White Days tells the story of a 23-year-old poet navigating love, financial hardship, and the emotional toll, chronic pain, relationship issues, and societal conflicts while living with endometriosis while she and her partner struggle to make ends meet.
Written by Saumu Kombo, Martin Kigondu and Brian Gaitan, the play is staged on May 30 and 31 at the Artzone Studios on Baricho Road by A Frip Entertainment. Sponsored by Awareness Against Human Trafficking (HAART), the organisation informed the audience on how endometriosis and human trafficking are connected.
The play raises awareness about endometriosis and challenges the stigma surrounding menstrual health while exploring themes of fertility, relationships, financial pressure, and emotional vulnerability.
Actor Simi Marie says that her character is soft and optimistic despite the difficult circumstances surrounding her life.
“She’s not presented with the best circumstances to be that way, yet she holds onto them. I think that’s very brave, to be so open,” she says.
Marie says that Joy starts off on a good day and is hopeful and supportive, but we get to actually see how much strength it actually has taken for her to be optimistic. Poetry then becomes one of her outlets to express her inner world throughout the production.
While preparing for the role, Marie says she gained an understanding of endometriosis and its impact on individuals and relationships.
“I have learned about its severity. I had always known about it, but I didn’t know how relentless it is, not just on people living with the condition but also on their loved ones,” she says.
The production explores how the condition affects lifestyle, finances, marriage and future. She also emphasises the importance of representing women’s health stories on stage.
She observes that women’s bodies have been misunderstood due to the limited attention they get, usually through the lens of objectification. By talking about their issues, they are able to view women’s bodies as complex biological systems that exist outside of pleasuring people.
Marie describes Joy’s relationship with her partner as turbulent but genuine.
“They love each other. This is not in question. Her partner gets her, but he doesn’t understand her condition, which is a source of her frustration,” she says.
The play also addresses how menstrual pain is dismissed or misunderstood. The most important thing it touches on is the misdiagnosis and how easily symptoms are rounded off to hormonal imbalance when the symptoms could point to a much larger issue.
There is also a lack of compassion women sometimes receive when expressing pain. Period pain is presumably normal, and for women living with endometriosis, she hopes the play offers validation and recognition.
“I hope they feel well represented. I hope they feel the relief of having their stories heard and validated in this way,” she says.
Playwright Saumu Kombo says she was commissioned to write a story that raises awareness about endometriosis and menstrual health, with Joy carrying the journey of the protagonist in the story.
Kombo says it was important to portray Joy as a complete person beyond her diagnosis. She adds that her story is more than the condition she is living with, and it is also about who she is, what she loves to do, and what her world looks like.
The poetry element of the story was inspired by Kombo’s own experiences as a poet. She borrowed her own lived experience as a poet.
To better understand the realities of endometriosis, Kombo conducted interviews with women living with the condition in Kenya.
“I have held three interviews with women living with endometriosis in Kenya. The first table read was held with one of the interviewees in the room,” she says.
Kombo says the title White Days symbolises moments of relief for women living with endometriosis.
“White Days means the days when a woman living with endometriosis is not bleeding and not in pain and can go about her life normally,” she explains.
She describes Joy’s journey as one of longing for those peaceful moments while embracing the parts of life that bring her joy. Kombo also says the story reflects the realities faced by many young African couples, particularly around money and relationships.
Money tends to be a testy subject, and it inspires most of the plot-changing decisions that people make, she says.
The play explores themes including menstrual health, fertility, reproductive choices, social support systems, and the high cost of reproductive health-related surgeries.
Kombo says silence is a factor in the storytelling. It allows the characters to sit with themselves, with the truth of what is, without finding an escape in words or action, and some of the most difficult moments to write involved Joy’s vulnerability and conflict in her relationship.
“The hardest scenes to write are when Joy becomes vulnerable and when Mark doesn’t agree with her choices,” she says.
Kombo hopes audiences leave the theatre more informed that if affects a lot of women around us and be compassionate about endometriosis and women’s health experiences.
“I would like us to be aware and be proactive in educating ourselves about it and helping out where we can,” she says.