By IPS Correspondents
NAIROBI, Jun 4 1996 (IPS)

His first visit to Kenya and Africa was to have been a homecoming for African-American volunteer teacher John Ford.

Ford (26) who wears dreadlocks to express his belief in black nationalism, expected to fit snugly into a society where the hairstyle became a trademark of the Mau Mau guerrilla whose insurgency helped to end 85 years of British rule in 1963.

“Back home while studying history, I came across the Mau Mau and was impressed with their unswerving fortitude to fight the oppressive force of colonial rule that led to the emancipation of the black man from the shackles of white minority rule and I decided to identify with them,” says Ford who came here in August.

Instead, Ford says, he has been hounded by the police, who suspect him of being involved in drugs.

“Every time I make a move the police stop me and ask where I keep drugs. Sometimes they harass me. Other times they threaten that if I refuse to show them where I have kept the stuff they will lock me up in the police cells. And I think sometimes they mean business,” complains Ford, who says he has never touched a cigarette, let alone drugs.

“I will still retain my dreadlocks despite what has happened to me in Kenya. The Mau Mau will always be the reason why I grow my hair the way I do,” he vows.

Craig Helle, another of the 65 Americans here under the ‘Teachers for Africa’ programme run by renowned former anti- apartheid activist Rev. Leon Sullivan, comments: “It is going to be tough on him (Ford). When he came to Africa he had lots of expectations.”

“I guess when he gets back home he will reflect on his stay and probably come out with something tangible,” adds Helle, who is white and teaches anthropology at the University of Nairobi.

Ford’s plight is shared by many in this country where dreadlocks are still associated with rebellion.

For instance, jailed dissident Koigi wa Wamwere who grew his locks while awaiting trial in a prison here, has vowed never to cut his hair until President Daniel arap Moi’s government which he considers authoritarian, is replaced.

“It has all got to do with the country’s colonial background,” notes Murimi Muriuki, a history lecturer at the University of Nairobi. “And since the dreadlocks were seen as an institution unto itself symbolising hatred for all that the colonialists’ represented, the new rulers criminalised the hair style.”

The hairstyle, associated with Rastafarianism and reggae music, may have something to do with the shelving in April of the popular programme ‘Reggae Times’ by the state-run Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

It is suspected that the authorities feared the programme would foster an increase in people wearing dreadlocks and abusing drugs.

People who wear locks in Kenya have many disadvantages, including difficulty landing a formal job.

“The dreadlocked people in Kenya are denied their basic right of enjoying freedom of choice. Many suffer undeservedly because of the choice of hair style,” argues Njeri Kabeberi of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).

Many of the estimated 20,000 people who sport this hairstyle, cover their heads with woollen caps in the Rastafarian colours — gold, black and red — to avoid harassment.

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