Mpaka kwa nywele: How bhang sellers in Nakuru use dreadlocks and other tricks to hide the product

Many young people today - even here in Nakuru - have either smoked weed or know someone who has.

But have you ever wondered how so many people get access to weed despite it being illegal?

That's where Jake* and other creative weed peddlers come in.

While studying architecture at school, Jake became involved in the world of selling weed when his mother fell ill and was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

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"I was in my final year of architecture when my mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer. As the eldest son in a single-parent family, I had to step up and start earning money to pay for her chemotherapy treatments and still pay my tuition fees," says Jake.

By this time, Jake had heard his childhood friends and neighbours talking about how much money they were making from selling weed.

"Of course, nilishuku iyo story at first. Plus nikafikiria venye kushikwa na masketcher ni ngori. But juu ya shida za doh, I was forced to being a peddi," he says.

As he recounts how he avoids the watchful eye of the police, he reveals that a weed peddler is usually very creative in how they deliver the product to customers.

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"Siwezi toboa siri zote hapa," he laughs as he tells the story. "The most common way tunatumia ni dredi, kofia ama kilemba," he says.

This statement naturally piques my interest and I ask him to elaborate.

"Once umepata order, unawrap mali fiti most times kwa a newspaper. After that, unafungua dredi alafu unalay the mali vizuri before you tie your dreadlocks," he says.

The process he explains is almost the same for the kilemba and hats.

"For the kilemba, tunatumia ile ya Waislamu ama pia ile ya Wakorino. For the caps, unararua seam na unaingiza mali hapo ndani which is the same as tunafanya for heavy jackets then you make your delivery," reveals Jake. 

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As he recounts the risky nature of his livelihood, I ask him why he does not choose to work as an architecture, for which he has a degree.

"Honestly ni juu ya ganji. As much as hii business iko na high risk, it has very high returns na especially kama umekuwa hii bizna for long. For example, wiki moja mi huunda profit ya 100k," he says.

Jake notes that another reason he is still a weed peddler is lack of jobs.

"Of course, bila jobs ma youth wengi hapa Nakuru and ata Kenya at large will opt for such risky means of earning money," he says.