Reject Online Issue 38

April 16-30, 2011

ISSUE 038

A bimonthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service

Marking Easter with nostalgia Kenyans recall the years when all eyes were on Kenya and the country was united through one event

BY ODHIAMBO ORLALE A few years ago, Kenyan looked forward to Easter with anticipation. While the season has Christian themes, there was so much happening that it was no longer just a time for Christians, as everybody, including Hindus and Muslims were enthusiastic about the season.

Easter holidays were thrilling, thanks to Kenya hosting the toughest rally in the world, the Safari Rally.

The four-day event coincided with one of the most important days in the Christian calendar, Good Friday. It was like a movie which was a must-see by Kenyans of all walks of life.

The thrill

Among the rally enthusiasts, was Esther Munyao, who recalls with joy how she would join her siblings and friends in the village in Ukambani to watch in amazement as the rally drivers zoomed by and splashed them with muddy water or dust as they cheered them along.

Recalls Munyao: “My memories of the rally was when the sleek cars zoomed through our village. Some would get stuck in the mud forcing some of the villagers to join and push them out! That was a wonderful experience.”

Big names of the who-is-who in the international motors port featured prominently. History was made during the Safari rallies that dominated television, newspapers and talks all over.

Kenya’s Shekhar Mehta made history by winning the annual event four times consecutively, (1979-82), in addition to an earlier victory in 1973.

Others who made history and are happy to look back with pride include the flamboyant Ms Orie Rogo Manduli, then called Mary Ondieki, who was the first woman to participate in the allmen’s sport in 1974, with Mrs Sylvia Omino, as her co-driver.

The two ladies had vowed that they were out to make a statement that “what a man can do, a woman can also do and better!”

It was a carnival event as the duo was flagged off from the ramp at the In-

tercontinental Hotel in Nairobi by the founder of the nation, President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. They were cheered by hundreds of relatives, friends and fans lining along Uhuru Highway and Mombasa Road as well as among all the other safari rally routes.

The rest of the story is now history but Safari Rally has never reclaimed the glamour it had. In fact, it is no longer held on Easter weekend as was the case before. This has made the weekend dull and a reserve for practising Christians, who flock to church. Other than that, the rest of holiday makers just throng entertainment outlets.

Even the then Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, cashed in on the free publicity soon after overthrowing the civilian Head of State, Milton Obote in 1971, to participate as a driver in the international event! But he too did not go very far after being photographed and filmed driving from the ramp for a short distance by local and international journalists.

Those days, the nation’s attention was fully focused on the Safari rally as all eyes and ears were on the foreign and local rally drivers like Ian Duncan, Bjorn Waldegard, Carlos Sainz, Juha Kankunnen, Joginder Singh, Shekhar Mehta, Vic Preston Jr and Patrick Njiru among others.

Car models

Other players included car manufacturers who used the event to launch their latest models, these included Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Cortina, Fort Escort, Peugeot, Datsun, Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Fiat and Volvo.

The rally was first held in June 1953, as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It was renamed the East African Safari Rally seven years later in 1960, on the eve of Kenya’s independence. It then kept that name until 1974 when it became the Safari Rally.

The event was part of the World Rally Championship calendar for many

From top: Children waving to a Safari Rally team that was cruising through their village: A battered Safari Rally car drives into the finishing ramp; Orie Rogo Manduli, then known as Mary Ondieki was the first African woman rally driver.

Pictures: Reject Correspondent years until it was excluded due to lack of funding and organisation in 2003. Since then, it is now part of the African Rally Championship organised by Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). It is currently known as the KCB Safari Rally after its sponsor, Kenya Commercial Bank. The format with which the

Safari Rally was done is different.

The rally attracted children and grown-ups alike. No one was left out of the euphoria during the heydays of the Safari Rally. They were captive audience.

The State-run Voice of Kenya (VoK) now known as Kenya Broadcasting CorContinued on page 5

Read more Reject stories online at www.mediadiversityafrica.org

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ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

TB patient jailed for defaulting treatment

By CAROLINE WANGECHI A 24-year-old tuberculosis patient has been jailed for eight months by a Baricho court in Kirinyaga County. The magistrate took this action after the public health department complained that Benson Mutugi was defaulting on his medication. He will stay behind bars until he completes his TB treatment.

According to the Public Health Officer, Mr Gilbert Muchiri, Mutugi has defaulted sever-

ally making it hard to control the disease. He said: “The only way to make sure that Mutugi completes his dose was to keep him in an enclosed place where health officers will be monitoring him.”

The decision was reached at after a meeting with the health officers from the larger county who concluded that defaulters have to get stern action so that they are able to complete their doses to avoid spreading the disease. Inconsistent medication and failure to complete

the prescribed dose could lead to multi-drug resistant (MDR) strain of the disease which is difficult and more expensive to treat. The cost of treating MDR TB can be between 50 and 200 times what it costs in the first line treatment for non-resistant TB. The health officer said Kirinyaga West leads in TB cases in the larger Kirinyaga County but they are looking at ways of controlling its spread.

He said that jailing the patient does not

mean that he is a wrong doer but is an action to have him follow the medication regimen according to the doctor’s prescription.

Muchiri reiterated: “We will be making visits to all TB patients to see whether they are following the medication rules. Defaulter, will be isolated until he/she completes the dose.”

Mutugi is getting his treatment at Gathigiriri Prison under doctors’ observations and will stay isolated so that he does not to spread the disease.

Family in agony over child’s bizarre eye problem

By KABIA MATEGA A family is suffering sleepless days and nights helplessly watching their three-year-old child agonise over unknown eye tissue growth.

According to the father, the boy was born without any notable health problem. This was until five months ago when the boy started showing difficulties in seeing.

“He opted to watch other children play from shades of houses and trees as he could not participate with others in the sunlight,” said Samuel Mogaka Patrick as he fought back tears.

Mogaka said a close observation initially indicated that one of the eyes of Master Henry Angwenyi had unusual colour and a decision was made to have the boy checked at Kikuyu Mission Hospital in Kiambu County.

“Doctors at the Kikuyu Mission Hospital recommended a simple procedure on the eye to remove the foreskin in an operation that was successful. We went back home a happy family with hopes that everything pertaining the eye problem was over,” explained Josephine Kemunto, the boy’s mother as she

Private school takes advantage of boy’s desperate situation

By RACHEL MUTHONI A school head wants the government to intervene in a case where a bright pupil who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) last year was forced to repeat at a private school.

The headteacher of Mutumboro Primary School in Njoro, Mr Kamau Kuria said the 14-year-old boy had topped the school in last year’s KCPE. He said the pupil had attained 337 marks and had been admitted to Molo Academy Secondary School.

“However, he is from a poor background and his single mother, who works as a house help in Naivasha could not raise the school fees,” explained Kuria.

He said old boys from the school had raised a total of KSh7,000 to cater for the boy’s personal effects so that he would attend Mugumo Secondary School in Molo.

This was after the school had offered to waive the boy’s tuition fee. However, proprietors of a local private school which is set to have pupils sit for KCPE for the first time this year convinced the boy to repeat at their school, promising that they would cater for his first year school fees if he attains 400 marks.

“I feel they just want to use the boy to boost the name of the school and later dump him. I wish the Government would intervene and have him join secondary school,” said Kuria.

He said efforts to convince the boy’s mother to have him join secondary school were futile as she claimed to trust the owners of the private school, whose sponsorship was conditional.

covered his face with a table cloth to block out light.

Angwenyi’s parents are both casual labourers and have been further impoverished because they cannot leave the child behind as they go out in search for jobs. They have been forced to survive on food donations from well wishers.

The boy developed a yet to be identified growth that has made the eye protrude several inches forward, a situation that leaves him uncomfortable.

The parents say he cries throughout the day.

Recently they sought divine intervention from Pastor Daniel Mburu of Mizpah Worship Centre in Narok town.

The Pastor who led the Reject to the family’s rented single room said he could not hold back tears when he saw the boy for the first time considering the difficulties the child was undergoing.

Samuel Mogaka holds his son Henry Angwenyi who is suffering from an undetermined eye problem.

Picture: Kabia Matega

Empowering youth and women key to growing rural economies

By KARIUKI MWANGI It is important to recognise the role women play in the society by supporting them economically so they can help in development of the rural economy and the country at large.

These sentiments were expressed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) president Dr Kanayo Nwanze when he reiterated on the importance of empowering women in the country.

“Women are better resource managers and investing in them would be beneficial to the whole community,” said Nwanze during a tour of agricultural projects funded by the organisation in Embu.

He added: “There is also need to tap into the agricultural productivity talent in the youths because the growth of an economy also depends on the inputs by the younger generation.”

He pointed out that there is need to promote the role of small scale farmers in the agricultural development as they have made major contributions towards enhancing a food secure economy.

IFAD is still committed to improving agricultural technologies such as tissue culture bananas to ensure farmers invest in farming activities which are affordable and productive.

Investment

Nwanze highlighted the importance of investing in rural areas.

This is the pathway for the development of the economy and will also help in the reducing rural urban migration.

“If we are able to stabilise the financial status of rural populations, they will not move to the urban areas in search of economic satisfaction,” explained Nwanze.

He urged farmers to take advantage of the advances in technology to improve agricultural productivity noting that farmers cannot using old farming methods whereas there are new technological methods for the same.

IFAD projects in the country has benefited thousands of small scale farmers. A farmer from Mururi Kirinyaga South, Ms Lizz Wan-

gari, says the projects have tremendously changed her life. Wangari, is a member of the Murindi Fresh Growers Self-Help Group that started the farming of tissue culture bananas three years ago. She says this has helped boost her family economically.

She said that the tissue culture banana farming pays off well as the bananas mature quickly, are free from diseases and of good quality compared to the other indigenous variety.

“We usually sell the bananas at KSh16 per kilogramme which is good money to support us economically,” she says.

Through the tissue banana farming Wangari has been able to educate her children, support the family’s daily needs and also start a dairy farming project.

Collecting firewood

She says: “The two income generating activities have been complementing each other as the animals produce manure for the bananas while at the same time the animals get food from the banana harvests. There are those who have benefitted from other activities like collecting firewood. Members of the Firewood Collection Self-Help Group Peninah Muthoni and Wanjagi Njiru, say collecting firewood in the Mt Kenya forest has completely changed their lives.

The group came up with an initiative of raising tree seedlings in which each member contributed KSh5 and labour for the project.

They have been selling the seedlings to IFAD through the Mt Kenya east pilot project for the conservation of the Mt Kenya forest.

Through the projects, the group has been able to rehabilitate the Irangi and Magacha forests of Mt Kenya. They have also been able to realize positive changes in their standards of living.

“We have been able to educate our children, supported our husbands in bringing up the family,” says Muthoni.

The women farmers thanked the IFAD for the continued support which they said have helped them develop economically and solve the problem of water shortage in the forest.

IFAD will continue supporting Kenya to ensure the country realises food security as it has great potential for agricultural productivity.

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Justice eludes defiled girl

By FLORENCE SIPALLA At just nine years of age, Beatrice* has been to hell and back. Not only was her innocence betrayed by a man she called her father, but she also has to wear a diaper. She has to contend with leaking faeces and urine as a result of repeated sexual assault at home.

When you meet Beatrice for the first time, she strikes one as a very confident young girl.

She is articulate and independent, a model student one would think. But even as she exudes confidence, she is no longer at ease.

Her future was nipped in the bud and she no longer goes to school. As this is what her life has become, Beatrice has learnt to be independent.

She changes her diaper without any help from her mother.

“She dropped out of school because the other children would laugh at her,” explains Getrude*, the girl’s mother.

“They say nilifanyiwa tabia mbaya (I was sexually abused),” explains Beatrice as she twiddles her thumb, perhaps willing the pain away.

Stigma

Her peers taunt her saying she was sexually abused and because of being stigmatised she stopped going to school.

“Even when I escort her to school, she is usually back home by 9 am,” laments Gertrude who has now resigned to the situation.

Beatrice’s problems at school began when the school board chairman publicly announced that she had been sexually assaulted. This perhaps well-intentioned message, only went on to make the situation worse as the girl became an object of ridicule among her peers.

Getrude explains that the chair who wanted to use Beatrice as an example, told parents to keep a watchful eye on their children as they could be targets of sexual abuse.

Getrude, 28, got married ten years ago. “I came (into the marriage) with Beatrice,” she says explaining that her husband is not the girl’s biological father. They later had two more children, aged three and a half and eight months. They lived together as a family, little did she know he would end up preying on their daughter.

In March this year, Getrude caught him redhanded sexually assaulting the child. She had suspected that something was amiss but could not place her finger on it.

“He would leave our bed at night but I never knew where he went. When I asked, he would tell me he was checking if Beatrice had wet her bed,” she says. But she was not convinced that was all, so she stayed awake one night to observe what happened.

“I watched him remove his shirt and trouser and place it on the cloth line. He then went

across the room where our daughter was sleeping. I watched him ‘sleep’ with her,” she explains wearing a stoic expression on her face.

Fearing that her husband would turn violent, Getrude did not speak up. “If I had spoken, he could have killed us,” she explains her inaction.

She instead opted to take her child for medical check–up the next day at Bluehouse clinic in Eastleigh which offers free medical services for children.

The City Council clinic that offers similar services in the vicinity of her home is closed on weekends. After reporting the matter at the Kariobangi Police Post, they went to the hospital Gertrude with her daughter Beatrice during the interview. The nine year old has been to get the medical report so she could repeatedly defiled by her stepfather who was recently released from police custody. complete a P3 form.

Picture: Reject Correspondent The police were hostile and even accused her of framing him. Upon her new neighbourhood. He then trailed Bea(mixture of maize and beans) for the children her return, she found them asking her trice as she was walking home from her grandto eat,” says Getrude. husband how much money he had, implying mother’s house.

Sadly, this is not a scenario unique to this they were willing to release him at a small fee.

“He came to me and asked for forgiveness. family. Mary Elias, a training coordinator with This was not the first time he was sexuHe said he had changed and would not repeat the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TIally assaulting their daughter. Getrude narrates what he had done,” narrates Getrude.

CAH) says: “We keep seeing such cases of abuse. how she first learnt of the ongoing molestation “I told him to go speak to our parents first There is a day when we came across nine cases of by her husband. “In 2005, when her father was before he could ask for my forgiveness.” sexual abuse among women and children.” leaving the house, Beatrice broke the silence Much as he did not go to see her parents, she Elias tells of many cases of defilement inand said: ‘Mum, I want to tell you something. let him back into their lives. cluding one where a man attacked three girls You need to know that dad is bad, when you go “He said he had changed, he even started gowhom he infected with the HIV virus. to Githurai to buy maize, he removes my uning to church. I forgave him as I believed the The organisation trains community health derwear and lies on my back.” change was real,” says Beatrice. workers who then identify such cases of abuse However, the change was short lived and and take action. They report the matter to the At the time, Getrude used to sell maize for a soon the man was back to his old ways. chief and there the wheels of justice begin to living and would leave the child in her father’s Despite the challenges, she managed to file run. care to go buy her supplies. Getrude then rea complaint. Her husband was remanded while ported the matter to the Kariobangi Police the case was being heard in court. However, he The NGO provides counselling to those afStation. was recently released. fected. “Parents need a lot of help particularly “He was arrested but a week later he had Now Getrude, who did not have legal repthose with low self esteem,” says Elias adding been released without any charges being levresentation fears that he might come after her that women in the slums need education on elled against him. I also took Beatrice to see a and harm her in revenge for taking legal action what they can do in such situations. doctor and he told me there was no evidence of against him.

She adds: “As much as we are giving them sexual abuse,” explains Getrude.

Getrude explains that the case was dismissed counselling, they also need material support.”

“This was about three days later and at the for lack of sufficient evidence. She has no job To avoid ending up in a similar predicament, time I did not know he was having anal sex and they were thrown out of their home due Getrude advises mothers to be vigilant and obwith her.” to rental arrears. Now the family lives with her serve abnormal behaviour in their children.

By this time, Getrude had taken the children mother in a one-roomed house. She struggles “Watch how they walk,” she urges. “A neighand moved to Kariobangi. Her husband then to find food for them. bour used to tell me my daughter walks like a asked around and managed to trace them to “If I am lucky to get KSh20, I buy githeri woman, suggesting that she was already engaging in sexual activity but I did not pay attention,” she says reflecting on hindsight.

Now Beatrice is better, but is yet to return to school. According to her mother, Beatrice says she will only go back to school if it is an all girls school and the teachers are all female, perhaps an indication that the girl is still traumatised.

— Getrude, mother *Not their real names.

Arrest

Support

“He would leave our bed at night but I never knew where he went. When I asked, he would tell me he was checking if Beatrice had wet her bed.”

Man gets life sentence for defiling nine-year-old

By FLORENCE SIPALLA A Githunguri court has sentenced a 50 year old man, James Muriithi for violently defiling a nine-year old girl.

In February 2010, Muriithi accosted Laila (not her real name) who was walking to school with her friends and accused her of stealing his pen. He then grabbed Laila and dragged her to a maize filed where he sexually assaulted her. Laila’s friends ran for help and returned with their teacher and classmates to

find Laila in bloodied and torn clothes.

The community acted fast and took Laila to the local police station to report the crime. She was then taken to the health centre where she was examined and treated.

The health centre then contacted the human rights agency International Justice Mission (IJM) which provided legal support and counselling support.

“Here is an example of the ideal community response to a child sexual abuse case,” said Mr Benson Shamala, Director of After-

care for IJM. “Everyone in Laila’s social circle was concerned and they played their part — from the police, the school, the hospital and her neighbours,” he added.

During the trial that took 10 months, the court listened to medical and eyewitness testimonies in determining the case. Addressing the accused while handing the stiff sentence, the magistrate said: “Although I see you are remorseful, the law is the law and what you did was bad.”

Laila and her mother are relieved to know the assailant cannot harm her further as he is going to be locked up for the rest of his life.

The girl continues to receive counselling support through an IJM aftercare partner.

Not many girls who find themselves in similar circumstances as Laila do get justice.

This is due to failure by the community to report such offences to the police. Even worse, some contract sexually transmitted diseases and are then stigmatised by the community after surviving such attacks.

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

First woman rally driver relives the historic moment

By ODHIAMBO ORLALE

Easter of 1974 will forever remain etched in the memory of Orie Rogo Manduli. She describes it as one of the best moments of her life.

That was the year that her dream came true. As a teenager, she became the first Kenyan woman to venture into the male-dominated “toughest rally” in the world, the East African Safari Rally!

The flamboyant socialite not only entered the race, but also proved to her critics that “anything a man could do, a woman could do even better”.

Her biggest supporter was her father. So strong was his support that he went ahead to empty their family savings to sponsor her in the rally. This he did despite strong protests and opposition from her mother who described her mission as “suicidal!”

Inspiration

Asked about who and what inspired her to go against the grain, Manduli reveals that she was frustrated seeing only men participating in the internationally recognised race in the heart of Africa, while the locals watched and cheered them along.

By then she had just completed her secondary school education and was fortunate, thanks to her beauty and aggressiveness, to land a part time job with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation then known as Voice of Kenya (VoK), as a broadcaster/presenter. The Safari Rally was her beat.

“I even saw foreign white women rally drivers come to participate but there was no African or Kenyan! It was then that I started asking where are the Kenyan and African women in this rally?” says the former rally driver with pride.

Manduli who was then using the name Mary Ondieki was also inspired by a Kenyan-Asian couple, the Chodas, who religiously participated in the rally, just for the thrill of it and not necessarily to win or finish.

The former rally ace took the guts to challenge Mrs Pauru Choda why she did not enter the rally as a driver with a woman navigator, instead of always being by her husband, Prem.

But Choda’s answer did not convince Manduli why women must accept the second place. She used that to go public in 1974 saying time had come for her to be the first African woman to participate in the Safari Rally.

From 1971, when she was engaged by VoK, Manduli agonised with that question for four years before finally deciding to venture in the foreign and male dominated sport that was reserved for the elite.

The driver’s seat

“I had asked the Asian lady why she always navigated for her husband. That is when I decided that I would be that driver in the next Safari, the first African woman behind the wheels!” says the former rally ace.

The first challenge after making that decision was to find an African woman who was ready to be her navigator. But thanks to having a childhood friend and soul-mate Pamela Anyango, who bought the idea as soon as Manduli raised it.

“Pamela accepted my offer immediately and was very excited about the adventure! We then organised and went on the first recce (survey) of the rally route in my personal car, a Citroen, because we did not have a race car like the professional drivers.”

However, their plans were nipped in the bud shortly before the rally when Anyango’s employer, IBM, decided to offer her training opportunity on computers in London, in the United Kingdom.

However, the hitch did not stop her as she managed to use her contacts and friends to recruit Ms Sylvia Omino, another close friend, to be her navigator. She was excited about the offer two weeks before the big event and “felt like fish in water!”

“By the eve of the rally, I put up a brave face but deep inside me I knew that we were short of a good rally car; had no funds for fuel; and we did not even know who would sponsor us for the 1974 rally!”

— Orie Rogo Now the next challenge was where to find the funds, sponsors and logistical support for the four-day gruelling event which started in Kenya, went to Uganda and Tanzania before ending in Nairobi.

Reveals Manduli: “By the eve of the rally, I put up a brave face but deep inside me I knew that we were short of a good rally car; had no funds for fuel; and we did not even know who would sponsor us for the 1974 rally!”

Meanwhile, the “rally girls”, as they were branded had become a darling of the local and international media, who gave them a lot of publicity in print and broadcast media.

Their efforts started to bear fruit when a handful of local firms agreed to sponsor them. These were Wrigley’s Chewing Gum Ltd; Metal Box (her former employer); Orbit Sports and HY Young Company.

Harambee

The sweet-talking former rally ace had to use her savings, donations from her dad, Councillor Gordon Washington Rogo, friends and well-wishers, who included her brother, Khama Rogo, and his Nairobi University student colleagues, who had organised a funds drive dance with the famous Mangelepa Band performing in Nairobi.

“My dad was the biggest sponsor and he emptied his lifetime savings just for me. However, my mum was totally against the move and almost got a fit when she heard what my dad had done,” recalls Manduli, who is the eldest of eight siblings.

The funds raised were used to import a brand new Mitsubishi Colt Gallant, through a Nairobi dealer, from Japan. But lady luck was not on their side as the vehicle arrived 48 hours before the start of the rally, contrary to the rally rules.

The duo had to test-drive their car from Nairobi to Mombasa on the eve of the flagging off by President Jomo Kenyatta, at Inter-Continental hotel, Nairobi, in order to “break the engine,” a practice done to all new cars.

So by the time they finally drove their car, registration number KPU 200, onto the ramp in the afternoon of Easter Friday, the two ladies were literally exhausted.

They put on a brave face thanks to the support of her dad, brother, eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and scores of chanting Nairobi University students who boosted their morale.

Something dramatic happened just before the President flagged them off: an old woman from Nyeri presented them with an orange as good luck fruit. University students broke the security cordoned forcing the presidential guards to cause a commotion; and it was at that point that Manduli’s daughter fell on the ground.

They had also received a carrot and a rabbit from officials of American and Canadian Women’s Associations as a symbol of good luck.

Continued on page 5

From top: Orie Rogo Manduli aka Mary Ondieki was the first Kenyan woman rally driver. Manduli (right) and her navigator Sylvia Omino receiving part of their sponsorship; Manduli (left) receives her documents from officials of the East African Safari Rally: Pictures: Reject Correspondent

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

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A nostalgic flashback to Easter and the rally fever

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, (left) Kenya’s first Vice-President flags off Joginder Singh and his co-driver from the starting ramp. Pictures: Reject Correspondent

First woman rally driver Continued from page 4 “The gun shot by the rally official alerting us to drive off, further caused more panic as I saw my baby fall down as the local and foreign journalists mobbed and bombarded me with questions about what I thought our chances were in the rally,” she recalls. All I remember saying was: “Where is my baby? I want my baby! As I drove off to start the first leg of the rally.”

The toughest part was crossing when their car developed mechanical problem in the middle of a herd of elephants next to a flooded river in Nkubu, Meru District. They also encountered another problem in the sand dunes when their car got stuck at Kora National Park in Marsabit district in Eastern Province because it was not fitted with a sandplate necessary for that terrain.

For several hours no one knew the whereabouts of “the girls”. Manduli’s father had to storm into VoK headquarters in Nairobi and demanded: “I

don’t want to hear you announce that you cannot locate the girls, go out and find the girls!”

Thank God the “girls” had been rescued by another local driver, Peter Shiyuka and managed to drive back to Nairobi safe and sound.

For the next two days, the girls gave their male rivals a run for their money, but were declared time-barred after returning to Nairobi to start the next leg to Uganda.

Asked 29 years later whether she would repeat the fete again if given a chance, a proud Manduli, responds: “We were instant celebrities to our fans even though we did not win or even finish the rally.”

In retrospect, the trailblazer says she was proud to have participated in the Safari Rally, and if given another chance she would do it all over again.

However, her regret is that no other local or African women have entered the rally since then: “Our women lack the spirit of adventure and the oomph of never say die! Our women are too docile and self editing,” she laments.

Continued from page 1 poration (KBC) beamed the event live. The print media reserved prime pages including a table which readers and rally enthusiasts could fill in details of how the drivers were progressing.

Meshack Ndolo, who was a student during the Safari Rally days remembers how the airwaves were flooded with news of who was driving what vehicle, names of the drivers and countries of origin. Details were so intense they included how far they had proceeded in the rally route.

By then, VoK was the sole broadcaster, as the airwaves had not been liberalised.

The only alternative for those who were not Safari Rally enthusiasts was either to switch off the radio and/or TV or to tune to foreign stations and or play the cassette recorder or record player.

The two local dailies, Daily Nation and East African Standard, also carried frontpage dazzling photos of the zooming rally cars literally flying in the air, splashing through a wet stretch, and/or billowing dust to enthusiastic crowds across the country.

Media coverage

All the local media houses assigned their senior reporters and photographers to cover the event round the clock, around the country throughout the four days, from the State-function during the flagging off of the first car by the Head of State, to the last team to cross the finish line and popping of champagne.

Says Ndolo: “I was young, but I loved to watch the photos of the rally cars flying in their air or splashing water along the route on TV and in the newspapers, as their supporters cheered them along. It was also a wonderful family outing just going out to see the new cars and helicopters trailing them along.”

In those days, VoK which became KBC in 1989, would stop all normal programming throughout the afternoon of the flagging off the rally cars and during the end of the event as the winners were interviewed and given the trophies. The event was then beamed across the world to foreign radio and TV stations. The demand for public-

ity was raised by the big turnout of world famous rally drivers like Kurt Waldergard among others.

Thereafter, the media houses, with the foreign journalists in tow, would give their listeners and viewers hourly updates of how the rally drivers were fairing. Print journalists reserved page one and several inside pages exclusively to who was winning, who was time-barred, who had mechanical problems and anything that was happening directly or indirectly about the Safari rally.

The rally was billed as the toughest motor event in the world by its organisers then.

It was made tough by the fact that it took place during the long rains and the roads that the drivers used were not tarmacked.

The mud and water added to the challenge and excitement.

Indeed, the annual rally was an opportunity for the best local and foreign photographers to prove their prowess by their imagination, creativity and sense of timing to get the award winning snaps of the event.

Another rally fan, was Vincent Nyagaya, who says he always looked forward to the Safari weekend as a student because his teachers expected them to write a composition after the holidays describing in details what they did and loved about the break.

“We would also use the weekend to make our own toys from clothes’ hangers and hold our own rally in the estate. It was real fun,” recalls Nyagaya.

But for Ruth Binga, the rally was considered a nuisance by her parents who were devoted Christians. They instead encouraged her and her siblings to concentrate on their studies and attend church.

“For us, the rally was a distraction from our books and church activities. I was never a big fan like some of my siblings,” Binga recalls. She is happy it was moved from Easter weekend.

I feel nostalgic as I look forward to this year’s Easter holiday missing the dramatic coverage of the Safari Rally drivers, and an opportunity for families and friends to drive into the rural areas and enjoy a picnic along strategic areas along the route and have a jolly good time. How I wish I could turn the clock back.

The treacherous 45 degree junction

By NJUGUNA MUTONYA The Safari Rally was the single most important event and treat for the villagers of Gatura in Muranga District during the Easter holidays especially in the 1970s. The greater Gatura lay at the foot of the Aberdares Ranges and was the turning point for the fast moving cars whooshing down the bends and spins of the steep valleys on their way from the Solio Ranch in Nakuru.

The next major stop was the Outspan Hotel in Nyeri, on the slopes of Mt Kenya before heading to Meru and then winding back on the same route to finish in Nairobi.

For two days the villagers, old and young, would gather at the treacherous 45 degree junction at the chiefs camp to watch the large number of souped-up engines roaring past to the excitement of the crowd which always had a soft spot for the local drivers like Joginder Singh, Davinder Singh and even local boys like Kim Gatende and George Githu.

It was a no miss event and even the local chief and priests (including my late grandmother) would spend the night there awaiting the distant cars tracing patterns in the sky with their harsh headlights before roaring down on us at breakneck speed to skid in sometimes 360 degrees turns before finding their direction.

As young teenagers, we competed in screaming out the names of international and local stars like Sandro Munari, Bjorn Waldegaard and the local favourites like Vic Preston Junior in their Lancia Stratos and Porsche Carreras.

Without the Safari Rally, Easter would have been a dry common-place school holiday like all the others apart from the numerous church services especially for the Catholics.

The roaring cars and the adrenaline rush they caused was worth the long hours in the dark or under the falling rain the next day as we waved at them at the Shopping centre on their way to the Naivasha and the final run to Nairobi. It was the real test of man and machine.

A Safari Rally driver stranded in one of the treacherous routes awaits for help.

Pictures: Reject Correspondent.

6

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Mwingiwood comes to Ukambani with a bang

By PAUL KIMANZI

If what a group of youth in Mwingi District is doing is anything to go by, Kenyans may soon shift their attention from Nigerian movies and focus on what these young Kenyan actors have to offer.

Tens of youth from the dusty little Katiliku village, Kanzanzu location, in Mwingi Central have released their first movie that addresses moral decay in a society.

The young actors have done a play named Mwende (love) in their movie entitled Moving Masses to Christ (MM2C), which runs for 90 minutes written in Kamba dialect. In the movie, the actors bring into play unwarranted romantic relationships that eventually result in sexually transmitted infections and the spread of HIV and Aids.

HIV/Aids campaign

“There have been aggressive campaigns to raise awareness about HIV/Aids but youth are still dying from the vice. That is why we have highlighted this problem in our movie. Given that Kenyans are staunch fans of movies, we believe they will be able to pay attention,” says Ms Grace Syombua Mulwa, the movie producer.

She says this generation has pleaded ignorance and turned a blind eye on matters of sex and sexuality. As a result, many have fallen victim to the deadly scourge. “We believe we will change their mentality in our movie,” Mulwa observes.

If their business materialises, the fight against HIV and Aids may take a new dimension.

After market testing of the first movie, the group will soon release a second film touching

on matters of immorality, peer pressure and drug abuse. This time round they will act in English so as to reach out to more Kenyans.

Narrating how they successfully ventured into the film industry, which most Kenyans believe is ‘Nigerian business’, Mulwa said it started like a church concert in 2008. Little did they know it would be a stepping stone into the movie business.

“We first did an interesting concert in church and this set the ball rolling for our venturing into the film industry when the church commended us for the job well done with many telling us that we could act in a movie. It then dawned on us that we were sitting on talent,” explains Mulwa.

The movie director, Ms Mercy Mawia Mulwa says: “We formed a team of four officials. Since none of us was a professional, we hired a cameraman for video coverage and all the shooting was done in Mwingi.”

The other youth who are part of this group include James Muinde (chairman), and Samuel Kimanzi (secretary). The four are local university students while the rest of the actors are either in primary or high schools.

“The movie has 22 active characters with ten of them playing major roles,” explains Muinde.

The actors belong to Independent Presbyterian Church (IPC) in Katiliku, about three kilometres from Mwingi town, along the Mwingi– Garissa road.

Among the challenges the group faced in making their dream come true was financial constraints. With support from the church, they successfully mobilised funds.

“We are just establishing ourselves in the market. It is just a question of time and you will

From left: Grace Syombua, James Muinde and Mercy Mawia display DVDs of their movie. Picture: Paul Kimanzi see us bring Nigeria to Kenya,” joked Mulwa.

Area residents could not hide their excitement after watching the film. Commenting on the innovation, Kyalo Mbuku said their village may soon rise through the ranks by setting agenda for the whole nation.

Another resident identified as Joseph Mwangangi from the same location joked, “we have

our little Nigeria right here in Kenya”.

A woman from the neighbouring village Ngunikila who also watched the movie titled Musungi Kiteme, said: “Syana situ syika nesa kusomethya andu (our children are doing a commendable job to educate people).”

The movie is on DVD and is retailing at KSh200 a copy.

Guard on illegal detention acquitted of all charges

By JENNIE OZUMBA After five months of languishing in jail, Aggrey a 26-year-old father of one is now a free man having been acquitted of false charges of theft that would have kept him in prison for up to seven years.

“When I first heard the verdict, I felt like getting on my knees to pray, but I realised that I was in court, so I whispered a prayer to thank God for my acquittal,” he recalls.

Full of hope and expectation, Aggrey had moved from his village hours from Nairobi to the capital city, where he hoped to earn a more secure future for himself and his expectant wife.

With little educational background, he gained employment as a security guard, and was assigned to the night shift, guarding the offices of a telecommunications company.

Night shift

On February 4, last year, Aggrey took over from the day security guard at 6.00 pm. Around 1.00 am, Aggrey noticed some suspicious activity around the guard post. Before he could react, Aggrey was overpowered by two men. Provided with no whistle or torch by his employer, Aggrey was defenceless — and with no alarm installed in the building, there was no way he could summon help. He was bound and robbed, with a gun held to his throat. Leaving him in a state of shock, the men proceeded to enter the offices and stole close to KSh500,000 worth of goods and cash (approximately $6,000).

Badly shaken, Aggrey screamed for help, but no one heard his cries. Afraid of what the thieves would do to him, he waited until the men left and struggled free from the ropes used to bind him. Desperate to alert his manager of the incident, he ran on foot to the headquarters 10 minutes away.

Aggrey summoned his manager and re-

turned with him to the compound, where they were met by security guards from a neighbouring facility who had come upon hearing the commotion, the local police and the owner of the business. The owner was anxious to make a successful insurance claim for his loss and his policy required evidence of arrest. Apparently, feeling pressure to move ahead with the case, the police arbitrarily arrested Aggrey — despite the complete lack of any evidence against him, and the fact that there would have been no way for him to successfully dispose of the stolen materials before making it to his manager’s office.

He was charged with breaking into a building to commit a felony and neglecting to prevent a felony, and thrown into Nairobi Industrial Remand Prison.

Life in the remand was not easy for Aggrey.

He has a serious health condition and during that time was unable to access his medications.

Back in the village, his wife had given birth to their first child. The situation seemed hopeless.

No evidence

Fortunately, Aggrey’s sister works as a prison warden in Nairobi and knew where to go for help. She referred Aggrey’s case to International Justice Mission Kenya, whose advocates quickly stepped in and began collecting evidence and detailing witness statements that proved Aggrey’s innocence and wrongful imprisonment.

“The police did not have any evidence

against Aggrey,” explains Ronald Rogo, head of interventions for IJM Kenya. The team knew they could make a strong case to prove Aggrey’s innocence.

“What strikes me the most about this case and other illegal detention cases is how poverty contributes to someone’s vulnerability,” observes George Obiero, psychologist and IJM aftercare specialist.

Rescue

Not able to afford a lawyer, Aggrey would have no one to stand up for him Aggrey, happy to be free again after being and refute the baseless charges. His vocaincarcerated on theft charges has moved back tion left him particularly vulnerable. to the village to be with his young family.

“IJM has represented 13 more men Picture: Jennie Ozumba who work as security guards and have been wrongfully charged with robbery,” explains Rogo. fused to testify at the trial, the magistrate beFor Aggrey, help came quickly. The IJM lieved Aggrey, acquitting him of all charges. team was able to ensure that he was released on Rather than become bitter about his treatfree bond by July. Over the course of the case, ment, Aggrey has become more appreciative of Aggrey grew resilient. When asked about how the court system and how easily people can be he felt, Aggrey remarked that he was confident oppressed. He shared with IJM staff that, if givthat there would be a good outcome once IJM en the opportunity, he would like to become a came on the scene. He was sure of his innolegal assistant someday, advising people of their cence and was put at ease when he knew that rights and helping to prevent similar situations someone would tell the truth on his behalf in from occurring. court.

For now, Aggrey has moved back to the vilIn January 2011, the final verdict was delage to be with his young family and take up livered just as Aggrey predicted his name was farming. completely cleared.

“When I first came to Nairobi, I was very naDue to the evidence presented by IJM advoïve. After this experience, I am much wiser and cates and the fact that the investigative officer remore aware of what goes on,” he says.

Unfortunately during his legal battles, his home was destroyed by a fire, but he is free and the family has hope. Together with his wife, Aggrey is rebuilding their home.

Instead of wasting away in prison, Aggrey will be present for his daughter’s childhood.

He and his wife are thinking of starting a small business.

Not able to afford a lawyer, Aggrey would have no one to stand up for him and refute the baseless charges. His vocation left him particularly vulnerable.

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

7

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

High medical costs drive women to home deliveries

By HUSSEIN DIDO Majority of pregnant mothers in Isiolo and Marsabit Counties still give birth at home exposing their lives and that of their unborn babies to danger.

Medical practitioners in the two counties have raised concern that more than half of the expectant mothers risk contracting HIV/ Aids during child birth in the hands of traditional birth attendants (TBA) unless measures are put in place to address the challenges.

No family planning

According to the nurse-in-charge of Merti Health Centre, Mrs Dimtu Guyo most of the women in the rural areas in Merti and remote districts prefer traditional birth attendants due to low cost, involved during child birth.

The Reject visited Merti Health Centre and later a home where a woman had just given birth with the help of traditional birth attendants.

Thirty-year-old Mother of four, Asna Hussein has only given birth in hospital once at the Merti Health Centre following complications during delivery.

She said unlike traditional birth attendants who console mothers, nurses in medical institutions harass them and at times use abusive language.

Other than not giving birth in hospital, Hussein has not embraced contemporary methods of family planning. She prefers traditional and natural family planning adding that she has been having children every two years.

“It is God who feeds every one. We have no business practicing family planning,” says Hussein.

However, Hussein is not alone in this predicament. The Reject established that only few women in the remote rural areas manage to give birth in health facilities despite successfully attending ante-natal clinics.

Medical practitioners say the mothers are only referred to hospital when complications arise during child birth.

Guyo reiterates that some traditional birth attendants accompany their clients to the health facilities for help when they seek services at the institutions.

Complications

This is very common in Merti District. One mother walked for an hour from her village in Manyatta Gana to the health facility to access the medical services. The woman who had already undergone three days of labour was too weak to push the baby.

“Most of the mothers shy away from the skilled health care services due to the costs involved and the long distances from the villages

to the centres,” says Guyo.

The Government has been now forced to pay a token of KSh100 to traditional birth attendants to discourage women from giving birth at home.

“We encourage women to visit health facilities with their own traditional birth attendants for them to learn and observe,” explains Guyo.

Although the government had waived fees for those giving birth at district health facilities, this directive has not been effected two years after it Asna Hussein a mother of four has never been was issued by then Minister for Health, to hospital for skilled birth attendance. Inset: Mrs Charity Ngilu.

Maternal health care across the Hussein’s baby who had just been delivered by a country is subsidised by the UNICEF traditional birth attendant when the Reject team which has partnered with the Ministry visited the home. Pictures: Hussein Dido of Medical Services to pay hospitals for women KSh1,000 for delivering at the hospital. every birth in health facilities. The UN The women are also asked to buy soap, hand body pays KSh725 for every delivery but medical gloves and cotton wool. facilities such as Isiolo District Hospital charge

Drug to save mothers from bleeding to death

By JANE GODIA Tabitha John was in her last trimester when labour set in. Not near a medical facility, she had a traditional birth attendant who could attend to her in case the baby decided to come before they reached skilled care.

However, there was need to get Tabitha to hospital where she would get proper handling.

With no access to ambulance services, Tabitha and the TBA called in a taxi that would take her to the medical facility. On the way, labour was equally progressing and the baby was ready to come out even before they arrived.

What would Tabitha do? Would she give birth in a taxi? No she had to come out of the vehicle and the TBA helped her deliver by the roadside.

What if complications arose? What if she haemorrhaged? “I was well equipped. I had been given three tablets of misoprostol to take immediately after giving birth should I have to deliver away from a medical facility,” says Tabitha.

No haemorrhage

After giving birth, Tabitha went back home where she was cleaned up before going to hospital for check up. “I was found to be okay and so was the baby,” she says.

The misoprostol saved Tabitha from haemorrhaging. Tabitha is among the 3,800 women who were on a pilot project of the misoprostol that was carried out in Kitui and Maragua.

Misoprostol is a drug registered in Kenya as an essential drug and was being tested out on pregnant women in the two districts. Availability of three tablets, taken immediately after the birth of a baby has saved women from haemorrhaging to death.

The Misoprostol is being used to protect the mother’s life after birth. It is given to women who attend ante-natal clinic. They are supposed to have it with them at the time of delivery whether at home or in a health facility.

While the women in Maragua have the advantage of being attended to by community midwives, who are trained health personnel, the women in Kitui do not have that luxury and have to rely on TBAs.

Maternal deaths due to excessive bleeding has been a cause of concern all over the world.

In the Millennium Development Goals, Number Five tasked governments to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality by three quarters.

According to the World Health Organisation up to 358,000 women die each year in pregnancy and childbirth. Most of them die because they had no access to skilled routine and emergency care. Since 1990, some countries in Asia and Northern Africa have more than halved maternal mortality. There has also been progress in sub-Saharan Africa.

But here, unlike in the developed world where a woman’s life time risk of dying during or following pregnancy is one in 4,300, the risk of maternal death is very high at one in 31. It therefore important to ensure that the quality of care provided is optimal. In Kenya, access to skilled health care remains a challenge as facilities are far from many in the rural and slum areas. Access to skilled health care in Kenya has gone down from 50 percent in 1989 to 44 percent in 2008-2009.

natal care to expectant mothers so they can have protection against post-partum haemorrhage,” explains Quereshi.

Doctors who were involved in the project are all agreeable that the rate of maternal mortality in this country is not acceptable.

According to Dr Nuriye Hodoglugil of Venture Strategies Innovations, the firm that developed misoprostol, they are looking at how to enhance prevention of maternal mortality and hence development of Professor Joseph Karanja of the University of the drug.

Nairobi’s medical school with Dr Nuriye Hodoglugil “Mothers are dying not because of Venture Strategies Innovations display the we do not have the technology but misoprostol drug that helps stop excessive bleeding because of accessibility,” explained after delivery. Picture: Reject Correspondent Hodoglugil. She said the drugs that are currently available are in injecthe drug is important for women who cannot tion form, easily sensitive to light access skilled health care. and must be administered by a skilled worker in According to Professor Joseph Karanja of a health facility.

University of Nairobi who was also part of the There was need to identify an intervention project, the introduction of misoprostol was which is simple and effective. One that has high done at community level after looking at the situation of maternal health in Kenya. “The situation was getting worse having moved to 488 deaths per 100,000 births up from 414. This is well above the MDG target of 147 by 2015,” explained Karanja.

“I was well equipped. I had been given three tablets of misoprostol to take immediately after giving birth should I have to deliver away from a medical facility.”

— Tabitha John The Countdown to 2015 indicates that the leading cause of maternal death in Kenya is haemorrhage at 34 percent; hypertension 19 percent; indirect causes; 17 percent; other direct causes 11 percent; abortion nine percent; sepsis nine percent and embolism nine percent.

According to Dr Zahida Quereshi, one of the doctors leading the pilot project on misoprostol, bleeding after birth or post-partum haemorrhage remains the leading cause of maternal mortality. “Misoprostol is given at ante-

coverage and one which all women who deliver will receive as an intervention. The intervention also had to be cost effective. Misoprostol is a drug that easily meets these challenges.

According to Hodoglugil: “The drug comes in tablet form and is easy to use as it is a single dose. It is a good alternative where injectibles are not feasible.” She added: “It is also safe to use in home births and can be provided by community level providers or the mother can be trained to use the drug herself.” Hodoglugil reiterated that

Education

With the drug being provided in an antenatal clinic it presents an opportunity to educate women on post-partum haemorrhage and also enable distribution easily to women who cannot deliver at a health facility.

According to Karanja, over half of Kenyan women deliver at home. “Women in rural areas are less likely to deliver at a health facility,” he reiterated.

The misoprostol if correctly used should be taken immediately after the baby is born but before the delivery of the placenta.

The aim of the project was to create community awareness on birth preparedness and postpartum haemorrhage prevention.

8

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Samburu’s silent heroine shines amid stigma

By MUKTAR ABDI She maybe uneducated but that has not stopped her from raising her voice. She speaks about a subject many women from her Samburu community including the elite consider a taboo to talk about.

Among the pastoralist community, men are considered custodians of culture. Women are not supposed to go against the grain no matter how bad they may be.

However, Ms Salome Lenawasae, 38, a mother of six decided to go against the oppressive culture, an action that has endeared her to some but earned her the title of ketolo (an outcast) from her fellow women in the Samburu community.

“I have been branded ketolo for fighting for my daughters’ wellbeing. The fight has now made me an outcast in my community and I am being treated as if I have killed somebody,” she says.

Forced marriage

Lenawasae’s childhood experiences made her feel less a human being as she was just an object to her husband. She had hoped to at least complete her primary school education but her dreams were cut short by her father’s greed for bride price at the age of 12.

“I was forced to drop out of Standard Three to become a herdsman’s wife by my father so that he could get dowry in form of livestock. To him educating a girl was a waste of time,” she explains.

At the age of 20, Lenawasae was a mother of four and her main chore was herding goat and sheep. Her husband would beat her occasionally if the animals got lost or if she did something that he thought was wrong.

Thirty years later, the desire by Lenawasae to see her daughter’s life take a different path prompted her to do things that have separated her from family and community.

Today, she lives with her three school-going children in Ms Salome Lenawasae (right) who decided to go against the outskirts of Rumuruti town, Laikipia County. the oppressive culture, an action that has endeared her It was the urge to educate her daughter that forced to many is decorated by Ms Jane Meriwas from Samburu Lenawasae to live far from her matrimonial home.

Women for Education and Empowerment Development For several months, she relied on well wishers for basic Organization. Below: Ms Salome Lenawasae decorates a needs like food and shelter. Two years ago, she started makbelt with beads at her home in Rumurati town which she ing beaded ornaments for sale. will sell to raise money to carter for her family’s needs.

The daughter who made Lenawasae take the bold step Pictures: Muktar Abdi is now in Standard Eight at a local school. Had the mother remained silent like majority of the women in her community have continued to do, the girl would have been married off at a tender age of 11 back in 2006.”

My parents forced me out of school against my wishes and got me married. I am now ready to educate my two daughters and ensure they are not turned into young brides,” reiterates Lenawasae who is now a mother of six. She lives with her two daughters and a son while three elder sons were left with her husband.

Mother’s joy

Speaking outside her falling timber house, Lenawasae says despite the hardships she is going through, she is happy that her daughter will be joining secondary school next year.

“We may not be leading a comfortable life here but the source of my happiness is in school like other children and no elderly suitor eying her like it happened to me,” she observes.

The daughter who performs well in school would be someone’s wife and probably a mother of two by now if her father’s plans to marry her off succeeded.

“I know the problems my mother has undergone for my sake.

I have vowed not to let her down and my prayer is that my dream of becoming a doctor will be fulfilled so that girls can know the importance of education,” says the KCPE candidate.

The action Lenawasae took was a daring one and whenever she narrates it to fellow women, many are left agape.

Among the Samburu community, women have little say and few can dare question any decision made by their husbands no matter how oppressive it may be.

Hence, a move by a woman to stop a planned marriage for her daughter behind her husband’s back is a peculiar one.

Lenawasae says it was not easy to rescue her daughter from the moran (community warrior) who had already paid three cows as the bride price. She had to involve the Catholic Church and later the provincial administration to ensure that her daughter was safe.

According to her community, culture dictates that once the bride price had been paid, it should not be returned and the suitor must get a wife from that family.

So the suitor eventually got a bride from the family though it was not one of Lenawasae’s daughters. “I waited until my daughters and others were to undergo circumcision which was a big ceremony organised at Ngalema-ra in Ol Moran division of Laikipia West district. A few days to the circumcision day, I arranged

“My parents forced me out of school against my wishes and got me married.

I am now ready to educate my two daughters and ensure they are not turned into young brides.”

— Salome Lenawasae

with a friend who took her to Suguta Primary School in Samburu West District which is run by the Catholic Church,” she told the Reject.

A few days later, her husband suspected that she had a hand in their daughter’s disappearance and raised tension in the homestead demanding that she returns the girl.

She was forced out of the house and settled far away from home with her children as nobody wanted to be associated with her.

Today, Lenawasae does not regret her action despite the hardships she has endured. Now many women listen to her and a few appreciate the need to educate their daughters.

She says her action has become an eye-opener and she has been preaching the gospel to other women to liberate themselves.

Entrenched practice

According to a women rights activist Ms Jane Meriwa, the fight to have pastoralists’ girls in school is far from being won.

Meriwa, who is the director of Samburu Women for Education and Empowerment Development Organization (SWEEDO) says enforcing the rights of the girl child through use of legislation like what is spelt out in the new Constitution may not be very effective.

“The practice is so entrenched in the culture and administrators like chiefs who are supposed to arrest the culprits actually participate in marriage ceremonies involving underage girls,” says Meriwa, a Samburu who is among the few lucky women in her community to have been educated beyond high school.

Her views are supported by Laikipia West Children’s Officer, Mr Peter Mwangi who says despite the existence of laws that criminalise early child marriages, many cases go unreported among the pastoralists.

Mwangi cites a recent case where a Standard Five pupil from Thome village was to be married off but her teacher got wind of the plans and reported to the children’s office. The girl’s father was arrested.

For good results to be realised, a new approach is necessary.

“In order to convince our people not to marry off their daughters, the voices of role models need to be heard,” Meriwa observes. She adds: “Elders need to appreciate that an educated woman can buy cattle for them and livestock wealth does not necessarily have to come from bride price.”

She says there is little to celebrate about in terms of the gains made on women’s empowerment among her community.

“Lenawasae is a silent Samburu heroine and her daughter’s dream to study up to university level deserves to be supported,” says Meriwa.

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

9

Power of the evil stare reigns over Gusii

By GODFREY MACHUKA A people widely known as farmers especially for bananas, tea and sugarcane, the Abagusii are somewhat silent in portraying their cultural activities, perhaps because they have gradually embraced foreign cultures.

Sadly, an undying evil clings on the reputation of this industrious community that no matter how hard the society tries to ignore and or blame it on superstition, its presence remains unchallenged; the possibility of the power of witches.

Evil eye

Common among the various forms of witchcraft in this region is the evil eye believed to be targeting young children through a fervent stare by a witch. Known as ebibiriri in Ekegusii, this form of witchcraft is fatal to children particularly because it is said to be transferred instantly and from a close distance.

A traditional medicine woman in Ibacho sub-location, Ibacho division, Masaba South district, Ms Eunice Michori is an expert in diagnosing cases in which young children have been victims of the said witchcraft. She confirms the power of the evil stares over babies and sometimes pregnant mothers.

“A child will often cry non-stop, his belly

swells and hardens as he kicks due to the pain he is feeling,” Michori explains. “When a mother notices such signs in her baby she will often contact me for help.”

With her tools of trade; some petroleum jelly, a coin and a sufuria of water, Michori waves her magic by wiping the jelly applied on the skin of the baby to feel the little particles of harmful dirt that got transferred to the child’s body in the event of the bewitching.

She says it is the particles in the child’s body that result in the uncomfortable fever.

She then uses water boiling in a sufuria with a coin in it to ‘coordinate’ the extraction of those particles.

“Often, if the child has been bewitched, I or anybody else will feel and see the particles of either cloth, sand, dry grass, grains or anything that was present at the event of bewitching and will be able to pick them from the child’s skin,” explains Michori. “The same particles will be deposited in the boiling water.”

She goes ahead to warn that if the child in question is given medical care especially an injection, then death is inevitable. “Annually, an average of four children die as a result of this form of witchcraft in this village. It is partly because mothers are not be able to tell what ails the child and thus take risks in getting medical attention,” explains Michori.

She says that witches target young children mostly because they admire them and are envious.

She also confesses that it is hard to diagnose this problem in older people especially pregnant mothers though cases involving them are rare.

“These witches also target animals or plants.

However, it becomes hard to intervene in the case of animals and they die as plants dry,” she offers.

Michori discloses that light skinned babies are common victims and many witches can be found hanging around health clinics and churches to relieve themselves the accumulated urge to transfer the powers of evil from their bodies to others.

Protection

Defence mechanisms include dressing babies in red clothes especially when exposing them to crowds.

“Red colour is believed to be unfriendly to these people so they will keep their eyes away,” observes Michori. She adds that charms and other animal by-products such as fat from pigs applied on babies’ foreheads can be used as defence against the evil eye.

Some beliefs suggest that by dressing children with their inner wear inside out or wearing necklaces made out of seeds of certain trees will pro-

tect them against the powers of this witchcraft.

In adverse cases, some suspected perpetrators of witchcraft have faced the wrath of their neighbours by being lynched, chased away from their homes or having their homes set ablaze.

Self-confessed witches of this kind have been assisted in seeking the help from traditional medicine men. They are subsequently warned against eating mutton.

A witch who sought anonymity said she inherited the practice from her late mother who had also inherited it from her lineage. This trend seems to excite the locals into lynching such families.

“My mother ran away from home for fear of being lynched,” narrates the witch. It later emerged that her family was targeted unless they renounced the practice. That is how she escaped a date with death from angry villagers.

Some religious leaders in this region admit the existence of this kind of witchcraft, confesses a local church leader: “I have personally seen children suffer and die out of this practice and to ignore them as mere superstition only perpetuates the dangers they pose to the community,” explains Jefferson Momanyi, an elder at Mobamba SDA church.

As uncomfortable as it may be for the Abagusii to discuss this retrogressive practice, their wish is that it will one day die.

Witchcraft allegations see community losing its elderly

By FIBI DAVID Cold blood murders have engulfed communities in Malindi and Magarini constituencies of Kilifi County. The elderly in these two constituencies are living in fear of youth who are accusing them of practicing witchcraft.

Between last year and now, more than 27 elderly people have been killed within Magarini and Malindi District, eight having been lynched in the past two months alone. Those who fall victim to the murders are elderly men and women aged 60 and above.

One village elder, Mzee Kazungu Mranja of Timboni Mjanaheri in Gongoni within Magarini Constituency was killed at his home by angry youth who claimed he was practicing witchcraft.

An unknown gang invaded his home in November last year, dragged him out of his house and chopped off his head, accusing him of bewitching a young school girl in the neighbourhood.

Oath of proof

According to Kaya Elder in Magarini Mr Charo Menza, Mranja had earlier been taken to a traditional oath administrator (mganga wa kiapo) in Kinango in Kwale County to take an oath of proof but was found to be clean and not practicing the vice.

“We took Mranja to a traditional oath administrator in Kinango after he was alleged to have bewitched a school girl where the oath taken turned on his favour. We wonder why these youths had to kill him since there was enough evidence to indicate that he was not a witch,” explains Menza.

According to Mijikenda culture, suspected witches are usually taken to experts commonly known as traditional oath administrators who conduct a ceremony that is expected to determine whether or not they practice the vice.

During the oath, a young raw pawpaw fruit is peeled by the administrators who then pray before it is given to the suspect to chew. If the suspect manages to chew the fruit comfortably, then he is exonerated as it indicates that he does not practice witchcraft.

Menza, who is the head man and an expert of the Mijikenda culture and traditions within the community, claims that the elderly are being victimised by the youth.

“Most of the suspected witches usually turn out

to be innocent when taken to the administrators who are believed to be experts in proving the vice but unfortunately, the youths still target the elderly.

He condemns the killings of the elderly noting that this might be as a result of family conflicts especially in cases of land ownership.

During a recent baraza, Magarini District Commissioner, Mr Richard Karani accused the political leadership within the region of neglecting the matter since they have failed to address it in their meet the people rallies.

Victims

Karani said most of the murders took place just when the harvesting season approached.

“This indicates the community’s quest for celebrations since in most of the Mijikenda culture, death normally is marked by celebration which includes singing, dancing, drumming, consuming the local brew commonly known as mnazi (palm wine) and more,” explained Karani.

Three elderly men, two from Magarini and one from Malindi were murdered in cold blood on the same evening in December at different scenes when groups of youth hunted them to death.

The three, Saidi Lukole Wario, Kahindi Kenga aged 70 and 60 respectively from Midodoni, Ngomeni in Magarini and Josephat Mumba from Madunguni in Malindi were brutally murdered on the same night.

Lukole was going home after harvesting honey from his shamba when he came across a gang of youth who killed him. He was found lying dead in a pool of blood by the roadside by passersby who broke the news to the villagers.

It is alleged that some family members suspected him of practicing witchcraft and claimed he had bewitched one of his grandchildren.

In the other two incidents, Kahindi Kenga and Josphat Mumba were attacked in their homestead the same night by different gangs who hacked them with pangas and other crude weapons.

Malindi Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Mr David Kerina confirmed the constant murders of suspected witches saying the gangs are youth who smoke bang and turn their wrath on the elderly.

Kerina said murders have increased in the region. “Six other suspected witches escaped death narrowly in Gongoni a week after groups

of youth raided their homes and burnt down their houses.”

He urged the youth to change from their poor cultural behaviors as this has contributed to the killings of the aged which threatens to finish the entire generation. Malindi DC, Mr Arthur Mugira who was the DC for the larger Malindi and Magarini has mobilized several village and Kaya Elders to sensitise the youth against the vice.

He at one time initiated a program where he mobilized all Kaya and village elders within the districts to intervene in cases of witchcraft suspects and allowed them to conduct their traditional ways to get rid of the witchcraft.

Mobilising elders

Said Mugira: “Areas of Magarini especially Mjanaheri, Timboni, Marereni, Ngomeni and parts of Malindi especially in Madunguni and Goshi have idle youth who engage in smoking bang and killing the elderly.”

Youth from Mjanaheri, Timboni, Marereni, Ngomeni and Magarini have engaged their lives to sand harvesting which generates them daily income and engage themselves in drug abuse which in turns influences them to kill the elderly.

“I am worried about how the youths can change their behaviour since most of them are illiterate. The youths from Magarini have failed to go to school and in idling target the elderly as witches,” said Mugira.

Illiteracy among the youth, lack of employment and drug abuse has been blamed for

Members of Kazungu Mwenda’s family are brought to the police station after he was killed on allegations that he had bewitched his grandson. Inset: Malindi Kaya elder Katana Kalulu says the killings have become rampant within the community. Pictures: Jackson Mleka contributing to the killings of innocent elderly people.

Gongoni area Chief Julius Kiribai urged the government to intervene and save the elderly since the killings have become uncontrollable within the community. Kiribai has raised concern over the challenges they faced in arresting murder suspects in most incidents since they lacked cooperation from family members as most of the murders were linked to the families.

10

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

No fishy business at the Naivasha market

By MACHARIA MWANGI

There is nothing remarkable about the place. If anything it looks dull with several shanties dotting the place. Aging stalls dot the fish market giving semblance to a place that gets to life as the day wears on.

Well, the place known as banda, (stalls) busts into verve at midday when more than 100 fishmongers, mostly women, converge to sell fish to the hundreds of customers who throng the shabby outlet.

Located more than five kilometres from Naivasha town, the approximately ten minute ride using either a boda boda or cab is a nightmare with dust swivelling constantly.

But it is here that these women are eking out a living, selling fish from the nearby Lake Naivasha.

So popular is the place, that one is likely to miss a seat in the squeaky chairs come lunchtime.

Popular place

Hungry customers throng the place in droves as they seek to eat either roasted Tilapia — a scarce species, Black Bass of the hugely popular Common Carp, that is the dominant species in the Lake.

Hygiene is relegated to the back burner as customers sample sumptuous meals against a background of swarming flies and scavenging birds. “Never knew the place is so popular,” remarks Juliet Kanyi, a friend, as she orders roasted fish worth KSh100.

Another customer, John Odongo is also haggling for a fish and weighs in, adding that the fresh fish makes the place a beehive of activity.

“At least here one is assured of fresh fish unlike many other places,” Odongo states energetically.

Peninah Adhiambo, a fish monger has been in the market for the last five years. She is happy with the returns. “I have been able to bring up my children with the fish proceeds,” she explains. She sells fish on wholesale and gets between KSh10 and KSh20 per fish depending on the size. She gets her supplies from the fishermen who ply the trade inside the fresh waters of Lake Naivasha.

Another fishmonger, Pamela Atieno who has been buying and selling fish here for the last 10 years has seen it all. “Business used to be good but the dwindling fish stock is hurting business,” says Atieno.

Since the decline of the popular Tilapia, most customers have opted out. “We now depend on Common Carp which is less popular

among our clients,” she explains.

Having fled the town at the height of the post election violence that rocked the Lake side town, she had a reason to return and continue running the business that she knows best.

Nancy Kiche, the youngest of the lot was lured from her Kisumu home to come and peddle fish. “I was informed of the quick buck by my friends and I came to try my luck,” she narrates.

Bubbling with ambition to excel in life, she is not disappointed. “My life is a lot better now than when I was idling at home,” she says. It is clear that the busy fish market is offering a financial lifeline to women who either could be whiling their days in the backyard of their houses or just idling around.

However, all the fish mongers are in agreement that the dilapidated place needs a facelift to go with the status of a new commercial hub. They have thrown down the gauntlet to the local municipal council to improve the fortunes of the place being a major revenue earner.

“We need modern stalls and coolers to store our fish when we don’t deplete our stocks,” observes Atieno.

Sustainability

The traders are forced to hire coolers at the nearby Naivasha town to store their fish making their fortunes dwindle.

“The profit margin is small and we cannot afford such undertakings,” she reiterates.

Women doing business here are alive to the dangers of the unhygienic conditions but again challenge the council to improve the sanitary conditions of the place.

Those active enough have started a saving scheme to bail out members but the savings are hardly enough. “We need a serious organisation that can grant us loans to enable us purchase more stocks,” says Atieno.

It’s not a rosy affair for the determined women. They are forced to endure a threemonth dry spell occasioned by the mandatory closure of the lake to allow restocking.

As a result, many hit the road to Kisumu to buy fish just to sustain the customers. “We get almost nothing in return but we need to maintain our customer base,” explains Adhiambo.

The group hails the recent effort by the government to restock Tilapia species, saying it remains the most popular among customers.

From the main fish in the 1980s, the stocks have reduced to less that two percent having been overtaken by the Common Carp which remains the most dominant species currently.

However, the traders remain upbeat of a bright future if the current initiative by the government is sustained.

Fishmongers in Naivasha display a catch at the fish selling point at Banda in the outskirts of the Naivasha town. Below: Some of the fish selling outlets at Banda.

Women have been hawking fish at the makeshift Banda area.

Pictures: Macharia Mwangi

IDPs remain in the cold as long rains begin

By FRANK OUMA Internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Yamumbi camp in Eldoret have expressed concern over their much-delayed resettlement as the rainy season starts in the area.

“The rains have already started and we are worried that we may contract various diseases as our tents are old and we have young children,” said Ms Grace Wakeyo, vice-chairlady of Yamumbi Camp, Wareng District. She said the slow pace with which the Government was resettling various families in Eldoret was worrying.

“It will be hard for us to persevere in the camp with the cold that has come with the rain. We have lost about 15 people since the camp was set up in 2008,” observed Wakeyo.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 31,000 IDPs across the country are yet to be resettled.

Some 600,000 people fled their homes during the weeks of violence that followed the announcement of the election results. More than 1,133 people died.

Resettlement

The Government had promised to resettle the IDPs by December but could not meet the goal as it has only managed to construct houses for those who have land in the area.

Wakeyo regretted that the Government has put more emphasis on those with land and ignored those who were tenants.

She observed that if these politicians had some of their relatives in camps they could have acted very fast.

“We have no community health workers in the camp. We are forced to go to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital where we are expected to pay KSh100 as registration and buy drugs yet we have no money,” reiterated Wakeyo.

Jane Wamboi, who claims to be a freedom fighter is saddened by the fact that she has become an internally displaced person.

Despite her advanced age Wamboi takes care of nine orphans with whom she stays in the camp. The camp has about 109 people.

President Kibaki visited Eldoret in January at the invitation of Rift Valley leaders for a reconciliation rally where he praised them for resolving to promote peace and reconciliation in the region. He appealed to the area residents in this region to live together peacefully.

In Turbo, Eldoret West District Antonina Naliaka who is yet to be resettled said: “We hope that one day the Government will give us a place to call home so that we can continue to fend for ourselves.”

Naliaka is staying at Wareng County Council piece of land where she plants vegetables and keeps poultry. She said that if given farm

inputs, she could do much better. Philip Kinyanjui from Lugari said that the government duped them into returning to their homes under operation rudi nyumbani and later ignored them.

Negligence

Chairman of post election violence survivors in Lugari, Mr George Njoroge told the Reject that IDPs in the area are experiencing a lot of problems due to negligence by the Government.

Njoroge who is also the chief executive officer of Amani Peace Building and Welfare Association regrets that the Government is too concerned with political infighting at the expense of those languishing in abject poverty.

He said: “The Government should use the funds in planning to hire lawyers for the Ocampo six to resettle those still in camps.”

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Construction of Isiolo Airport begins Residents are forced to relocate

By HUSSEIN SALESA

Fishermen at the disputed Migingo Island in Lake Victoria have called on the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to respect his own pledge to return the island to Kenya.

They warned that the row could derail the quick growth of the East African Community free market protocol unless it was resolved immediately.

A fisherman Mr Paul Odhiambo said the Ugandan security forces manning the island claimed they had not received exit orders arguing that their leader “might have just been playing politics with the Kenyan authorities”.

“The East African Community might just remain on paper unless leaders show desire to quickly resolve disputes such as Migingo,” observed Odhiambo.

Despite a recent move by Ugandan President Museveni to accept ceding the fish-rich island to Kenya, security forces from the landlocked country are still manning it.

Life goes on as usual with traders and fishermen operating under the ever watchful eye of the at least 20 armed Ugandan marine police and intelligence officers deployed to man the island. These officers work in shifts and are usually replaced after every fortnight.

When he visited Uganda recently at the height of the Presidential campaigns, Prime Minister Raila Odinga invited to State House by Museveni was allowed to announce that Uganda had given up all claims to Migingo.

The Head of State recognized that the tiny but significant island belonged to Kenya, according to a report published in a regional weekly, The East African.

Wrangles

Task force

Two years ago, the government allocated KSh90 million towards the fencing of the proposed zone after evacuating those affected by the project.

The Government had committed to develop the region during the past years promising to transform the town into a bustling city with its own international airport serving the tourism as well as livestock sector and film industries.

Two years ago the Government formed a high-powered task force to develop the frontier town into a resort city. The 20-member team, chaired by Head of Public Service Mr Francis Muthaura, first met at Harambee House in Nairobi.

The task force includes three permanent secretaries — from the Transport, Roads and Public Works as well as Tourism and Wildlife ministries. The rest were from Kenya Wildlife Services, Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Tourism Board and Ewaso

Migingo dispute remains unresolved

By ODHIAMBO ODHIAMBO

The Kenya Airports Authority had honoured some of the pledges it made to county councils.

One of them is the construction of Isiolo Airport as a fully fledged international airport. The construction work has taken off with recruitment of casual workers who will be engaged in nonskilled labour.

The project had stalled despite the government having made a commitment to complete the exercise within the limited time.

Kenya Airports Authority has already completed construction of an airstrip for Isiolo game reserve following a memorandum of understanding with the county council. The project is aimed at boosting the tourism industry in the region.

Isiolo County Council Clerk, Mr Morris Ogolla said the authority has finalised tarmacking of the airstrip at a cost of KSh25 million.

A Chinese firm that had been awarded the contract has finalised the project and the facilities will be available to tourists any time from now as they continue with the construction of Isiolo Airport.

Ogolla said tourists visiting game reserves in the region will easily access the facility.

He reiterated: “Previous disputes over who is to get lion’s share of revenue between the Isiolo, Nyambene and Meru county councils has also been resolved.”

The County clerk gave an assurance that the councils have put in place stringent measures to avoid conflict by resettling those affected by the project.

The wrangles and pledges had created a standoff between the councils and Kenya Airports Authority which stalled construction of Isiolo International Airport five years behind schedule.

The government had allocated KSh200 million towards the construction of the airport during the 2009/2010 financial year in the budget but serious work did not begin.

Isiolo County Council has finalised relocation of those affected by construction of the project but the government had only fenced off the areas.

11

Ownership change

A section of Isiolo Town. Many residents and learning institutions will be forced to relocate to pave way for the construction of the airport.

Pictures: Hussein Salesa Nyiro North Development Authority. The chairman and clerk of Isiolo County Council are also part of the team.

More than 4,000 people affected by the construction of the airport have been relocated to Mwangaza, Chechelese and Kiwanjani.

Leaders who visited the area prior to elections said completion of the airport would facilitate easy transportation of livestock products from the region and ensure products were timely processed and exported to other parts of the world.

Livestock Minister Dr Mohamed Kuti said the region has great potential to contribute to national development because of its strategic location. “The Government would explore ways to tap in development especially in the livestock sector,” said Kuti.

The Minister decried that while Isiolo is the leading tourist destination in the Northern Circuit, it is still considered a little off the beaten path.

With its three game parks, Central Isiolo has several luxurious safari camps and tourist-class lodges, among them Samburu Serena and Sarova Shaba. It is also adjacent to Samburu Game Reserve, Meru National Park and other private wildlife conservancies.

More than 4,000 people affected by the construction of the airport have been relocated to Mwangaza, Chechelese and Kiwanjani.

Kuti said once the proposed airport becomes a reality other new development in the region would come up and help in improving infrastructure and keep the region at par with others in the country.

The airport, located in the heart of the town is also meant to further boost its growth.

With its proximity to towns around Mt Kenya, the proposed airport is expected to serve Meru, Laikipia, Embu and Nyeri.

Participants attending a one day workshop on security in Isiolo were warned that the new development will likely cause more conflicts with mass exodus of people from other parts of the country.

Displacement

Mr Joseph Kalapata, a community worker, and previously a peace caravan liason officer said with the proposed resort city, construction of Isiolo Airport and linkage of railway line from Juba through Isiolo to Addis Ababa will likely displace local communities at the expense of foreigners.

He decried the over increased scramble for land in Isiolo following the new development and warned that communities were at risk selling out their land at throw away price.

Land is a thorny issue in the county with a high number of double allocations of one plot to more than one individual following massive corruptions by those entrusted to protect them.

Stakeholders in the workshop sponsored

by Safer World Kenya were told that Isiolo town is on a time bomb and new development will also be more of a disaster than a blessing.

By doing so, according to observers, Raila returned to Kenya a hero of sorts with the Migingo crown in hand.

Raila had gone to Uganda on a private visit in Soroti with a former MP Mike Mukula when Museveni threw the diplomatic bone.

But the real situation at the island has not changed despite the announcement with the Ugandan security forces continuing to treat Kenyans operating on the island as “foreigners who must continue to pay protection levies”.

“Nothing has changed at the island. The security officers are still charging fishermen levies and their radio control room for communication to Kampala is still up and running,” said Mr Juma Ombori, chairman of the Migingo Beach Management Unit.

Visitors going to the island including journalists are still thoroughly vetted by the mean-looking officers and their mission established before being allowed to do their work.

Panic gripped the disputed island late last year after the Ugandan security forces brought in campaign posters of President Yoweri Museveni and pasted them on the makeshift walls of hotels, shops and lodges owned

by Kenyans.

Although the Kenyan fishermen and traders were opposed to the presence of the campaign materials on the island, the Ugandans vowed to arrest anybody who attempted to remove or deface the posters of the Ugandan leader.

The Ugandan police arrested three Kenyan fishermen including Ombori for being opposed to the posters. Ombori urged President Kibaki and Raila to “wake up from slumber” and resolve the Migingo issue once and for all.

“History will not be fair to the two leaders if they let Uganda forcefully take part of Kenya as they watch,” he asserted.

The joint survey exercise funded by both Kenya and Uganda to the tune of KSh140 million was called off two years ago after the Ugandan team pulled out to ostensibly consult their seniors in Kampala.

12

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Potato farmers find a way of dealing with exploitation

By OLICK FELIX Kasipul-Kabondo is undoubtedly the bread basket of Homa Bay County. Bordering almost semi-arid constituencies — Nyakach and Karachuonyo — the region is the stop over during famine.

Residents have carved a niche for themselves in large scale sweet potato production.

One would be forgiven to imagine that with the skyrocketing food prices, the inhabitants have kissed poverty good bye.

Along the Kisumu-Kisii highway just after Sondu-Miriu River, lies lush green land. Young men and women washing and stuffing potatoes, some as big as a human head in bags leaves travellers in bemusement that surely this is a land of plenty. But do residents have anything to show for their sweat?

Middlemen

According to Ms Dorcas Oloo, one of the potato farmers, they have miserably suffered in the hands of unscrupulous middlemen and have not gained from their hard work. To them it is not a question of demand and supply as buyers call the shots. “The pay is too small while the bags they use for measurement are too large.

Sometimes they take our potatoes on credit and then disappear,” Oloo told the Reject.

She says the call for good pricing has always been a key campaign strategy for politicians in the region, who have often used the idea to cheat their way to power and then disappear.

“Every election year we are told they will construct a factory to process sweet potatoes locally.

Others promise they will raise the issue with the Ministry of Agriculture,” says Oloo. More disheartening is that the problem has never been raised in Parliament.

According to Kasewe Location area chief, Mr Hesbon Asero, residents are languishing in pov-

erty and cannot even afford to pay school fee for their children, despite producing 70 percent of Kenya’s sweet potatoes.

“Residents have abandoned maize growing in favour of potatoes that has never disappointed.

However, since the returns are low, famine is slowly but surely creeping into the erstwhile land of plenty,” says Asero.

Cooperative society

Feeling betrayed by their political elite, farmers seem to have resorted to be their own ways to save themselves. They have formed a cooperative society to champion their collective bargain. Led by two women, Angeline Achieng as the chairlady and Norah Odondi as the treasurer, Kabondo Sweet Potato Cooperative Society is already registered.

Through the society, the farmers intend to have more bargaining power in the determination of pricing. “The society will be selling on behalf of the farmers, determine standard of measurement and ensure that farmers have something reasonable to smile about,” says Achieng.

Farmers realised huge losses last year when the region realized a bumper harvest not witnessed in the recent past. Achieng says a whole bag of potatoes stuffed to the brim in oversized bags was sold at a paltry KSh400 while others regarded by the traders as ‘small in size’ rot in farms.

Challenges

“Last year’s production was the heaviest. It surprised even the farmers but we never got anything out of it. In fact we incurred huge losses because the returns could not cater for all the expenses incurred,” explains Achieng. “This was a wake up call for everyone that their efforts would result into nought if they did not work together as farmers,” she reiterates.

Farmers cleaning sweet potatoes after harvesting before transporting them to the market. Farmers have now joined hands in a cooperative society to help sell the potatoes and avoid exploitation by middlemen. Picture: Olick Felix However, the chairperson says it is not smooth sailing and the cooperative society is yet to pick up. She decries ignorance by the locals and poor roads as some of the challenges facing them. She appealed to the Government and non-governmental organisations to come to their aid.

“We intend to have collection centres in every location in Kabondo division but this is becoming a nightmare because of the poor roads,” Achieng pleaded.

One of the locational coordinators, Ms Liz Ademba, echoes Achieng’s sentiments that ignorance has hampered their progress. She says many farmers do not understand the concept of

shares and think it is a scheme to fleece them off their money.

“Middlemen are also dividing farmers on the pretext of offering ready cash,” explains Ademba. She says they have only received assistance from Inter-Diocesan Christian Community Services (IDCCS) and County Council of Rachuonyo who have helped to construct two collection sheds.

While some Kenyans are going without food and the drought situation is hitting all time high, in regions that could save in times of crisis, food is rotting in farms and others taken almost for free by middlemen.

Ignorance of right crops to blame for food insecurity

By KEN NDAMBU Years back, traditional foods such as cowpeas, peas, sorghum, millet, green grams and pumpkins were the main foodstuff for the Kamba community. This was not only for their nutritional value but as traditional crops one had to plant them.

No one knew the importance of crops as in relation to weather patterns but the community planted them. The crops were better suited to withstand drought or required lesser rains to mature. As years progressed, the community moved to new modern farming techniques and instead of planting the traditional food crops, they focused more on hybrid seed varieties that needed abundant rainfall in addition to a longer maturity period.

Climate change

Then the advancing climate change took its toll with serious effects being felt in arid and semi-arid lands. Frequent prolonged drought leading to acute food shortage forced the residents to rely on government relief food.

“We have to revert back to planting traditional food crops that we abandoned as a sustainable way of ensuring food security in the households,” says Charity Ngilu, Minister for Water and Irrigation while launching a programme that would see duplication of alternative food crops in her Kitui Central Constituency.

The area residents scrambled for the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) dry land

researched cowpeas, peas, green grams, millet, sorghum and DHo1-2 maize seeds which mature in less than 42 days after the onset of rains.

Some of the farmers planted the seeds while others just brushed off the noble idea and instead washed the chemically treated seeds and ate them. Those who planted the seeds testify that they got early and better yields than usual though the 2008 November-December rains were short.

However, driven by the desire to improve maize yields farmers succumbed to pressure to plant hybrid seeds regardless of the amount of rains required for it to mature.

“I cannot blame anybody or the short rains experienced this season but myself for planting the wrong seeds with expectation of getting better yields,” says Ms Peninah Nguli, a farmer in Ndithini village, Miambani location in Kitui County.

Nguli planted Phanar maize seed variety last November-December season instead of the DHO1 or Katumani seeds she used to plant which assures her of at least some harvest whether rains fall or not. The two maize seed varieties are researched at KARI’s Katumani Dry land research Station in Machakos.

Nguli asserts that after planting the Phanar variety, it started well on the onset of rains but when the rains disappeared the crop was knee high. It dried up leaving her hapless. “I wish I knew,” laments Nguli, adding that the drought is so severe that even the cowpeas did not flower well.

Comparing Phanar with DHO1 or Katumani variety locally known as ‘Kikamba’ which she planted in 2008 when the rains also failed. Then she harvested four bags of maize while the yield increased in 2009 when she got 16 bags from her one acre farm. “It is out of ignorance. We do not expect any harvest of maize this time because we did not duplicate seeds from crops better suited for this region,” observes Nguli.

Regret

In the adjacent Malombo village, the story is the same. Farmer Muthui Mwove says an agent of one of the maize seed manufacturers visited his shamba and advised him to plant DK8071 only to learn later that the crop takes five months of heavy rain to mature.

“I regret why I did not plant DHO1, DHO2 or Katumani and I have been getting a least minimal harvest enough for my family even if not for sale,” says Mwove who in 2009 planted the dry land researched seeds. He harvested 15 bags from the one and half acre land yet the rains were not much.

“Although I increased the acreage under crop to four, all the crop dried up when it was knee high and there is no hope of recovery even if it rains,” explains Mwove. He now plans to start an orchard farm as an alternative way of earning a livelihood.

Farmers contracted by the East African Breweries Limited Company (EABL) to grow sorghum of Gaddam variety for beer making were not spared either.

From his four acre farm in Mutauni village also in Miambani location Pius Nguli had targeted to harvest 30 bags of the produce but got two bags that were only enough for family consumption. “The crop started off well but flowered early when the rains disappeared in the third week of November completely reducing the expected yield,” explains Nguli.

However, he acknowledges that it is one of the most drought tolerant crops farmers can adopt.

EABL collaborates with Africa Harvest to empower communities in the region to grow the crop which it in turn buys from the farmers at KSh17 per kilo through Equity Bank.

“Last season I earned KSh15,300 from 10 bags of gaddam sorghum but this time what I expect is not even enough for my family,” observes Nguli.

Records at the local District Agriculture Office show although over 100 tonnes of the community traditional food seeds certified by KARI were distributed to farmers in the region, on the ground 80 percent of the farmers went for hybrid seeds from the shops which are not in the specification of dry land seeds.

“Farmers admit they did not plant what was given to them by the experts in the Agricultural sector and went for seeds of their choice,” says an Agricultural Extension Officer on anonymity.

He calls for concerted efforts by all stakeholders especially local leaders to educate communities on the effects of the advancing climate change and how to manage sustainable food security in arid and semi-arid lands.

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

It’s a dog’s life for Malindi’s drug addicts

By JACKSON MLEKA I first saw him one evening shaggily dressed at a cybercafé in town talking to the attendant. He then picked rubbish at the dustbin and in turn was given KSh20 for the service.

He kept coming to the cyber after every week and then disappeared for a month. When he came back his dress code had changed, he was clean with hair well shaven and looked presentable.

“I am a former addict but I have now reformed. My family came to rescue me and they are planning to take me to Dubai so that I stay away from the bad company that will take me back to drug taking,” he said when I approached him curiously.

Rehab

Salim Abdalla 38, a former drug addict is now undergoing rehabilitation (partly) following another dimension. His story begins way back in 1990 after completing Standard Eight at Kakuyuni Primary School. His brother-in-law took him to Songea in Tanzania. Here, life was good though he was not earning any salary.

He returned home six years later and got married to Sandra Abdalla Wafula, a daughter of a senior police officer who helped him get a job at the general tyre sales company.

“I worked for seven years until 2002 when a certain tycoon employed me and offered to take me to Zanzibar to work in his company. That is where my life changed completely,” says Abdallah amid sobs.

The tycoon’s sons introduced him to drugs and since he was their friend, they usually drove to a hotel in luxurious four wheel drive vehicles to abuse drugs. They were using white crest mixed with cigarettes Life began changing for him and this led him to forgetting his wife, children and the entire family, as he was even taking salary advance to buy drugs. “I could take KSh20,000 or KSh40,000 to buy drugs after three to four days and it was never enough. This made it difficult for me to save cash and affected my performance at work,” Abdalla explains.

Garbage collection

The behaviour persisted until the employer threw him out as he had completely turned to an addict. He returned home in 2007 and life was never the same again. His wife sought a divorce because she was fed up with him.

From then on life changed for Abdalla as he dumped his family and travelled to Malindi where he began to collect rubbish and clean houses.

In the morning he would get KSh300 and buy four kete (a measure of the powder with the small finger nail) of bhang and in the afternoon spend another KSh250 for another kete.

In Majengo a kete could go up to KSh90 while in Mbuyu Kusema the same quantity was sold at KSh70 depending on the quality.

His sister who is married in Yemen came and facilitated his rehabilitation fees. She took him to Omar project where addicts get treatment and undergo counselling in order to stop drug abuse.

He says one of his memorable moments was when his two children saw him in broad daylight carrying sacks of dirt. They had been brought by his former wife to see him.

“I just looked down shyly not knowing what to say or do since my lovely kids could not be-

lieve their eyes,” he says.

Abdalla is not alone. He is just one among many youth in Malindi who narcotics drugs are slowly wiping out, turning them into unproductive members of the society.

The youth aged between 19 to 40 years have turned to petty thieves who steal household items while others do odd light jobs to get money to buy drugs. They are famous for sitting or walking together in groups and are easily spotted in town and estates.

Shada grounds is one of the popular sites for drug taking and trafficking and it is here that one will find these youths seated in groups.

They peddle drugs like heroine, cocaine and bhang to potential customers in return for a portion of the same to keep them moving.

The trend is not only common on Shada grounds but similar scenarios are rampant in Shella, Sea Breeze Maweni and Kisumu Ndogo among others.

Wearing tattered clothes, with rough long hair these boys can be ruthless any time they spot somebody with something that is valuable.

There are those who target shoes at the mosque while others steal sufurias (pans) and shoes left outside doorsteps among other valuables.

Abdalla’s advice to non-users is simple, they should not attempt to taste or consume drugs because it affects the brain and creates a feeling of richness.

Now Abdalla lives away from home in a vacant house waiting for a potential customer to rent. He now only takes bhang to reduce stress and get sleep at night. Like all former users, the biggest challenge is dealing with sleepless nights.

Abdalla’s story echoes similar stories of people who have used hard drugs. It sounds similar to that of Mohamed Nassir alias Max who dropped from school in 1994 while in Standard Four and decided to join fishing, one of the major activities of Shella.

Peddling

He later became a beach boy and began tour guiding which put him in a wealthier state since he was getting ‘easy money’. “I was influenced by friends to use bhang, hashish, rohyphenol (bugizi) and finally graduated to heroine,” says Nassir.

He then moved to trafficking drugs from Tanzania where he would swallow 50 gram sachets and later vomit them when safely home in Malindi. “Some people carry up to 100

Salim Abdalla, a recovering drug addict sits outside his borrowed house where he temporarily stays in Malindi town. Below: Mr Rocco Mazzoli (left) director of L’ALBA International, an organization helping in the fight against drugs with Edson Mwambogo Alias Bakari a drug counsellor in Malindi. Pictures: Jackson Mleka grams of heroine which is packed in packets of condoms or nylon that is lubricated.” Nassir explains: “For one to swallow such drugs he is not supposed to take anything prior to the journey until he or she safely reaches the destination.”

Omar project

“I was influenced by friends to use bhang, hashish, rohyphenol (bugizi) and finally graduated to heroine.”

— Mohamed Nassir

13

He learnt of the illegal trade while in Shimo la Tewa prison in Mombasa and began with capital of KSh2000. The business later grew to a point where he was taking stock of KSh50,000.

However, the strong arm of the law caught up with him and he was jailed for three years without fine.

He met Mr Rocco Mazzoli, director of L’ALBA, an Italian organisation that works with volunteers in fighting drug abuse who took him to a rehabilitation centre at the Omar Project.

Mazzoli helped to renovate the Omar Project and assisted over 22 drug addicts to stop taking drugs. One of them died of TB before he was rescued in September 28 2010.

Majority of those rescued are aged between 23 and 25 years and cannot afford to pay for rehabilitation. Hundreds others are still suffering in the streets and require support so as to move away from the menace.

The biggest problem, however, is that Ma-

lindi despite being a major tourist destination does not have a rehabilitation centre to assist the addicts.

Without efficient medical facilities and the goodwill of the people, it will be difficult to assist the victims.

From a long time, anti-drug activists and police have been in the forefront in arresting suspected drug traffickers. About six drug traffickers got life sentences in addition to KSh1 million fine last year. There are others who have cases pending in court.

Anti-drug activists have been campaigning and pushing the Government to take stern action against traffickers to help reduce the menace.

The question in people’s minds is when the drug syndicate will come to an end in Malindi?

It is known countrywide that the resort town is among the major destinations having recovered the KSh6.4 billion cocaine haul at a villa and with an increasing number of people engaged in drugs.

Recently some activists began a programme to take volunteer addicts who are ready to reform to Coast General Hospital. They have only managed to take 12 but 39 are stranded following lack of space at the hospital. Hundreds others are still awaiting to access treatment.

14

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Rural fashion designer with a niche in upscale international markets

From left: Rachel and one of the models during the Ki2 Fashion Show in Paris in June last year. With her daughter and models during the Africa fashion fair. Rachel plants a tree during one of the reforestation events.

Pictures: Ken Ndambu and Courtesy

By KEN NDAMBU She is by all standards a woman one may mistake for any other girl eking out a living in Kitui town. However, she is like a child of two worlds.

When in the town, she spends most of her time in the cyber cafe either reading her mail or browsing. When not in town, Rachael Mutindi retires to a small tailoring shop in Mulutu market in the outskirts of Kitui town.

The small room that she rents is located in one of the shops on the main Kitui-Nairobi highway.

One is, however baffled by the standard of cloth design and quality matched by multicoloured cotton that sells in both local and international market.

The designs have hit markets in Italy and France, her target market outlet. Mutindi is living testimony to the saying that creativity is the mother of all innovations. She is an upcoming fashion designer with vibrant ideas.

Mentor

From a humble background in the Kenyan countryside, she is one of those designers who use raw and extremely personalised vision of fashion to express a growing emotion of vibrancy, simplicity and elegance to sell her products.

Through her talents, Mutindi has gone a niche higher to train youth from poor families who have the talent in fashion design but cannot put into use due to poverty.

She uses teachers from schools where the girls learn and also visits youth polytechnics where tailoring is a major subject as her entry point to reach girls with an interest in fashion and design.

“For the last three years, 50 girls are now eking a living in various boutiques in Nairobi and Kitui after undergoing induction courses in my shops in Mulutu and Nairobi of which I am proud of,” says Mutindi.

“In fact when I get many orders especially in winter, I turn to girls who have benefited from my project even if they are working elsewhere to meet my customers demand,’’ she adds.

She says in addition to the business, ki2 fashion has an objective of beautifying the country through environment conservation.

“We partner with the Green Belt Movement through which we ensure that we buy and plant a tree from every cloth sold in what we call environmentally friendly approach to save the country’s fast depletion of the environment,” asserts Mutindi.

Through the initiative, her organisation has planted over 2000 trees in the last two years in several primary schools in Kitui County.

Mutindi says the price of her products range from country to country but the cheapest skirt in Kenya sells at KSh1,700 with the highest selling design going for KSh11,500.

Creative designs

The international prices depend with the season but the cheapest coats for winter sells from KSh11,500. The design has emerged as some of the best liked products from under developed countries.

Mutindi’s designs represent strong intentions to bring fashion for all ages, colours and pockets coupled with a strong attention to ethical principles. Her designs are a clear invitation to break out and celebrate colours one would like to be identified with.

The garments on display are all creatively designed using the khanga, traditional multicoloured cotton inscribed with a proverb from the rich Swahili culture.

“It is a provoking way to communicate through what you wear. Following the ethics of fair trade, we aim to give a conscience to our products through different projects and working in collaboration with disadvantaged women and youths, that we train and support in creating jobs and improving the quality of their life,” explains Mutindi.

Her Italian husband, Mr Davide Signa adds: “That is what gives meaning and value to our creations that is extended to you when you purchase our product with a bubbly, high energy atmosphere collection intended to bring

warmth and brightness to your life.”

Mutindi reiterates: “Celebrate life in colour with us. Ethical fashion for people that care what they put on! It is the simple things in life that count and we make those things beautiful for you.”

A combination of the playfulness of youthful freshness and sober elegance, fashion for everyday life, fusing, comfort and beauty are what add value to Mutindi’s products.

Her products are a fashion for everyone as they have fusion, durability and affordability.

“Through the elaborated patterns of the khangas, we create only one-off pieces designed with exclusivity contrary to modern trends of mass production” she explains.

As an up coming fashion designer Mutindi has been in the trade for four years. However, she started the skill far back during her secondary days when she developed special admiration for fashion designers.

Born in Kitui Central District, Mutindi grew up in the Eastern Kenyan countryside before she found her Italian love. She moved to Kitui after her husband started implementing a water harvesting programme in the region under Agrosphere, an international Non-Governmental Organisation with roots in Italy.

Marketing

Those who have bought Mutindi’s garments have great admiration for her work. Ben Kiyaga, a lover of Mutindi’s fashion wants the designer to come with more clothes similar to favourable designs of Princess Diana.

Lisa Sadimba another fan says she admires the uniqueness of the designs while Deedee Nyaloka only comments: “I love her collection at the ACTIF launch! She was memorable and very daring!”

Mutindi uses the internet to market her products. She uses dedicated hosting, a dedicated server on the web to market herself. This

“In fact when I get many orders especially in winter, I turn to girls who have benefited from my project even if they are working elsewhere to meet my customers demand.”

— Rachael Mutindi

is where the client leases an entire server which is not shared with anyone to reach her clients.

Dedicated hosting is more flexible than shared hosting, as the customer has full control of the server, including the choice of operating system, hardware, and other things.

She says her company Ki2Fashion is a melting pot of colour on fashion offering contemporary designs using traditional Kenyan fabrics, the khanga to advance the country’s culture and heritage in world markets.

Stores for Rachael Designs are housed in Nairobi’s Ramoma Museum of modern art and Second Parklands Avenue. In Italy, the stores are located in Italy Carocavallo Street while in France the fashion can be found in Meveellous Ki2 Fashion Stores.

Mutindi studied textile sciences and fashion design at the Kenyatta University and her first professional experiences was while working in an Export Processing Zone (EPZ) company.

However, she quit the job after she became a mother only to recover her creativity and to start her own fashion line later.

Involvement

In the last two and half years, she has developed two complete women wear collection for spring, summer, autumn and winter as well as limited men and kids wear collections which are selling in France and Italy.

“I have also attended fashion events and fairs and been featured in different world magazines,” she says with appreciation.

Located in the Kenya’s capital Nairobi, Ki2 fashion designs and produces a selection of clothing and accessories inspired by to the colourful East African traditional fabrics.

“Together with my four tailors and I exclusively design and manually produce skirts, trousers, kaftans, shirts, jackets, bags and much more,” explains Mutindi.

Part of the uniqueness in her designs is the creativity of the designs of the Kanga, a traditional East African cotton fabric that she loves to use most and which act as her source of inspiration.

“We do believe that there is another way to dress than knowing what you wear and what there is behind,” avers Mutindi. She says her work is different from industrial clothes that are produced in million pieces in sweat-shops and often employing child labour.

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Money earmarked for vulnerable children

By GILBERT OCHIENG There are numerous cases of sexual abuse and child labour within the border town of Busia where most children engage in hawking but in an unsafe environment.

To curb the problem, the African Network for the Prevention and Protection of Children Against Neglect (ANPPCAN) in collaboration with the Anti- Child Trafficking Organisation have embarked on sponsoring orphaned vulnerable children from ten selected secondary schools in Western Province.

Busia County Child Labour Committee chairman, Mr Kennedy Chanzu, who is also a staffing officer at the Busia District Education Department said education stakeholders, especially the teachers should work closely with the child labour committees within their respective areas and come up with a workable mechanism that will prevent child abuse cases before they happen.

Enrollment

“The high level of child abuse and neglect cases can be reduced by enrolling the children in schools under the free primary education programme,” said Chanzu. He reiterated that cases of child abuse in the region has resulted in unwanted pregnancies which has led to mass school drop out cases, trauma, early marriages as well as HIV infections.

“Notable causes of child abuse in the Busia County include drug abuse, poor parental responsibility, poverty, peer pressure as well as outdated cultural practices among others,” reiterated Chanzu.

Among the schools selected by ANPAC-

15

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Children selling fruits along a street in Busia. Child labour in the town is on the increase with most children engaging in hawking. Picture: Gilbert Ochieng ANN, child help desks will be established. “The child help desks at the selected ten primary schools will be manned by teachers from the respective schools in collaboration with the children’s department who will provide guidance and counselling to the pupils,” explained Chanzu. He added: “Issues pertaining to child rights is a collective role and should not be left to a single individual or organization.”

Child rights clubs

The official said that the only way to promote active child participation is through the child rights clubs. These have also been established in the ten primary schools. The children will be engaged through manual work, active participation in the rights clubs and the establishment of a mechanism through which their decisions can be delivered.

The Anti-Child Abuse organisation has on its part sponsored the education of ten needy students in nine secondary schools in Western Province. According Chanzu, the organisation released KSh281,939 which has been sent to the respective secondary schools where the orphaned vulnerable children who have moved to Form Two this year are learning.

The Anti-Child Abuse organization has also earmarked KSh119, 500 to facilitate the establishment of a goat project in ten selected primary schools within the Busia County.

The programme officer, Mr Shadrack Muthama said 30 goats valued at KSh100,000 will be supplied to Township, Burumba, St Rose Mabale, Bugeng’i, St Joseph Busia Girls’,

St Teresa’s Girls’, Muyafwa, Bwamani, Bulanda and Ojamii primary schools with each getting three goats.

Muthama said proceeds from the goat project will provide for the needs of identified orphaned and vulnerable children which include purchase of uniforms and writing materials. It will also pay for their lunch considering that majority are taken care of by aged grandparents who cannot afford a meal each day.

“The goat project will be managed by the child rights club committee under a chairman from the respective schools and the proceeds derived from the project will meet the needs of the identified children,” said Muthama.

Health desk

He reiterated that the project will be monitored closely by the child labour committee to ensure transparency and accountability.

ANPPCAN had earlier conducted a one day training forum for the district child labour committee members, patrons and school heads, school children as well as the child rights club aimed at equipping them with knowledge on how to handle child abuse cases.

ANPPCAN programme officer, Ms Helen Mala called for the establishment of a child help desk at all the selected learning institutions so as to address rampant child abuse cases.

“The child help desk will empower the school children to open up and advocate for themselves and other children,” said Mala. She added: “In most occasions children are always afraid to report cases of abuse to the police.”

Pupils to benefit from sanitary pad project

By JARED OPIYO Over 3,000 pupils in Siaya District have a reason to smile after a Community Based Organisation trained them on how to make home-made sanitary towels.

The coordinator of Rang’ala Development Programme, a CBO sponsored by USAID, Mrs Rozilla Isalambo said the move is aimed at promoting girl child education.

Isalambo said following the USAID support through Plan International the organisation has been purchasing sanitary towels for orphans and vulnerable children for the last five years.

“We had to look for an alternative on how to make the programme sustainable since funding ends mid this year,” she explained.

The children drawn from the greater Siaya County were taken through a three day training session on making sanitary towels.

“The towels are made of cotton, soft towels and soft polythene, sewed together using a thread and a needle,” observed Isalambo.

She added: “Apart from being cheap compared to other sanitary towels the home made towels are reusable for six months.”

The organisation is also providing sanitary boxes to beneficiary schools where well-wishers can drop sanitary towels or money which would be used to purchase the towels or materials used in making homemade ones.

Attendance

Speaking at Sijimbo Primary School in South Ugenya after launching the distribution of the sanitary towel boxes, Isalambo urged the society to support the pupils. She encouraged the pupils to think of taking the project to a commercial level.

Isalambo blamed lack of sanitary pads as being the reason for poor performance among orphans and vulnerable girls because they do not concentrate on their studies during menstruation.

Speaking to parents and pupils during the launch of the sanitary towels, Mrs. Christine Anyango the head teacher at Sijimbo Primary School which is among the 27 beneficiaries, indicated that the number of girls in the school has risen and is almost at par with that of boys since the programme was started.

“Before the programme kicked off the school used to record high number of absenteeism among girls who opted not to attend classes during their monthly period since they could not afford sanitary towels,” explained Anyango.

One of the girls, a Standard Eight pupil who is an orphan, Lillian Atieno said like other pupils of her status, they were times when she avoided school especially when their monthly periods coincided with examinations for fear of being mocked by other pupils.

New irrigation system to helping farmers

By GEOFFREY KAMADI Farmers in Laikipia will now be able to grow crops while utilising very little water. This is in sharp contrast to other methods of irrigation, which uses a lot of water leading to land degradation since it washes away soil nutrients.

However, a new but simple drip irrigation system is helping farmers in Laikipia District reap maximum benefits from just a quarteracre of land by efficiently using and managing water.

The kit consists of drips, connectors and a water tank. The tank is placed at a higher

level so that once a tap is turned on, water flows by means of gravity. The water passes through a filter, which gets rid of sediments and other large particles. These particles would otherwise block the extremely tiny holes, equidistantly placed on a series of narrow pipes (drips) that run the length of the quarter acre of land.

“The system is suitable for high value crops like maize and vegetables,” explains Gachara Gikungu of Kilimo Biashara Providers, which is a private agricultural extension service enterprise.

Gikungu who has been training farmers

in the area on how to use the kit which costs KSh20,000 says other forms of irrigation waste a lot of water.

“The use of sprinklers or flood irrigation to water crops not only wastes this resource, but results in the loss of a lot of nutrients, which get washed away,” he says.

Lydia Rouse from University of Virginia is assisting farmers own the system through a micro finance arrangement.

“Farmers sign a contract as an indication of their commitment and then own the kit and pay over time,” explained Rouse.

Over sourcing of water resources in and

around Laikipia district has been a major environmental and economic concern.

Laikipia sits on the leeward side of Mount Kenya therefore it does not receive a lot of rainfall.

According to Dominic Maringa, project manager at Ngusishi Water Resource Users Association, the area receives less than 900mm of rainfall every year.

“The situation is made worse by uncontrolled water extraction,” explained Maringa.

The Association is encouraging farmers to preserve water by adopting the drip kit irrigation method.

16

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

ISSUE 038, April 16-30, 2011

Former detention island seeks attention Isle grapples with intricacies of an increasing fisher population

By NICK ODHIAMBO In the 1900, greedy European settlers introduced radical changes that would see them increase revenue from their colonies.

The major changes included taking land from Africans with the introduction of hut and poll taxes where Africans were forced to work for the White settlers to pay the taxes, which were to be paid in cash not in form of animals or crops as previously done.

This kind of exploitation forced Africans, particularly chiefs to rebel and form resistance movements against the European settlers.

Rebels like Zulu Chief Bambatha and his 3,000 followers, Tanzanian Kinjekitile Ngwale with his Maji Maji rebellion and even Kenyan Dedan Kimathi and his Mau Mau movement decided to fight back.

However, Europeans had to defend themselves, using machine guns, which doomed Africans to fail in their efforts to reclaim their land.

For the Maji Maji, about 26,000 Africans were killed by German forces.

Resistance

During the struggle, in Kenya, many were killed while about 80,000 were taken to various detention camps scattered all over the country.

The camps were mostly in secluded places, including on the islands.

It was here that a small island on Lake Victoria, Oyamo, was identified by the colonialists to be a detention camp for Mau Mau suspects and any other rebels. Oyamo is in Bondo District, Siaya County. The island became a favourable place to detain Kenyans since it was surrounded by fierce crocodiles and rhinos that would attack any detainee who would try escape.

“They could not swim and escape from the island because there were many dangerous crocodiles and rhinos,” says Mr Mark Onyango, area Assistant Chief. Fishermen in the lake were not allowed to dock at the island. Anyone who could be seen by the colonialists near the island would be shot dead.

The detainees, most of who were from Central Province, were forced to hard labour with strokes of the cane just as was done to detainees in other places.

However, after independence, when the detainees had been released and there was plenty of fish. Fishermen had to get out the crocodiles and rhinos first before they could settle on the island.

In 1969, Elly Odongo from Sugulu Island in Suba District in Southern Nyanza was the first fisherman to settle on the island with his family.

They wanted to harvest the plentiful fish that was

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swimming amidst crocodiles and rhinos and made the island inhabitable.

According to the late Odongo’s son who is the area Assistant Chief, Mr Mark Onyango, the first thing they did was to approach a man called Difu, from Manyala in Port Victoria, Western Province, who had a gun. He killed the rhinos and shared the meat with the fisher folk.

“Now we are staying there peacefully. The crocodiles are not there. The rhinos were all eaten. We harvest good fish from the water around the island,” Onyango explains.

After settling on the island, Odongo invited more fishermen from Rusinga Island, Mbita District. Many of the residents on this island are Suba people, though it is in Bondo District.

“We found snakes everywhere, though the colonialists had grown fruits such as bananas and pawpaw, the place was bushy but we cleared it to make it habitable,” Onyango continues.

A section of the Oyamo Island in Lake Victoria which the colonial government used as According to 70-year-old Julius Ojwang’, those who settled on the island after the rea detention camp. Inset: Boat operators at the lake shore on the island. lease of the detainees wanted it not to be rePictures: Nick Odhiambo membered as a bad place but as a place where catch is more than the population we have here,” because there are no houses to rent within the people could have a better life. “That is why explains Ochieng. island,” says Mr Charles Omking, chairperwe cleared the bushes and came here with our The island with around 38 households does son school’s management committee. He adds: families to make this place a better place without not even have a single proper latrine. People “Sometimes up to three teachers share one small, the bad memories of colonialism,” he says. either relieve themselves in the few bushes or mud-walled house with no privacy at all.” in the lake water, which in most cases is again There are no health facilities on the island. used by the residents for domestic purposes.

This forces the residents to go to the mainland, a But the island, 40 years down the line, is said “We have many cases of diarrhoea and other few kilometres away. to be worse than what was expected of it. With water-borne diseases,” observes Ochieng.

The residents observe that sometimes it bethe increasing population of fishermen, accomcomes very difficult when a woman goes into modation is becoming a big problem. Many labour at night or when somebody falls ill. people live in makeshift houses, as the mudThe fishermen have not been spared from “We have to look for a boat that will ferry the walled houses are not adequate to accommodate HIV infections. Residents say the rate of prossick to the mainland, which is very risky at night. the population of 3,500. The poor housing on the titution is high and according to Ogra FounSome women deliver in the boats while cruisisland affects not only fishermen but also the few dation, the only NGO that has started health ing across the waters,” says Richard Ochieng of Government employees, including teachers. programmes on the island, the HIV/Aids Oyamo Beach Management Unit.

There is only one school, the Oyamo Isprevalence is high. Ogra Foundation Clinical Residents of the Island majorly depend on land Primary School, with a population of 270 Director, Mr Kenneth Obiero says the carefree fish, which must be ferried to the mainland for pupils whose teachers share houses. The delifestyle on the island has led to the increase of sale. Due to lack of proper storage facilities that tention cells have been turned to classrooms. the prevalence by between 25-30 per cent. include freezers, the fishermen claim the fish Some of the former cells have been renovated “We give counselling on HIV/Aids because goes bad before reaching the market. to make the staff room but there are no houses it is high. Health care is a serious thing that is “We have nowhere to keep our fish. When we for teachers. highly needed on the island. Though we have catch fish, in most cases they go bad before we “We have seven teachers who do not have started it we hope other partners would also join can take them to the mainland because what we houses. They come here from the mainland hands,” he says.

Area MP Dr Oburu Odinga, who is also the Finance Assistant Minister says the Government should make Oyamo a tourist attraction to change the face of the island.

“I have talked to the relevant ministry to set aside some funds to make this island a tourist attraction site and we hope all will go well,” Oburu — Richard Ochieng of Oyamo Beach Management Unit said during a visit to the island.

Accommodation

HIV infections

“We have to look for a boat that will ferry the sick to the mainland, which is very risky at night. Some women deliver in the boats while cruising across the waters,”

Executive Director: Rosemary Okello-Orlale Programme Coordinator: Wilson Ugangu

Editor: Jane Godia

Sub-Editors: Florence Sipalla and Mercy Mumo

Designer: Noel Lumbama

Contributors: Odhiambo Orlale, Njuguna Mutonya, Rachel Muthoni, CarolineWangechi, Kabia Matega, Paul Kimanzi, Jennie Ozumba, Hussein Dido, Nick Odhiambo, Godfrey Machuka, Fibi David, Macharia Mwangi, Frank Ouma, Gilbert Ochieng, Jared Opiyo, Odhiambo Odhiambo, Jackson Mleka, Ken Ndambu, Olick Felix and Muktar Abdi

Write to:

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The paper is produced with funds from