The Akorino: A Kenyan Cult Story

Why did I get close? I was raised to be an obedient daughter.

After entering the Akorino my mother would make me dress up in long oversize dresses and cover my head. I felt out of place but was afraid to go against my mother. We were encouraged to stand on our bare feet; this is because the group believe that every ground they stand on is holy and therefore no shoes allowed. This I would only do around my mother.

At 25 years of age, I had gone through two of the stages of initiation and was halfway initiated into the cult, but I feel most of it was involuntarily. Part of my cooperation was confusion. The other part was family. I was working in the capital of Kenya, doing well in business and life. My mother was just out of town, getting deeper into the cult which unfortunately my younger sister was also following. I was raised to believe that standing up to my parents would instantly send me a curse from God and when I think back our upbringing was built on a foundation of fear and threats. It so happened that my business collapsed, and I went back to the village with my mother while I worked towards getting my life together. In this setting was the old rule of “do or be punished” which always worked when coming from my mother. Now I was getting familiar with the cult a second time. Initiation starts with a 20-liter jar of water, collected from the “Well of God”, which I was supposed to drink in dosages of about 200ml every morning and evening before bed. The water was supposed to cleanse and introduce me to a different realm of spiritual dreams. Every dream is interpreted according to Akorino beliefs and most of the interpretations are limited to their strict beliefs. There was another step of initiation that involves going through female genital mutilation (not how they put it) deep in the forest with nothing else but glass pieces on a stone. That way the blood of the victim is supposed to entice the spirits into more blessings. The Akorino were so persistent in their steps that it became suspicious to me. I don’t want to be trapped by things I do not want nor understand. Soon I became aware of how abnormal the practices were. My journey to fight for my life and my little sister’s life began when I watched a video of how dangerous these initiation practices are both physically and emotionally. Female genital mutilation is an illegal practice in Kenya today. There are a lot of dangers that can come as a result. In the Akorino they force girls and women to walk to the forest, undress, and sit on a cold stone where they use a glass piece to cut a sliver out of a woman’s clitoris. The practice is a very extreme and has been illegal since independence.

I was not sure about other things either. Being a full member means the world will find you at its mercy for survival. You have to denounce everything you own for the church and live in poverty because they believe that the poor are more loved by God than others. You now become a key part of the old culture and they want you to send threatening messages to non-believers, walking for miles to preach their gospel by foot.

Having experienced emotional and physical torture from my mother in the name of God’s orders, I got out and chose to live with my granny in a different village from Kinangop. My little sister went through full initiation, and it scares me what will happen when she realizes what my mother took from her.

From my own experience with the Akorino, it’s sad to imagine what others will go through at the hands of liars and cultists. I learned from this to always be alert and believe in whatever I want to do without fear or manipulation.