A video of UNICEF employee Philip Van De Graaf assaulting and verbally abusing Kenyans at an AirBnB in Nairobi is being widely circulated on social media.
Thogori Karago, co-founder of LGBTQ-friendly travel booking platform Pink Coconuts shared video footage of the incident along with details of her experience in a post on Medium.
Karago and her family members had rented an AirBnB close to Graaf's residence in the neighborhood of Ridgeways to host a post-wedding event for her brother on Saturday when Graaf trespassed into the house and started acting belligerently toward the guests of the small gathering.
'It's Curfew Time'
"It's 9 o'clock now, no. It's curfew time, no?" Graaf asks the guests as he interrupts a vote of thanks speech. He then asks who has rented the AirBnB and demands them to leave.
Karago approaches Graaf and tries to calm him down but he becomes aggressive toward the guests upon realizing that he's being filmed and raises his middle finger at the man recording before yelling, "f*ck you."
'I Can Kill You'
He then smacks Karago's hand away as she tries to get him to back off. "If you touch me, I kill you," he says to another guest before stumbling and falling backward, tripping over the patio furniture as guests ask him to leave.
A second video shows the altercation continues for several more minutes as Graaf continues to stagger around the patio, hurling profanities and screaming at the guests.
"You think I'm afraid of you. I can kill you," he says at one point before attempting to knock the phone out of the hand of the person filming. He is then tackled out of the patio by a guest, causing chairs to fall over and glasses to break. The rest of the video plays out in what appears to be the lawn area, where Graaf continues his hysteric antics.
In her post, Karago said she and her guests locked themselves in the Airbnb and called local police on Graaf, who she says, also brought out his guard dog to use against them. They later learned from the staff on the premises that Van De Graaf has a history of substance abuse and hurling racial and verbally abusive language.
UNICEF Investigation
According to Karago, Graaf identified himself as a UNICEF employee and his LinkedIn profile lists him as a regional supply and logistics manager for the organization. In the wake of the incident, Mohamed Fall, the Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, issued a statement saying that UNICEF was looking into the matter.
"UNICEF has launched an investigation into events from Saturday in Nairobi that have been shown on social media. We have been in Kenya for many years, and both our country and regional offices are warmly hosted by the Government of Kenya," Fall tweeted.
"Throughout that time, we have all enjoyed the warmth and friendship of the Kenyan people, for which we are most grateful. At all times we expect impeccable behavior from our staff, as they go about their critical and life-saving work for children throughout the region."
