58. Africa Eye: Black Market Babies

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 Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.