby on the back is actually following the mother in
warmth and comfort. The baby feels safer, and safer people are happier
people."

In the United States and Europe, strollers have long been
controversial. Recently, some doctors and child psychologists have
blamed them for everything from pediatric obesity to low self-esteem
later in life.

Jane Clark, professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland,
said there is concern that Americans are overusing strollers for older
children, causing toddlers to be less physically active. A growing
movement among child advocates promotes the idea of carrying babies
more and getting them out of their strollers.

At the same time, Web sites and magazines in the United States and
Europe dedicate a lot of space to the subject of choosing a style of
stroller or carriage -- front-to-back or side-by-side, a jogger or a
sleeper, with or without a lightweight titanium frame, pneumatic tires,
rear suspension, mud flaps and/or battery-operated blinkers. Some
European-made antique carriages are status symbols for celebrities such
as Madonna and Celine Dion, who spent $2,600 on the classic Balmoral
Pram, described by some Web reviewers as a tiny Humvee.

Africans consider the traditional method of toting their children the
only true version of day care. When it's time for feeding, the food is
right there as a mother shifts her child to the front of her body,
nestling the infant to her breast. The baby stroller could change all
of that. But many people here said they thought the devices would be
just another instance of Africans adopting the worst habits of
industrialization.

"There are customs from a hundred years ago that are not relevant today
for Africans. Our challenge is to pick the good from the bad," said
Carol Mandi, managing editor of EVE, an East African women's magazine.
"But carrying on your back, well, that is just a wonderful custom that
keeps the baby emotionally stable and lets the mother feel bonded. We
can't stop being African women just because we are suddenly thrust into
the modern world. What next? They will tell us to stop breast feeding
in public? No way."

Some women in Africa at first apparently hoped the stroller could help
reduce the physical exhaustion suffered by mothers, the backbone of
Africa's labor force in both domestic duties and small-scale
businesses.

But because the pram is not only socially unacceptable but expensive,
merchants are finding they aren't selling. The average pram, though far
cheaper than some car-like U.S. models, still hovers around $60, at
least half a month's wages even in Africa's most successful urban
economies.

At the baby store in Nairobi where Wambui works, dusty models sat
untouched.

"We've never used a pram. They are a bit pricey," said Nellie Mwanzia,
who was shopping nearby while her husband, Roy, carried their
20-month-old son, David. "Just carrying the baby is no bother. It's
more personal."

Mary Mwanzia, 32, a mother and part-time government secretary, popped
into the store to buy baby bottles. Esmail corralled her potential
buyer over to the strollers. But Mwanzia, even with her modern job and
her braided red hair extensions and bell-bottom jeans, found the baby
buggies "oppressive."

Esmail suggested a test drive. Mwanzia was not having it.

"It's just not Kenyan," she said. "For the child, the love will not be
there if the child is cooped up in such an antisocial device." She
purchased her bottles and left.

Special Correspondent Candice Miranda contributed to this report.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

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