Comedian Elsa Majimbo, 19, has finally explained why she chose South African over Kenya.
She says the level of online bullying in Kenya is toxic and she cannot put up with it anymore.
In a recent interview with Dubai blogger Anash Bukhash, Elsa said she has been a subject of bullying since her days in high school but it got worse when she ventured into the digital world of comedy.
“I have faced a lot of bullying in Nairobi and when I say bullying people only think about the internet, but it has been my whole life. At the university, I chose my friends and the company I was in and it got easier,’ she says.
“But when I got to the internet it became as worse as it was in high school. I would mind my own business and sit inside the house in Nairobi. When I left for South Africa in February, I left and never went back to Kenya,” Majimbo remarked.
She said that her sister who she has been with in Dubai on vacation asked her to come back to Kenya but she declined to opt to return to South Africa.
“I found happiness outside (of Kenya). I don’t know where I am going and yesterday my sister suggested travelling back to Nairobi to which I declined.
“It is the worst option possible. I will go back to South Africa where I know I have a home. South Africans supported and defended me from Kenyan bullies. Kenya is not that place (to call home). It is tough but life is tough,” she said.
From bullying, she dropped out of Strathmore University where she was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
She recalls some of her friends asking her to bleach now that she was a celebrity which she didn’t take kindly.
In South Africa, she says she enjoys peace which she couldn’t in Nairobi where she was brought up and had been living before fame came knocking on her door.