Girl power soars high in military after abolition of service corps

Major Norah Koech, 31 a pilot 

In Summary

• Before 1999 they were not allowed to marry or have children while in service. Today the winds of change have blown the discriminatory rules away, giving Kenya’s women room to muscle it out with men in the military
• On the ground, in the air and beneath the waters of the seas, 14 years of affirmative action in the military have given women room to compete with men. For these proud soldiers, nothing can compare to the liberating feeling of working within the disciplined forces and watching their careers take off alongside those of their male colleagues

By BILLY MUIRURI
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By DANIEL TSUMA NYASSY
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The declaration came in December 1999 that the women’s military unit, known as the Women Service Corps, would be disbanded and women in the military co-opted into the main arms of the defence forces.

The unit operated as a single entity, and the women had “special terms and conditions” which took into account “women’s special needs”.

Although no senior military officer would officially admit it then, some of these needs included unwritten policies that women soldiers were not allowed to get married or become pregnant.

They were not even supposed to be seen to be romantically involved with their male colleagues, or even with men outside the barracks.

The disbanding of the Women’s Service Corps brought to light what might be considered one of the most draconian abuses of human rights in any career that spanned 27 years — women were first recruited into the military in 1972, with the pioneers being, among others, sergeants Rose Ondari, M Kuria, J Mwangi, R Banwa and Warrant Officer 11 Hellen Hace.

Today, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. And, although they number about 1,000 out of an active force of more than 24,000 members, women soldiers can marry, become pregnant (even when single) and carry out duties in any of the departments in the Kenya Army, Airforce or Navy.

Here, some of Kenya’s finest women in the military:

CPL Ann Mbaluka, 31: Aircraft Technician

The soft-spoken but firm Mbaluka joined the military in 2001. Her day-to-day work entails ensuring planes are in good condition.

“It is great to work here. The discipline and the upward mobility for those who want to study is motivating,” she encourages school girls.

Mbaluka, who comes from Kwambata village in Makueni County, attended Kiongwani Secondary School. Married to Peter Kiambi, she has two children aged five and six. Had she not joined the military, she would have pursued a career in telecommunications engineering, she says.

Lt Rosalid Wairimu, 34: Combatant Diver

Her muscular figure disappears into the deep waters off the Mtongwe Naval base in Mombasa, shooting a string of bubbles into the surface of the calm Indian Ocean.

With her manouvres in the deep sea, one imagines that Lt Rosalid Wairimu Wanjohi, 34, must surely know what lies beneath the frightening sea. And she does, for she has been at it for seven years.

Lt Wanjohi is the only female combatant diver in East and Central Africa. She joined the Kenya Navy in 2003 as a servicewoman and played a while for Ulinzi volleyball team.

When the team was disbanded, she did not fancy the thought of just being an ordinary soldier, given that she loved physical work-outs. Her big break came when she was transferred from Nairobi to the Mtongwe naval base, and soon realised there was an avenue there for her to fulfill her “physical” ambitions.

“There was this diving department, hitherto an all-men affair. I decided to apply to become a diver, which surprised many people. Fortunately, I was shortlisted for the test,” she recalls.

The test was tough, and she failed on her first and second attempts, but finally made it on her third attempt.

In a class of 20 trainee divers with only two women, only eight made it. The other female trainee “dropped out on request” when the going got tough.

Since then, Lt Wanjohi, a single mother of two (her first-born son will be in Form Two next year while the second born will be in Std One) has never looked back.

Lt Wanjohi’s prowess was rewarded last year when she was commissioned as an officer, a huge promotion in the military.

“There are challenges, including dangers when you are deep underwater. You come across dangerous sea animals and fish such as sharks, stone fish and other peculiar creatures, some of which are quite ferocious. You have to have the skills to deal with them and survive,” she says.

Warrant Officer 11 Francis Munene, a naval instructor/supervisor, says at least two divers must go underwater together at any given time to mitigate the dangers associated with the profession.

Before diving, every safety precaution is taken; their oxygen cylinders, buoyance compensators, demand valves, plus other necessary gadgets are checked.

Lt Wanjohi is full of praise for the decompression chamber, a rare, life-saving piece of equipment few African navies can boast ownership. It costs more than Sh100 million and in Africa is only owned by Kenyan, Egyptian and South African naval teams.

“It has saved many lives in eastern Africa. We treat various sea sicknesses associated with diving with it, including decompression and collapsed lungs,” she explains.

The machine involves locking the patients inside the chamber, some of them unconscious, for as long as four days, and feeding them only through an opening.

The treatment is meant to resuscitate the body pressure of the divers who might have come up the water surface too suddenly, thereby destabilising their body pressure.

“We have treated many people from Pemba and many tourists from local diving schools that do not have the skills and equipment,” she says.

Wairimu’s parting shot to fellow women in the military: “Come on, join the diving section!”

There are opportunities here.”

The patients may form blood bubbles which often, if not treated, lead to death.

Major Marion Amulyoto, 33: Veterinary Doctor, Kenya Army

The first veterinary officer in the military is credited with setting up the military’s pioneer canine regiment.

Formerly a volunteer teacher and veterinary officer at  Mully Children’s Home, Major Amulyoto joined the military in 2008, and there was no precedence in what she was supposed to do. “The dogs I found here were just guard dogs but I crafted a way of incorporating them  in military work,” she says.

The first pack of 20 dogs was donated last year by the United Kingdom  but since then, the regiment has bought many from the public. The dogs are classified as sniffer, tracker, search-and-rescue and guard dogs, and then there are those for infantry patrol.

Single and hoping to marry some day, Amulyoto graduated from the University of Nairobi’s School of Veterinary Medicine in 2005.

“The dogs give me great company. Any time I lose one, I literally mourn and  accelerate to my all-time low, emotionally,” says the amiable doctor, a former Limuru Girls’ High School student.

She has hands full offering the highest standards of health for the dogs at the Embakasi Barracks. “I give clinical services to the dogs and train soldiers how to care for them  and give them first aid when they are in the field.

Maj Benardatte Kikech, 35: Officer Commanding Helicopter Maintenance Squadron

Maj Kikech has always had a penchant for big things, even when she was growing up in Kimilili, Bungoma County. A lover of physics and chemistry, which she studied at the University of Nairobi for her BSc degree, she graduated in 2002 and joined the Cadet Military Training centre in Lanet a year later.

Here, her eyes were set on a big plane — the helicopter.  Since then, Kikech, who loves to study, has undertaken several courses in helicopter maintenance, both locally and abroad.

“In the US, I studied helicopter recovery in the field and later took a ground maintenance course at Ulan Ude Aviation Institute in Russia. Of all, I really love the Puma, whose maintenance I studied at Denel Aviation Institute in South Africa,” she says.

Kikech married a civilian working with an NGO in 2005 and is the mother of and eight-year-old. “Beyond my uniform is a mother and submissive wife who finds time for her family. It caps my happiness and satisfaction as an officer,” says the staunch Catholic.

Kikech, who is in charge of administration of technicians and logisticians, spends her free time working out. “I am a gym maniac,” she says as we conclude the interview at the Moi Airbase in Eastleigh, Nairobi.

The ‘Greasy Twins’ of  Mtongwe

Watching Sen Pte Mary Kimathi (right above) and Cpl Emily Koskei (left) in their blue overalls, spanners in greasy hands as they sweat the day out in the “furnace” of a navy military ship at Mtongwe, one would hardly realise their gender.

The two naval ship technicians say they love the job “thoroughly” and are aspiring to become full engineers some day.

“I joined the Kenya Navy in 2007 and although the profession and the job are quite challenging, I enjoy everything a lot,” says Sen Pte Kimathi. “It is a male-dominated field and I like sitting and working with the men in the team, who inspire me a lot.

”

Kimathi, married with one child, says she wanted to study medicine but found herself in marine engineering. Today, she is very fascinated by “the big military ships”. And so, five years down the line, she does not regret her choice of career.

Born and brought up in Hindi Division in Lamu County, in a family of nine, Kimathi’s biggest challenge is when she arrives home with greasy hands and the baby is yearning for her hold. “I have to really wash before I can embrace her,” she says.

Cpl Koskei, on the other hand, was a trained trades woman and joined the navy on that strength. She hails from Kericho County and is still single. She served in AMISOM in Somalia as ship maintenance officer. “That was my most challenging time in my career,” she says.

 

She says from a young age she was attracted by engineering and worked in the tea industry for some years before joining the military.

“Before I joined the navy, I feared the women in uniform but now, I have outgrown that,” she says.

She says she likes the high discipline in the forces which ensures respect for each individual. There has never been segregation on gender from male colleagues for “such will earn one an automatic dismissal”

Major Norah Koech, 31: Pilot

Norah enjoys the honours of being the first female pilot with the Kenya Airforce. The soft- spoken wife of businessman Joshua Rotich, Norah grew up in Olenguruone in a family of eight, but she always wanted to be a pilot.

“Our home sat under an airway for planes going to western Kenya. Watching them zoom past at exactly 6am and 6pm daily helped me make up my mind early on that I wanted to become a pilot,” she says.

Norah joined the military  12 years ago as a cadet. She graduated in 2003 with the rank of Second Lieutenant, and has since moved up four ranks.

The unpredictable nature of her work makes it exciting for her. Now expectant, Norah praises the military policy that allows women to marry and have children.

“It’s a great honour, and I salute men who have the courage to marry women in the armed forces. It takes a big heart and lots of understanding,” she says.