March 10, 2022

58. Africa Eye: Black Market Babies

38 minutes

Klenice grew up in a village in rural Western Kenya. When both her parents passed away, she dropped out of school and started working to support herself. The father of her first child also died unexpectedly and by the age of 22 she was a single mother. What drives a mother to sell her own child? And who facilitates such a sale?

In 2019, BBC Africa Eye launched an investigation into Kenya’s black market for babies. Presenter Njeri Mwangi worked on the yearlong undercover operation and joins Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen to discuss the result, the documentary ‘The Baby Stealers’.

Who buys babies on the black market? And how much should a journalist intervene to stop a sale? Njeri talks about the individual stories that most affected her, the fallout once the documentary was published, her hopes for the future and even the feminist motorcycle club she’s part of, the Throttle Queens.

The episode contains audio from the documentary by BBC Africa Eye, The Baby Stealers.

Warning: This episode contains references to child trafficking, kidnap, and suicide.

CREDITS

Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen

Producer: Louisa Field

Assistant Producer: Simona Rata

Music: Matt Chandler

Editor: Rami Tzabar

Academic Consultant, The Open University: James Munro

#BadPeople_BBC

Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins