Reject Online Issue 42

June 16-30, 2011

ISSUE 042

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

Pathetic state of Kenya’s children

By MUSA RADOLI

The Kenyan child is faced with many challenges. From sleeping hungry, failing to go to school, being sexually and physically exploited to being forced into child labour.

Children’s rights, therefore, do not seem to play a role as Kenyans look into the State of the Kenyan child, and the continent’s children in general as the Day of the African Child is marked today.

The International Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organisation of African Unity. It honours those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 on that day. It also raises awareness of the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children.

In celebrating the Day, the Reject looks at the State of the Kenyan child.

Though the Children’s Act 2001 set out to entrench and protect the rights and welfare of Kenyan children, reports of rampant violations of these rights across the country continue.

“I get thoroughly disturbed when I read in the newspapers, hear over the radio and watch on TV the rampant violations of the rights of children in Kenya. It is bad and horrible considering that we have laws to protect the child,” says Ruth Ann Kawira, an advocate of the High Court. She adds: “There is extremely limited legal representation to protect the rights of the Kenyan child.”

Welfare

Even after The Children’s Act was revised in 2007, what remains to be seen is the effective and efficient implementation of the provisions in the law to ensure that these rights are being enjoyed by the children — a major challenge that is compounded of the same as entrenched in the new Constitution.

The welfare of the Kenyan child remains paramount. The Bill of Rights within the new Constitution is comprehensive and sets out rights extending to citizens in general and those of specific groups including children, youth and persons with disabilities. Children’s rights are set out in Article 53.

Departing from the conventional limitations on socio-economic rights, Article 53 creates immediate obligations upon the State to fulfil socio-economic rights of children.

In effect, the Government is mandated to deliver healthcare, education, nutrition and shelter to all children irrespective of budgetary implications. The new duty on the State with respect to education, for instance will be greater than that provided for in the Children’s Act Continued on page 4

Kenyan children in various states of child abuse taking place in different parts of the country.

Pictures: Reject Correspondents

Day of the African Child Read more Reject stories online at www.mediadiversityafrica.org

2

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Paperless refugees bring a new spirit to northern Kenya

By ABJATA KHALIF Kenya is known for its hospitality in according shelter to thousands of refugees from war torn countries in the region, Somalia included.

However, there are thousands of other immigrants living illegally outside the three refugee camps in Daadab, Ifo and Liboi while a handful of others have faced deportation back into war areas of Southern Central Somalia.

The refugees from war torn Somalia use porous border points to cross into Kenyan territory in Wajir, Garissa and Mandera. Those with relatives who made it into Kenyan urban towns like Nairobi and Mombasa organise onward journeys to those Kenyan towns but with heavy costs and at risk of arrests, prosecution and deportation.

The United Nations observes the World Refugee Day on June 20 each year. This day is a global observance that honours the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.

Seeking refuge

In the past years, refugees have been using the designated border crossing of Liboi where they surrender to the Kenyan authorities before being handed over to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for screening. They are later led into the three main refugee camps of Hagardere, Ifo and Dagahley.

But following the large scale war between the former Islamic Court Union and Ethiopian troops in most towns in Somalia and the current offensives between Transitional Government of Somalia troops and Al-Shabaab fighters in southern central Somalia, thousands of refugees have made it into Kenyan territory.

Most of them are seeking refuge from the Kenyan government while others opted to go into other towns in northern Kenya and start life afresh.

Those refugees who made it into northern Kenya during the Islamic Courts battle with Ethiopia integrated with their cousins in northern Kenya towns. They started businesses and joined other socio-economic activities within the frontier districts while others specialised in bringing goods that include foods, textiles and electronics from Kismayu Port city of Somalia into northern Kenya.

Trade benefits

Communities in northern Kenya have appreciated the role the refugees play in socioeconomic activities.

Trade in the frontier districts has flourished due to goods from Kismayu port city of southern central Somalia that is close to northern Kenya.

According to a Garissa resident, Ibrahim Ali: “Refugees in northern Kenya have played

a crucial role in opening up trade between us and the Kismayu port City in Southern Somalia. We get all sorts of goods ranging from electronics, food and textiles at reasonable prices. The trade has created many job opportunities like taking those goods to villages in northern Kenya.”

Hassan urges the Kenyan government to acknowledge the potential of refugees living outside designated refugee camps as they contribute to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

As the community in northern Kenya appreciates the role of refugees in socioeconomic development, paperless or status less refugees in most towns of northern Kenya have organised themselves in groups and associations that champion for their interests.

They are geared at ensuring every paperless refugee under their jurisdiction obeys Kenyan law and respects the hospitality they have been accorded.

Observing law

According to paperless refugee association chairman in Mandera Ali Hersi: “We have organised ourselves very well. Our members obey the Kenyan law and they do not engage in any activities that will undermine the law.”

He explains: “Our association meets every week and we discuss many problems affecting us and how we will work closely with the Government administration in Mandera town where we conduct our business.”

Hersi is among the refugees who made it into Mandera at the peak of the war between the Islamic Union and the Ethiopian forces that saw towns in Somalia turned into battle zones as Ethiopian forces rooted out the Islamic courts, militias and remnants.

One of the refugee families at Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab, northern Kenya. A woman Members of the refugee association will only go back home and rebuild their lives if takes a break from washing clothes to speak to a child in a village in Garissa. there will be peace in Somalia’s towns and Pictures: Abjata Khalif/Reject Correspondent cities.

“We want to go back and rebuild our stay in various blocks in Hagardere before the cility. The camps were initially planned to lives in Somalia but only if there is peace and influx of refugees. Cases of violation against accommodate 100,000 but currently accomrespect for human life. We are calling on the women refugees have increased as everyday modates 370,000 refugees with most of them international communities to remove the mithere are reports of rape, violence against sharing shelter amid poor sanitation. litias from our country as they have no respect women and sexual exploitation of young girls The congestion and flooding of refugee for human lives,” he said. that are reported to the local police post in Hacamps has contributed to increased cases in But refugees living in the three refugee gardere.” sexual exploitation and gender violence against camps in Dadaab have their own challenges. women refugees in the camp.

Many of them have lost a sense of protection According to Saida Dambay: “We used to as thousands more continue flooding the fa-

Kenya government illegally deporting Somali migrants

By ABJATA KHALIF While Kenya has played host to millions fleeing the war torn Somalia, not all are welcome. Many of those who are termed illegal migrants are not finding it easy.

Kenya’s hospitality to refugees from Somalia seems to have changed with the Government cracking the whip on those who have crossed into the country from Somalia following clashes between al-Shabaab and Somalia government troops in Gedo region of Somalia. This is the point that borders Kenya in Mandera town.

Most of the refugees, including women, children and the aged travelled for days under a hail of bullets from the two sides into Mandera town. They sought refuge at the Kenya Red Cross makeshift shelters that give medical and humanitarian assistance to the refugees crossing into Kenya from Somalia.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Kenyan authorities ordered closure of the makeshift camps that offered temporary shelters and bundled the refugee groups into vehicles before

taking them to the Kenyan/Somalia border point of Belet Hawa.

They then ordered them to cross back into the war zones.

In a statement, HRW said the Kenyan authorities deported almost 300 Somalis to south-central Somalia on November 15, 29 and 30, 2010, in violation of international law. On November 29 and 30, 2010, police in the Kenyan border town of Liboi used pickup trucks to drive 130 Somali asylum seekers back to the Somali border.

Human rights violation

According to Gerry Simpson, a HRW senior refugee researcher: “Kenyan officials are violating Somalis right not to be returned to a place where their lives are at grave risk. The Kenyan government needs to send a clear message to provincial and local authorities that Somalis must not be deported to their war-torn country.”

International and African regional law prohibits forceful return of refugees and asylum seekers to persecution, torture and situations of generalised violence.

Government officials at the Mandera Border Post.

Picture: Abjata Khalif UNHCR advises governments not to return Somali civilians to south-central Somalia because of the “risk of serious harm” that they may face there due to widespread violation of the laws of war and human rights.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

3

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

University offers hope to asylum seekers

By ANGELIKA MENDES and GARY SMITH For most young refugees who for years have been confined to Kakuma Refugee Camp in the hot and remote Turkana desert, Form Four marks the end of their education.

The camp, which was set up in 1992 for Sudanese refugees, is home to more than 83,000 refugees of more than ten different nationalities, the largest group being Somalis.

“I have lived in Kakuma for the past 13 years,” says Suad*, a 20-year-old Somali woman. Fleeing war and violence in Somalia, she arrived in Kakuma with her parents and eight siblings in 1998.

Though often thought of as transitory, refugee camps and populations are increasingly static.

The average length of stay in a protracted refugee situation is now approaching 20 years. This is up from an average nine years in the early 1990s.

Encouraged

Suad received almost all her primary and secondary education in Kakuma. Today, she teaches at one of the few primary schools in the camp.

“I have always appreciated education because my father is a teacher. He has encouraged all his children to pursue education,” says Suad.

However, while most refugees have access to primary and some to secondary education, they run into nearly insurmountable challenges when attempting to proceed further to access higher education.

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), an international humanitarian organisation which has been supporting refugees with education since its inception 30 years ago has responded to this need by introducing a revolutionary distance-education programme, promoting education as a fundamental human right among refugees.

Suad is among the first 35 students participating in a Diploma in Liberal Studies course. “I joined this course because it was an opportunity to begin university studies. It means I can continue my own studies and create opportunities for my future. I needed and wanted the challenge of this new programme,” she says.

Teaching methods

Courses within the new programme called Jesuit Commons — Higher Education at the Margins (JC-HEM) use the internet, online learning techniques and on-site teachers. The studies are offered in partnership with Jesuit universities in the US. These universities also offer academic accreditation which means students can continue their studies at any other academic institution worldwide, subject to fulfilling the requirements set out in their admission criteria.

The programme is part of a wider initiative that takes place in Kenya, Malawi and Syria and at least 1,500 students are expected to participate before the pilot phase ends in 2014.

At present, 49 refugee students and seven members of the local Turkana host community

Top: An ariel view of the Kakuma Refugee Camp during the rainy season. Below: Refugee students in class studying the bridging course which prepares them in using computers and academic writing. Pictures: Dani Villanueva SJ/JRS & Angelika Mendes/JRS in Kenya are enrolled either in the three-year diploma course or in a shorter, more practice oriented certificate course in Psychosocial Case Management. The courses are directly relevant to tackle particular needs within their communities.

“The programme’s success depends on advanced computer technologies, continuous power supply and reliable internet connectivity,” explains Petra Dankova, JRS Assistant Project Director in Kakuma. “The fact that Kakuma is in a remote area with no electricity and no bandwidth, exposed to extreme climatic conditions makes implementation very difficult,” Dankova explains.

Internet

At the learning centre in Kakuma, internet is provided by microwave WiMAX from a local Kenyan provider. To protect the equipment from heat and dust storms, computer labs have to be equipped with full-glass windows and air conditioners installed to regulate temperature in the computer and server rooms.

A resident IT officer is attached to each site and these form key staff members of the new project. The initial procurement of computer equipment included spare units to ensure that operations can continue while spare parts are sourced and delivered to the sites.

Required readings and videotaped lectures are downloaded to a local server during low traffic times, mostly at night. When students come to the lab, they can access readings, view videotaped lectures, search the internet, use Regis University’s online library resources for research, and communicate with their faculty members through internet.

The programme is flexible, allowing the stu-

dents to access study material at their convenience. “Students have more flexibility and are better able to juggle their academic responsibilities with volunteer work within the camp, their family duties and often times consuming efforts of securing their daily life in a refugee camp,” explains Dankova.

Many students had never used computers before enrolling in the programme. A zero-credit ‘bridge course’ was designed at the beginning of the programme to give students basic computer skills while also improving their English language and academic writing skills.

The programme, based on the Jesuit concept of pedagogy aims to empower the refugee community, making it less dependent.

Suad is one of seven women studying for the diploma. Of the seven, she is one of three from Somalia. The programme has helped her to develop and express new ideas. “For the first time I realise that I have leadership potential, as a young person and as a woman. It is clear to me that leadership from Somali and African women is necessary for the future,” observes Suad.

Future plans

Six months into the programme, Suad already has clear ideas about how she can make use of her skills in the future. “After this course I want to pursue a law degree. Corruption breaks the back and heart of a country. Somalia is no exception. I feel that in my role as an educated woman and a lawyer, I can carry the desires of the people forward in a professional way,” she explains.

In the camp, Suad shares her sense of leadership and responsibility with other young women around her. She is looked up to as a role model.

But how does she handle the traditional understanding of a woman’s role in the Somali culture as compared to her own?

“There is no contradiction between the traditional role and being an educated woman,” she says. “Of course it means that the husband must understand this. One can be a professional as a woman and a good and loving mother and wife at the same time. There is no contradiction for me. My father agrees,” observes Suad.

In May, admission interviews were held for the second group of students. By September 2011, at least 100 refugees will study either for a Diploma in Liberal Studies or a Certificate in Social Studies in one of Kenya’s remotest areas.

Angelika Mendes and Gary Smith SJ work for the Jesuit Refugee Service in Nairobi/Kakuma.

Conflict is robbing African children of their future

By HENRY OWINO Armed conflict is robbing millions of African children education by exposing them to widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence, targeted attacks on schools and other human rights abuses.

According to the Minister for Education, Prof Sam Ongeri, out of the total number of primary school age going children who are not enrolled in school, 42 percent, that is about 28 million live in poor countries affected by conflict.

“The significant growth of tension, conflict and war both within nations and between nations and people, is a cause of great concern,” said Ongeri. He reiterated that education has a key role to play in preventing conflict and building lasting peace and stability.

Out of 35 countries that were affected by armed conflict from 1999 to 2008, fifteen are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ongeri observed that Kenya is host to a large refugee population that faces major barriers to education.

According to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2011 on Education for All Global Monitoring report, the humanitarian aid system is failing these children. The report calls for a major overhaul in aid to education in conflict-affected countries.

Attendance

Ongeri said education accounts for just two percent of humanitarian aid and only a small fraction of requests for humanitarian aid for education are met.

Speaking at the two day workshop on the conflict in North Eastern Kenya disrupting normal learning in schools, Minister of State for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands Mohamed Elmi said Dadaab suffers from overcrowded classrooms, untrained teachers, and too few opportunities for secondary-age students.

“Most pupils in Northern Kenya go to school as a matter of urgency to curb illiteracy levels not with an aim of achieving their dream careers and

future professions,” observed Elmi. He added: “Even those who teach are Form Four volunteers who have not been trained.”

Elmi observed that children and schools are on the frontline of conflicts with classrooms, teachers and pupils seen as legitimate targets.

He reiterated the UNESCO report which shows that stakeholders need to put their minds together as a matter of urgency to protect children from the ravages of war.

UNESCO Assistant Director General for Africa Lalla Aicha Ben Barka, said rape and other forms of sexual violence have been widely used as a war tactic in many countries, including Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

She pointed out that insecurity and fear associated with sexual violence keeps young girls, in particular, out of school.

“Of the rape cases reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one-third involves children of whom 13 percent are children under

the age of ten,” Barka observed.

She said many of the poorest countries spend significantly more of their budget on arms than on basic education. Twelve countries in sub-Saharan Africa spend more on the military than on primary schooling.

Cut budget

“If these countries were to cut their military budgets by just 1 percent, they could put 2.7 million more children in school. Chad, which has some of the world’s worst education indicators, spends four times as much on arms as on primary schools,” noted Barka.

The UNESCO report calls for an end to the culture of impunity surrounding sexual violence, with stronger monitoring of human rights violations affecting education, a more rigorous application of existing international law and the creation of an International Commission on Rape and Sexual Violence backed by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

4

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Desperate girls thrown into breadwinning it does not put my life at any risk. All I want is some money for my upkeep and some for my mother who now lives in our rural home. I earn KSh2000 every month of which I send my mum KSh1000, use KSh500 for my personal needs and save the remaining amount,” says Nyaboke.

By JAMES MBAKA She is only 12 years old but her innocent face appears contorted in agony. She has been subjected to a strenuous routine that has virtually denied her the joy of childhood.

Joyce Nyaboke works as a househelp in the outskirts of Kisii town. Her busy day starts at dawn. At her age, when she should be in class learning like her peers, Nyaboke is forced to trek a distance of over five kilometres to fetch water from the nearby river daily. She has to make several trips to ensure that there is sufficient water for domestic use in the house.

Her next beat is in the kitchen where she is expected to prepare breakfast for the family of eight. She has to manage her time well, juggling with all sorts of household duties and preparing her employer’s children to go to school.

Cooking, washing, fetching water and firewood and sometimes going to the farm have become a routine which Nyaboke has to contend with on a daily basis unless authorities come to her rescue.

Upkeep

At a school-going age, poverty has pushed her into seeking domestic employment to eke a living in what she believes will enable her wade through poverty.

“I should be in Standard Seven now were it not that I dropped out of school in Standard Five,” she says adding that poverty pushed her to seek employment at a young age.

Nyaboke has three other siblings aged between three and 10. They are all in school courtesy of relatives who adopted them after their

Caring employer

She is, however, happy that her boss is caring and understanding but adds that the amount of work ahead of her everyday are tiring since all the children go to school along with their mother, a primary school teacher, leaving her alone.

“I plan to save enough to enrol for an embroidery course in Joyce preparing lunch during the interview. Poverty is one of the polytechnics around pushing girls into the labour market as they become to enable me establish a small income generating project that breadwinners for their families. Picture: James Mbaka will see my other siblings and mother live a comfortable life,” mother fell ill. says Nyaboke as she gazes her Her mother is ailing from a terminal dis- eyes to the sky, hopeful of the day her dreams ease but she hopes God will grant her long life. will come true.

Nyaboke was forced to seek employment after However, she has no kind words for her fuher single mother fell ill and life became unbear- gitive father whom she accuses of running away able for the family. from responsibilities at a time when they needed “My father left us a long time ago when I was him most. “He should have been here today to eight years old abdicating the roles to my mother fend for us but we cannot find him anywhere,” who used to do daytime household duties within says Nyaboke.

Kisii town to enable us survive,” recalls Nyaboke The story is the same with Sarah Bitengo amid sobs. who is barely 14 years old but has been forced to “I prefer this job to commercial sex because engage in commercial sex to fend for her sickly

mother and four siblings.

Bitengo was introduced to the business by her friends as a cheap way of making quick money. She has been in the world’s oldest profession for about two years within which she has been able to help her siblings who also lives with their single mother at their rural home.

She nevertheless says her mother is aware of the kind of business she does but cannot stop her since she has managed to be their sole breadwinner. “I have helped them eat and buy them some mitumba (second hand) clothes. I also spare some money for my personal needs,” explains Bitengo.

At first the venture seemed lucrative and could make a kill easily but the joy was shortlived when her clients started abusing her and refusing to pay.

Majority of the men who sought her services were almost four times her age but more often than not never paid or cared to have protected sex.

Appreciation

“Thank God my aunt Jane came and rescued me. It was by sheer luck that I had not contracted HIV nor conceived,” recalls Bitengo as tears run down her cheeks uncontrollably.

She now stays with her married aunt and hopes that she will soon join a beauty college to study hairdressing.

As the world marks the Day of the African Child, Nyaboke and Bitengo like many other children have nothing to celebrate about. For them the day is like any other characterised with struggles and a myriad of challenges.

They epitomise a reflection of the true state of the Kenyan child amid rising cases of child labour and abuse.

Pathetic state of Kenya’s children Continued from 1 2001, which vests responsibility on both parents and government.

It is from this background that President Kibaki in his address to the nation on Madaraka Day outlined the Government’s achievements in trying to meet the legal and constitutional rights of children in the country.

Kibaki said: “The vision outlined by our founding fathers has been the inspiration behind the Government’s heavy investments in the social sectors. Our aim has been that all our children have a decent education that will provide them with good prospects for the future.”

Despair

However, even as Kibaki spoke, many Kenyans could see faces of children eating from the dustbins because they have lost all their parents to the HIV scourge; Kenyans could see faces of desperate girls crying out for help after being sexually violated by their fathers, uncles, brothers, priests and teachers; Kenyans could see teenagers who have been plummeted to the positions of being head of households with no one to offer them support; Kenyans could see faces of grandmothers who no longer have the energy to care for young ones; Kenyans could see children who have been withdrawn from school and pushed into tobacco, tea, coffee, sisal and coffee farms to work and earn a living to support their families.

Yet even with the huge figures being given of the success of free primary education — close to nine million —Kenyan children remain desperate.

The Kenyan child who was evicted from his/ her home continues to languish in Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) camps nearly four years after they were displaced, makes an irony of the Bill of Rights. The situation is reiterated with the high number of street children in virtually all major urban centres not to forget the children languishing under the huge burden of child labour.

One cannot forget the girls who are forced

into early and forced marriage in the name of culture. The situation is worsened by girls who undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the name of preserving their dignity.

An ugly animal that continues to rear its head is child trafficking where girls and boys are transported to towns where they are forced into labour and sexual slavery.

Children who suffer for the sins of their mothers and are languishing in prisons or in remands remain an ugly picture that one cannot blur.

The case of physically and mentally challenged children locked in dark rooms because society continues to stigmatise them.

Abandoned children and those who are killed in the name of ritual remain a picture that one would want to wish away but is what remains a stark reality of the state of the Kenyan child.

However, the executive director Amsha Africa Foundation Tony Abuta says: “Rights and advocacy groups are alarmed at the physical and sexual abuse of Kenyan children, including commercial sexual exploitation; the increasing burden of HIV/Aids on orphans that prematurely forces them into adult roles; continuing incidences of FGM; and the inadequate access to education, especially for girls.”

Abuta whose organisation is dedicated to fighting for the rights of children observes: “There are an estimated three to four million child labourers in Kenya, many who work in hard conditions, negatively affecting their health, education and development. In some sectors of the Kenyan economy, children comprise 70 percent of the labour force, many working in violation of national and international laws.”

These are critical questions that must be urgently addressed in the implementation of the provisions of the Children’s Act 2001 as well as the rights of the child as entrenched in the Constitution.

Commitment

An officer with the Child Rights Advisory and Documentation Legal Centre (CRADLE) who spoke on anonymity says: “There is a huge mountain of work that must be done in this area. It requires heavy investments and total dedication to reverse the situation. Everybody must be involved and take care as Young girls picking coffee in a plantation. Children well as ensure that the children’s have been withdrawn from schools to provide statutes both in the constitution cheap labour in farms. Picture: Reject correspondent and otherwise are adhered to the letter.”

“These are the fabric and the Education Fund (UNICEF) documents that in future of this nation and must be protected at tandem with international children’s rights, the all costs. If we don’t, then we are consigning our new Constitution establishes in Kenyan law incountry to total oblivion...we can’t let this hap- ternationally acclaimed principles on the rights pen,” she concluded. of children, such as best interests of the child The budget that was recently read must also which is now to be paramount in every matter allocate more resources to agendas that address concerning children. the concerns of the child. These include among others shelter, health and education. While parents have a duty to support their children, the It further recognises age as a ground for disConstitution now stipulates that both the father crimination, which is critical to the application and the mother, whether married or separated, of the rest of the rights recognised in the Bill of have an equal responsibility to provide for their Rights to children. child(ren).

The Report says: “The new constitutional A report by the United Nations Children and framework creates room for strategic litigation affording an opportunity to enhance jurisprudence on children’s matters. Building on the seemingly narrow scope covered by Article 53 of the Constitution, it is possible to develop extensive jurisprudence for children as has happened in other progressive jurisdictions. Hence, the new law is a sound foundation for streamlining the rights of children in Kenyan law both now and in the future.”

“There are an estimated three to four million child labourers in Kenya, many who work in hard conditions, negatively affecting their health, education and development.

— Tony Abuta, Amsha Africa Foundation

Report

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

5

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

Growing up with almost no play for modern child

By MERCY MUMO Play is a key contributor to the growth of any child. In whatever form, as long a child derives pleasure and joy from it, then they are entitled to play. Children brought up in the rural setting will definitely have different games from those of the city. As technology catches up with society, so does it with the children.

Back in the day, playtime was cherished. Both sexes would come together and enjoy playtime.

From kalongo also known as cha mama-cha baba (playing house), shake, skipping rope, hide and seek, mung’ari (a wheel driven with a long wire), betta (a push-cart), kati, rounder, bladder, bano (marbles) and cycling.

Young girls would pretend to cook soil with leaves in tins or plastic containers. “It was more like imitating what we saw our mothers do in the kitchen. We stole or took what we could get our hands on then cook it in homemade metal tins,” says Laurette Abuya who now works in the communication sector.

Those who were much older and had had experience in the kitchen would cook actual dishes like ugali, sukuma wiki (kales), rice and stew among others with contributions from the interested parties.

“We would meet prior to the cooking spree and agree on who brings what depending on the dish. Most of the ingredients would be sourced from the respective homes represented in the group,” says Grace Wanga, a banker.

Modern experience

In Wanga’s neighbourhood once in a while children come into groups but to play more sophisticated games.

“During my time, games like scrabble, sudoku, monopoly and chess were for grown ups.

Our parents would play such games when we hosted parties or lunches with family friends while the children enjoyed bladder, football and the like,” observes Wanga.

The modern child does not play that much especially in the towns. Sights of children running wild after each other, screaming or going to the river for a dip are few or no more.

Girls no longer want to engage in games that involve getting dirty, they no longer want to break a sweat in the name of playing. Boys neither want to play rough on the field. They have got more comfortable with video and computer games that offer variety of sports like football, rugby, basketball, tennis, hockey and even golf.

It is no longer necessary to get out and play.

You enjoy the sport or game of your choice at the comfort of your living room or arcade where such services are offered for a fee.

With the new millennium came video games, Barbie dolls, plastic utensil sets, car racing, skating, and gambling all in the name of games. The introduction of Nintendo, Game boy, Play Station (PS), XBOX, card games such as solitaire, cribbage, black jack, jigsaw puzzles, snooker, trivia games among others brought with it a revolution.

Depending on the arcade and type of game, different places charge different prices. Most PS arcades charge KSh1 per minute. In others, the loser pays, depending on the number of rounds

played. Others charge a flat rate regardless of whether there is a winner or loser.

Video games

The PS is the most common. It is user friendly and has a variety of games like Need for Speed, Super mario, GTA San Andreas, FIFA, Taken, Pro Evolution Soccer, Grand Theft, Infamous, Mortal kombat.

Martin Mundia, a student at one of the local universities says that as much as video games are the easy way out as far as play is concerned, it is addictive.

“When I don’t have classes, I spend my time at a popular game arcade in town playing FIFA on PS2. I have become so dependent on it that all I think about is playing football on PS,” says Mundia.

He reveals that even after saving up to buy his own, he finds it more fun when with friends at the arcade.

Ten-year-old Clarice Mwangi from Nyayo Estate Embakasi says her favourite game is a PS. Being the only girl in a family of three boys, she is left with no choice but to conform to her sibling’s form of play.

“Boys have more interesting games. I find it so awkward when I have to join the girls during break time in school for fear of being called a tom boy if I played with the boys,” says Clarice, who is an ardent football fan and a die hard supporter of Barcelona.

She enjoys playing FIFA with her brothers on PS3 which is a more modern version of the PS.

Exposure

Girls playing bladder at Ayani primary school. Children skating at the Aga Khan Walk parking lot in Nairobi. Below: Boys enjoying video games in one of the popular game arcades in town. Pictures: Correspondent

Mobile phones have also become popular, with children as a young as four years demanding to own the gadget. The gadgets also have a variety of games. Through advertising channels like billboards, young ones are able to differentiate between regular mobile phones and communication gadgets that carry more sophisticated applications.

The modern child has more exposure to television sets, shopping malls, school, adverts, radio, their much older siblings, parents and even relatives. The parent or guardian has little or no say on their children’s tastes and preferences. The modern child is more liberal than before.

A mother who spoke on condition of anonymity says she feels the pressure from her child to work harder and provide for her daughter’s demands.

“A week prior to her sixth birthday last year, she requested that I buy her a mobile phone as a gift. When I went to find out the price of the gadget, it was way above what I could afford. I later learnt that it had just been launched in the market,” says the mother who says her daughter renegotiated for a much cheaper one with the

similar features she wanted.

Play pens have also revolutionised the way children grow up. A pen is a controlled and restricted play area where a child is confined with toys. It comes in different shapes and sizes and is considered the safest place for a child. They are mostly made of plastic and can be used both indoors and outdoors.

This trend among others is also evidenced in upcoming housing estate models where a children’s playground is not factored in during construction.

“It is no longer a priority to have a play ground for children. Most upcoming estates and apartment blocks only think of parking as well as manicured flower beds and grass lawns that bear the sign ‘keep off the grass’,” laments Wanga.

Recently, Wii-U, a motion controlled video game by Nintendo was pre-tested. The game is more advanced than PS with a screened game pad.

Over the years, skating has also become a

Girls no longer want to engage in games that involve getting dirty, they no longer want to break a sweat in the name of playing. Boys neither want to play rough on the field.

Child exploitation has decreased tremendously but . . .

By GILBERT OCHIENG Although the number of children engaged in labour has reduced drastically, a huge chunk still remains employed.

According to statistics released by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the child labour situation in the country has reduced significantly following the introduction of Free Primary Education eight years ago.

Nevertheless, the report indicates that there remains at least 773,000 children in child labour with more than 65 per cent of them out of school.

This information was revealed during a

meeting at the Busia District Information and Documentation Centre (DIDC) recently.

According to the most recent survey by ILO, the number of working children has decreased by almost half.

The report stated that while empirical data is not available, it is expected that with the introduction of Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) in 2008, the trend of increasing school enrolment may continue and thus have a positive effect on child labour.

According to ILO, the government has also put measures to reduce on poverty levels in the country and as such reduced the number of children engaged in labour.

This has been achieved through strengthening of the policy framework and the introduction of devolved and revolving development funds where groups can access affordable loans and repay with low interest rates.

These measures have resulted in improved employment opportunities and in turn better livelihoods for some families.

An official from the child support project under the hospices of ILO Mrs Tasian Mutsotso said ILO in conjunction with the Government of Kenya and other players had embarked on a three year project in Busia, Kilifi and Kitui counties where child labour is rampant with an aim of eradicating the vice.

popular extra curricular activity. The most popular skating arena is the Aga Khan walk parking bay in town. On Sundays and during public holidays, children as young as five years converge to enjoy the sport. Grown ups also enjoy the sport.

With KSh200 per session, one is taught how to skate. On Sundays, the place is a beehive of activity with trainers, learners and the experienced skating away. In one of the corners, another group enjoys hockey on skates.

“My son enjoys the sport so every Sunday after church we head to the Aga Khan Walk parking. He does not play much at home so I let him skate because he seems to enjoy it,” says Janet, a mother of two.

The sport has gained popularity and the Panari Hotel on Mombasa road has a 15,000 square feet and 200 person capacity solar ice skating rink where one gets to experience skating on ice. The normal rates for skating are KSh700 for adults and KSh500 for children. Currently they have an offer that will run from June to August 2011. From Monday to Thursdays, adults will part with KSh500 while the children KSh350.

Interaction

Physical interaction is diminishing. Majority of internet users belong to at least one social network. Social media through networking sites like Facebook, Skype, Twitter, MySpace, Ebo, Hi5, Flixter, LinkedIn, Netlog, Badoo, among others have also gained popularity among school going children.

It has minimised the distance required to visit friends and family. With the internet and mobile phones, they are able to communicate without having to see each other.

As much as technology has its gains, it also has its down side. It is creating sedentary lifestyle among the children. This has led to overweight and obese children. Also, with the looming insecurity and kidnapping, many parents would prefer their children to play indoors.

“It’s a double edged situation where as much as it would be good for children to get out there and be physical, the environment itself has to be conducive for these activities,” says Laurette The saying, ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,’ could be taken seriously especially in this technology era, which is playing a major role in breeding a lazy generation that does not want to get tired even through play.

6

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Sexual exploitation order of the day in Taveta

By BENSON MWANGA As the Taita-Taveta County residents prepare to celebrate the Day of the African Child, many cases of child abuse continue to be reported in the region with worrying frequency.

The day comes at a time when the county continues to grapple with rampant cases of violation of child rights. Sexual abuse including child prostitution and labour have been on the rise in the area.

Provincial, labour and children department officials have raised concern over the high number of young girls and boys engaging in prostitution as well as child labour at the expense of going to school.

According to the local education officials the shocking sexual exploitation cases in both primary and secondary schools involve defilement, early marriages, pregnancies, incest and sodomy.

In recent months, there has been a significant rise in defilement cases and incest among other forms of child abuse in the County. According to a report from the local education office, over 40 school girls under the age of 17 were sexually abused in Taita District last year.

Primary schools reported the highest number of child abuse cases with 24 while secondary schools with 16. Majority of the victims have since dropped out of school, the officials said.

Intervention

Members of the Taita District Education Board (DEB) are baffled by the revelations and asked the Government to intervene and save the girl child in the region.

The DEB members who included Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu, District Education Officer Samuel Nyantika and the immediate former KNUT Executive secretary James Mwasambo blamed some unscrupulous provincial administration officials and parents for perpetrating child abuse cases in the region.

Presenting a child abuse report to the DEB meeting chaired by Taita acting DC David Boen in Wundanyi town recently, Nyantika accused some chiefs and parents of dragging their feet on the issue. He said those involved in abusing the rights of children included teachers, civilians and fellow students.

“Some chiefs demand facilitation fees from parents and schools before they arrest suspects while other cases are determined in Kangaroo courts hence denying the victims justice,” Nyantika said.

He added: “Lack of cooperation between

parents, teachers and provincial administration was also frustrating the fight against widespread cases of child abuse in the region.”

Nyantika pleaded for urgent action to be taken to protect children’s rights in the region as they are facing serious challenges.

Mwadeghu blamed some parents for failing to give evidence in court when suspects are charged for fear of retribution. He said this must be stopped immediately if sexual exploitation cases among minors were to be reduced.

It also emerged from the meeting that some parents bailed out offenders facing charges of sexual exploitation whenever they were charged in court.

The legislator who is a crusader for chastity among girls in the region said under the Bill of Rights in the new Constitution, children have the right to be protected from abuse, harmful cultural practices, all forms of violence, inhuman treatment and punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labour.

“Only five offenders were prosecuted last year and somebody must be sleeping on the Primary school girls in Taita district, Taita-Taveta County entertaining guest during the job as many cases go unreported,” he obeducation day at Dawnson Mwanyumba stadium in Wundanyi town. Several school going served. girls in the area have dropped out school due to early marriage and pregnancy.

Picture: Benson Mwanga

“Lack of cooperation between parents, teachers and provincial administration was also frustrating the fight against widespread cases of child abuse in the region.”

— Samuel Nyantika, District Education Officer

Mwadeghu said there was need for the Government to post a children’s officer in Wundanyi to help in handling the increasing cases of sexual abuse among minors.

According to the DC only 10 percent of these cases are reported to the law enforcers while 90 percent were determined locally.

However, Boen said there had been an increase in the number of convictions of child molesters. He said several parents have also been taken to court for forcing their children out of school and into early marriages.

While exonerating provincial administra-

tion from blame, the DC said some parents were colluding with suspects to violate the Children’s Act by either marrying off their daughters or failing to report such cases to the law enforcement officers for action.

Another member of the district education board Fridah Mwadime said many students have dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancies and early marriages. She challenged the Government and the Federation of Women lawyers (FIDA) to intervene.

Measures

Mwadime expressed fears that the number could go up by the end of this year if measures are not put in place to curb the worrying trend.

She blamed poverty as the problem hindering girls from realising their right to education in the region.

“There ought to be more focus on improving sexual reproductive health and rights through provision of sexual education. This is out of the realisation that teenage pregnancies are a major contributing factor in school dropout resulting in losses for girls, their families and government,” reiterated Mwadime.

Child labour also remains a challenge for the region. According to Voi/Tausa District officer Esther Waiganjo and the County’s Em-

ployment Officer David Kitwa, the number of young girls engaging in prostitution and child labour has reached alarming levels.

Waiganjo accused truck drivers of promoting child prostitution. She noted how some unscrupulous drivers were using money to lure young girls into unsafe sex.

“We are aware that some long distance drivers along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway have singularly glorified child prostitution along the places where they stop over to rest,” Waiganjo observed.

The administrator, warned bar and lodging operators who allow underage girls into their premises that their licenses will be withdrawn and they will face prosecution.

Kitwa told employers who engage in child labour that they would face the full force of the law.

“Employers should not take advantage of poverty to employ minors. This is unacceptable and against the law. Children are not supposed to engage in any form of employment as this activity violates their fundamental rights,” he warned.

The employment officer said his department was working with other stakeholders to ensure that children who have either been employed or are loitering in urban centres were taken back to school.

Fathers lead in molesting children

By REBECCA WANGARI There are increased cases of child abuse in Central Province with cases of fathers defiling their children being the most common form of child abuse being witnessed in most parts of the region.

According to the statistics collected out of every 100 cases handled by police, child rights groups and Department of Children Affairs, 40 of them are usually committed by fathers adding that the shocking report means homes have become preying grounds for rapists. According to the Provincial Director of Children, George Kibuk, 40 per cent of reported cases involve fathers sexually molesting their children.

He also cited Kiambu and Kirinyaga districts to have recorded a high number of cases of defilement and negligence of children in Central Province.

“Raising the children has solely been left to the mothers whereas it is supposed to be a collective responsibility,” Kibuku observed: He urged: “Can the fathers come back home and take up their equal responsibility in bringing up the children.”

Speaking at Murang’a College of Technology during the official launch of the County Children Assembly, Kibuku said that approximately three children from these two areas are defiled weekly. He pointed out that there could be many more but some are covered up by parents especially when it involves a family member to avoid embarrassment.

No longer safe

He said this has contributed to the increased defilement cases since no action is taken on the offenders as the matter is solved by the family members behind closed doors.

“Our young children especially the girl child are no longer safe even in the hands of the people close to them,” observed Kibuku.

He revealed that as a way of killing the evidence, the defiled victims are married off at an early age denying them a chance to continue with their education. He added that most of the cases are dismissed by the law courts due to lack of evidence.

“This has seen many children suffer in silence since no one is concerned about their welfare. I would urge the parents to please come forward

for the sake of their children to end this suffering,” he pleaded. He pointed an accusing finger at parents whom he said had abandoned their responsibilities to protect children from people likely to harm them.

He singled out runaway fathers claiming that they are the common offenders in sexual offences since they do not spend time with their children creating a weak bond between them.

On his part Murang’a District Children Officer Alfred Murigi said the formation of the Children Assembly plays a big role in addressing the challenges they are facing as it will educate the children on their rights. He said that the assembly will provide a platform for the children to air their grievances pointing out that for many years pleas for justice have been falling on deaf ears.

“For many years children’s rights have been violated in the region and unless the minors are informed of their rights, the vice might not end any time soon,” he said.

During the Murang’a County Children As- A nine year old who was sexually abused sembly elections, Dickson Musila was elected by her stepfather. With fathers molesting their children, the home is no longer a as the governor, Mary Kimani as Deputy Govsafe haven for some children. ernor while John Paul will be the new assembly speaker.

Picture: Reject Correspondent

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

7

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Dreams shattered at Standard Five

By MUKTAR ABDI She has covered over 1,800 kilometres in the last five years and if things do not change, she has to conquer some 1,300 kilometres more before she gets her primary school certificate.

Her dreams of becoming a policewoman may be miles away but she is determined to endure the hardships to become a respectable person in her society.

Each day Kirendi Lemois walks 24 kilometres to and from school. She has been doing this for five days a week since she joined Tuale Primary School. She has three more years before she sits for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam.

Since joining the school in 2007, Kirendi has witnessed several girls in her class drop out of school either to get married or herd their parents’ livestock. Now only three girls remain in her Standard Five class which has 25 pupils.

To the young girl, education comes at a price though she has no idea that some of those she will be competing with after three years are driven to school.

Sheer determination has made her go this far despite the many odds confronting her. In this region, locals attach great value to livestock than education and few pupils reach class eight.

Kirendi believes education will change her life and that of her community who inhabit the plains of Latundo and the great part of Oldonyiro division, Isiolo North District.

tion (PTA).

Kirendi is not the only one who covers many kilometres daily. Lesande Lesamaja covers 14 kilometres to get to school.

The 16-year old Standard Five pupil who is in the same class with his two brothers says he wants to be a doctor so he can be able to help his community.

“I want to be a doctor to treat people of this area because the nearest hospital is in Oldonyiro and if one falls ill he or she has to cover 37 kilometres to get treatment,” says Lesamaja, the oldest in his class.

The biggest challenge they face when going to school are the wild animals, especially during dry periods.

“I remember one morning as we were coming to school with a group of boys. We came across a herd of migrating elephants who charged at us. We had to hide in a trench to wait for them to disappear before we continued with our journey,” says Lesamaja.

According to the school head teacher, Thomas Lokitoe, the pupil who covers the shortest distance walks for six kilometres. He says that the pupils not only face education problems but they have challenges with health, proper diet and shelter.

“Here we have pastoralists who keep moving from one place to another looking for pasture for

Longer distance

When she joined nursery school at Oldonyiro Primary School she walked less than a kilometre daily until the unexpected happened in 2006.

It all started after her father Mzee Lemois was arrested by police on allegation that he had assaulted a woman at Oldonyiro Market. He managed to get his freedom, but fears of getting rearrested after the complainant protested forced him to relocate to a distant land with his family.

Latundo village where Kirendi and her family lived is located 37 kilometres north of Oldonyiro trading centre. “My father moved us from Oldonyiro after he was released by police days later after beating our neighbour,” says the 11 year old girl.

After the move, the comfort of walking a short distance to school was lost and she has to endure 12 kilometres to school in the morning and cover a similar distance in the evening when going back home.

She wakes up at 5.30 am every day and prepares to start the long journey just before 6am.

“I run all the way to school and a few minutes after 7am I am able to join my colleagues in class,” she explains.

Along the deserted route, Kirendi encounters wild animals like elephants which roam freely in the plains. She says this does not worry her “as pastoralists we are used to them”.

Probably it is the hardship that has made her desire to become a policewoman stronger.

Or maybe it is because a police officer forced her family to migrate to the hardship area and hence the desire to experience the powers of a law enforcer.

Shattered dream

However, the average pupil is worried as the year progresses that her ambitions could be nipped in the bud. Her school goes up to Standard Five and there are no infrastructures.

Pupils in lower classes study under a tree where they are occasionally joined by dogs and goats looking for cover from the scorching sun common in this semi arid area. Her school has a total of 150 pupils out of which 35 are girls.

The school which is set up in a remote area of Tuale Village has three teachers who are employed by the Government and two of them who are employed by the Parents Teachers Associa-

“The pupil who covers the shortest distance walks for six kilometres. The pupils not only face education problems but they have challenges with health, proper diet and shelter.”

— Thomas Lokitoe, Head Teacher

Pupils of Tuale Primary School learn under a tree due to shortage of classes. Below: The gunny bags used to partition class four and five. Lesande Lesamaja in class.

Pictures: Muktar Abdi their livestock and they have to move with their children,” notes Lokitoe.

During the drought of 2008, only 54 pupils out of 150 came back to school when they reopened in January 2009.

Lokitoe says that the long distance covered by the pupils affects their education because by the time they reach school they are tired. “It is not only the pupils who are affected by hardship but teachers as well,” he says.

Lokitoe and one of the teachers have converted the staff room into their bedroom and kitchen. The same room serves as the store for relief food which is cooked for the pupils at lunch time.

The other teacher spends his nights at the nearby manyatta as his family is in Isiolo town.

There are no rental houses in the neighbourhood. Lokitoe says even if boarding facilities are constructed for the pupils, the teachers would equally require staff houses.

The most urgent challenge is the need for another classroom to be constructed as Standard Five pupils will be joining Standard Six next year. “We have partitioned class four with sacks so that they can share with class five because we have few classes while others learn under a tree in this hot and windy environment,” explains Lokitoe.

The problem of infrastructure can be traced to late 1990s during an armed conflict between two communities. Before the Somali commu-

nity rose against their Samburu neighbours, the area had good infrastructure.

Tuale area had a missionary dispensary which was situated at Longopito, seven kilometres from Tuale Primary School. Also brought down during the conflict were offices of Livestock Marketing Division which were situated next to an airstrip.

According to a Samburu women’s activist Jane Naini who was in school during the conflict, the Government has done little since peace was restored.

Lagging behind

“Tuale is really behind in terms of development compared to other parts of the country.

It has no good roads, schools and health facilities,” observes Naini.

She says most of the boys end up becoming cattle rustlers while the girls get married at a tender age.

“What do you expect these children to do after Standard Five because it is the last class in this school? Most of the girls are forced to drop out of school and get married,” she says.

However, the biggest worry for the local people is education for their children. They know too well that a Standard Five dropout cannot get a certificate to show he or she attended school. Parents are asking the Government to at least build a boarding school in the area.

Female teachers to blame for girls’ poor performance

By BEN ONYANGO While the girl child should be encouraged to stay in school, this is not happening. Unfriendly environment and the belief that a girl must be conversant with household chores as she gets prepared for marriage have played a role in making girls perform poorly in school.

However, female teachers from Western Kenya have been challenged to take the responsibility of promoting girl child education in their respective schools.

A Maseno university don, Prof Edwina Kawaka said the girl child should be encouraged to stay in school. Speaking during the Education Day for Rongo/Awendo districts at Kuja School for the Deaf, Kawaka blamed

poor performance among female students to negative attitude. He urged teachers to encourage female students to stay in school instead of indulging in activities that ruin their future.

“Early marriages and poverty as well as cultural beliefs that girls were meant to do house chores, unfriendly environment in Luo community and lack of female counsellors are some of the factors leading to poor performance by girls,” she added.

Kawaka expressed concern over the alarming rate of female students dropping out of school for early marriages. She warned parents to stop discriminating their daughters but ensure that they offer them equal opportunity as boys to pursue quality education.

She urged them to provide for their basic

needs and ensure that they pursue relevant courses that will enable them compete favourably with the rest of the world.

Speaking also at the function, Nyanza School Heads Association chairman Philip Ombura raised an alarm that poor performances in schools was also as a result of teacher shortage.

However, Omwaga Samuel a teacher at Sare Primary School blamed parents for contributing to poor performance of girls in day schools.

“Whenever there is free time that the girls should use to study, they are subjected to household chores with the excuse that they are being trained to be good wives in future while the boys are given the privilege to read,” observed Omwaga.

8

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

HIV orphans remain protected today

By OMWA OMBARA Since the first Aids case was reported over 30 years ago many women and men have died from the scourge. Many children were also born to parents who were HIV positive. Many mothers abandoned their children as they refused to accept their status and continued to live in denial.

However, on May 7, the World Orphans Day was marked and there was every reason to smile.

Many of the children who were abandoned in hospitals by their HIV positive mothers did not die as expected in about 30 years. Many among them turned negative and healthy. Some were adopted by affluent families and several are grown up and today hold responsible positions in society. Some are teachers, lawyers, nuns, brothers, musicians and business persons.

Abandoned

Bertha Tausi*, 23, graduated from the University of Nairobi last December with a First Class Honours in Commerce. She works with one of the leading banks in Nairobi earning over Sh300,000 a month. She drives a posh car and stays on Ngong Road. Tausi was abandoned along the corridors of a Government hospital by her HIV positive mother when she was only three days old. The hospital looked after her in the Baby Unit for two years until the Children’s Department placed her with a childless couple.

Tausi’s adoptive parents are quite reserved and will not provide any information.

“Tausi does not know she was abandoned in hospital by her real parents. We adopted her after she had stayed at an orphanage for two years. She believes we are her real parents. Telling her the truth would be the greatest betrayal.

She is happy and so are we and that is all that matters!” the mother says.

Tausi’s parents are very protective of her because they are aware of instances where some malicious neighbours have devastated orphans by telling them they were picked up from a toilet or a garbage heap.

“Stigma has highly reduced and today, we have a more responsive society. Mothers used to abandon their children out of ignorance

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

but with HIV and Aids awareness campaigns done by non-governmental organisations and Government-based institutions, over the years the incident has reduced by over 80 per cent,” says S M Ithai, Chief Public Relations Officer at Kenyatta National Hospital.

HIV testing

According to Ithai, awareness campaigns have exposed mothers to the fact that there are chances of delivering HIV negative children despite the mother’s positive status. Nowadays HIV counselling is not done at the maternity but at the antenatal clinic.

“The test is mandatory so at the hospital level, it is very ideal. All Government hospitals across the country have ensured a campaign in the prevention-of-mother to-child transmission over five years. No mother will give birth without being told of the consequences,” explains Ithai. He adds: “They are also schooled on planned delivery and a breastfeeding formula to contain infection of the new born.”

Any child abandoned at the hospital is handled by the New Born Unit.The medical social workers in collaboration with Children’s Department look for a placement through the children’s officer at the Ministry of Gender.

Long queues of patients wait to pay bills at the X-ray unit. Hundreds of relatives queue to clear bills or admit loved ones. There are long queues in the physiotherapy and occupational therapy departments. It is people, people everywhere. More queues at the toilets and at casualty. Hundreds of nurses and doctors in laboratory coats and student nurses in blue tunics dash in and out of the treatment rooms.

Human traffic

I follow some pregnant mothers and end up in Clinic 18 where I join a queue of about 40 pregnant women and only two husbands. This is the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department.

The staff are friendly but firm and will not release any information on abandoned HIV children.

Indeed the traffic at the Hospital is so high that it is possible to abandon a new born baby or a patient in any of the corridors. The human traffic is estimated at about 10,000 with 4,000 employees,

Fr D’Agostino with the orphans at Nyumbani Children’s Home.

He founded the home that offers hope to AIDS orphans.

Picture: Reject Correspondent 1,000 students, 2,000 University staff and 500 patients minus their relatives.

Although hundreds of guards walk up and down the corridors monitoring the crowd, once in a while a child is abandoned.

“But even if a child is abandoned, it is due to social issues such as motherhood, poverty, separation of couples, deformity or chronic ailment. It is not because the child is HIV positive,” says Ithai.

The abandoned babies end up in children’s homes before they are placed in adoption. Rafiki Children’s Home in Mwiki, Kasarani County, is well protected. Getting access to the compound is almost impossible.

A mean looking security guard inquires from me what I want through a cemented window at the wall. I inform him that I need to talk to the administration. “Why?” he demands. I explain my assignment.

“We don’t deal with such cases here!” he says. I insist that I want the administrator to tell me that. “Ok, write a note and I will take it to her!” I scribble a note, which he reluctantly takes through a small hole at the gate, reads it and orders me to move away until he is ready to give me a response.

After about 20 minutes, he opens the gate slightly, points at a path and advises me to walk down and wait outside a place where I will get seats.

“Do not go inside the office!” he warns. As we wait outside the gate another man arrives with his ten-year old-son. He says the boy was

sodomised by a relative who promised his wife a job. When the guard returns, he sends the man to Mwiki Police Station.

The outside compound is beautiful, quiet and spacious with nice potted plants and trees.

One could easily compare it to the exclusive beach hotel grounds of Nyali, Diani and perhaps the Windsor Golf Hotel in Nairobi.

Home

A cool breeze embraces my face as a fourinch high, friendly Chinese woman whom I later learn runs the home on behalf of a mission comes to talk to me in the verandah, albeit cautiously.

“I do not say you are a bad person but you must get an official letter from your boss with all the questions typed. We have had cases in the past where the media took advantage of our generosity and fielded negative, malicious and untrue stories. This gave our home a bad image and affected the orphans,” she explains.

She says the home is young and so far has only nine orphans, the eldest of whom is 13 year old. The children at the home are registered under the Children’s Department and none of them is allowed out of the country.

Continued on page 9

Children’s homes pose challenges to adoption process

By BARWAQO ARESS Children’s homes are supposed to provide temporary refuge for vulnerable children before releasing them back into the society.

However, this is not the case on the ground.

Many children’s homes are blocking attempts by various stakeholders to have the children reintegrated.

Charitable children homes in Mombasa County have been accused of clinging onto the children in their custody in order to attract funds from well wishers as well as foreign donors. They are being accused of refusing to embrace adoption as a strategy to promote the best interests for the child.

No cooperation

The district area advisory children’s committee has expressed concern that proprietors of destitute homes in the area are reluctant to let go and have put the children in ‘captivity’ for fear of reduced flow of funds to their institutions.

A representative from an adoption agency Little Angels Network, Ms Faith Mwikya said prospective adoptive parents in the area were being forced to travel upcountry to find children to adopt as local institutions were uncooperative.

“We are baffled by the scenario since the homes are supposed to view adoption as the best exit strategy for the child,” said Mwikya.

She told a stakeholders meeting in Mombasa that repeated attempts by her organisation to partner with locally based charitable children’s institutions to facilitate transition of the children back to a family set up has been snubbed.

“The only home that agreed to partner with us is the New Life Home Trust which cares for abandoned children below six months, and with the recent closure of the local branch in Kizingo, prospective parents are forced to travel to Nairobi, Kisumu or Nyeri to see the babies,” explained Mwikya.

She regretted that the charitable children’s homes in Mombasa do not have exit plans in place for the children and continue to stay with them indefinitely. She said this could be for fear of losing funding.

However, the government has been encouraging the homes to release the children under their custody either through adoption or by finding them employment or meaningful income generating activities after they attain the age of 18.

Mumbo said this has not been successful.

“The scenario continues to deny needy cases the opportunity to find placements in destitute

homes which is supposed to be a temporary arrangement while a more permanent solution for the child is found,” she noted.

Some proprietors defended themselves against the accusations citing instances where grown up children have refused to leave the ‘cosy confines’ of the homes to life outside which they fear may be harsh considering that they usually have numerous benefits such as free food, clothing, entertainment, picnics and other freebies from their foreign benefactors.

Myths

This was confirmed by Mumbo, who said some of the big boys were actually refusing to outgrow the homes. The officer said three homes — SOS, Sheikh Zayed and Furaha — were currently having problems with their grown up who have refused to lead independent lives.

Meanwhile, adoption in the Coast region has not picked up since there still exists a lot of myths surrounding the legal placement of a child in a family set up, with many residents lacking information on the issue and how to go about getting a child through this process.

“Some of the myths are that one must be wealthy before seeking to adopt, while the fact is that anybody can adopt, as long as one

can feed, cloth, shelter and educate the child among providing other basic human needs,” explained Mumbo.

According to Mwikya, Coast residents should be sensitised on adoption so that needy children can also grow up in a family unit. Little Angels Network is currently looking for partners to make this possible for children in vulnerable circumstances.

Mwikya said a prospective parent must undergo a nine month process which includes interviews, counselling, vetting and home visits. They also have to go through social and legal processes to qualify for successful adoption.

Those wishing to adopt must be aged between 25 and 65 years and for married couples they must have been together for three years. A male who is single can only adopt a male child while a single female will adopt a girl of between ages six weeks and 18 years.

Mumbo urged agencies to reduce the fees charged for adoption saying the current charges of more than KSh50,000 was exorbitant and discouraging to a majority of Kenyans.

“The fees should be brought down so as to discourage some unscrupulous persons from colluding with social workers at public hospitals to steal babies,” she said.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

9

Back to work as sunset draws

Resilient grandmothers provide a future for orphans

By OMWA OMBARA Cheerful, resilient and relevant. How else can one describe these grandmothers whose radiant faces portray such hope and courage amid adversity!

They cannot dig farms at a fee as they used to.

While they are supposed to be enjoying the sunset years, tables have been turned on them.

Life has played a trick on them and they have gone back to work by setting up a unique business — porridge. These grandmothers of Chiga in Kisumu County have a big responsibility to raise and educate their orphaned grandchildren.

Porridge business

Grandmothers’ sweet and sour brown porridge is reputed to be the best in the world.

When these grandmothers realised they were handicapped with back-aches, toothlessness, fatigue and other old age challenges, they sat together and formed the Chiga Grandmothers and Ophans Group.

The old women sell the porridge outside their huts as moving to the market, a kilometre away is an uphill task. A half-litre plastic cup costs KSh10.

On a good day they raise about KSh200 but on a dull day the sales may go down to KSh30. However, despite these challenges school fees, school uniform and building fund dues must be paid and other bills settled.

Despite the meagre income from the porridge project, it is the faces of hope, the sweet smiles on the faces of the children that touch one to the very core. With just a pinch of green vegetables locally known as mito, the children gather to prepare the frugal evening meal. For them grandmother is everything, the solid rock upon which they rely.

Like every grandmother these women have tales to tell and are very good story tellers. Except what they narrate to the Reject are not folk tales but real stories concerning their visits to Nairobi County when they were much younger and more active.

Mockery

When Grandmother Jennifer Ogusa, 65, visited her five grandchildren in the now Nairobi County five years ago, she felt the children did not treat her with kindness. They continued watching television without even bothering to say hallo when she arrived. To make matters worse, when they went to school the following day, they left her alone in the house with the TV on, forcing her to consume content she had not subscribed for.

She was to drink tea from the silver flask on the dining table but she did not know how to use it so by the end of the day, she was very hungry.

When the children arrived home from school, they waved briefly at her and locked themselves in their bedroom until dinner time. They laughed at her at the table because she did not know how to eat fish with a knife and fork and ridiculed her during dinner. They only spoke French and German, foreign languages she could not understand.

When she tried to teach them their mother tongue Dholuo, they laughed at her hysterically.

Her daughter-in-law arrived at midnight and left for work at 5am. Jennifer never got to see her for the two days she visited. Meanwhile, her son was at a seminar in Arusha. “The only people who were kind to me were the maid and the driver,” she recalls.

granny can speak. They do not know their mother tongue so communicating with granny or relatives back in the village is always a challenge. Their parents are sometimes hostile.

One grandmother narrates how she travelled by bus to Nairobi to visit her son and daughterin-law after her son called her and informed her that the baby they had waited for well over ten years had finally been born. Excited that the baby had been named after her, she carried a debe (bucket) of maize and beans for her daughter-in-law.

When she arrived in the morning July chill at 8am, she knocked at the Karen gate for several hours but no one opened for her. At about mid-day she saw her daughter-in-law peeping at her from the bedroom blinds upstairs.

She felt relieved that she had seen her and waited for her to open, in vain. The distraught grandmother sat on her debe until 6 pm when her son arrived from work and opened for her the gate.

Her daughter-in-law did not talk to her and fed her on her maize and beans for the week she stayed with them. Later both her son and his wife died and when relatives in Nairobi refused to take care of the orphan, she took the child home to Kisumu and currently takes care of her.

“If it was not for the love I had for my son, I would not be kind to this child. When I remember the way her mother mistreated me, I feel very sad but I have forgiven her, says granny. She adds: “I would only advise our children to be kind to us when we visit them because you never know, we could one day end up with their children in our homes! They should also raise their children with discipline and respect so that they do not make our lives miserable.”

As they raise orphans whose parents have died from HIV Aids related illnesses in Nyanza, the grandmothers of Chiga say they do not mind taking care of the orphans but advice parents to bring up their children instilling good manners in them.

Advice

The Dean, St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Kisumu, the Right Venerable Canon Joshua Owiti says the issue is delicate and needs deep soul searching.

Owiti says it is pathetic that grandmothers who should be retiring from active responsibilities strain to take care of grandchildren.

He laments that societal set up in which one cared for one’s relatives disintegrated. Today relatives fear taking care of orphans. “They do not want to be blamed for providing less than the societal expectation and they would rather take care of their own children!” He reveals.

Owiti recalls that as an orphan, he would be sent by all his uncles and aunts and would oblige without feeling any resentment. This favoured him with goodwill from relatives who paid his fees until Form Four when the church took over.

“Children whether orphans, must be treated as children, directed and sent if the burden on

Cold treatment

Today, these children are under her care at a village in Kisumu. “It has been tough for them since their parents died. They lived very privileged lives and could not touch vegetables when I visited them in Nairobi. They wore boots and ate strange foods but here in the village life is tough.

They have to walk barefoot and feed on basics!

They could not speak Luo but now they are perfect at it!” They have adjusted so well!” she quips.

When some grandmothers visit their grandchildren in urban areas, they are not always welcome. Some of the children are unkind, unfriendly while others act as snobs and ridicule them. Others refuse to communicate in Kiswahili which is the only other alternative language

“Today relatives fear taking care of orphans. They do not want to be blamed for providing less than the societal expectation and they would rather take care of their own children!”

— Canon Joshua Owiti

grandmothers is to be shed off,” reiterates Owiti.

Some of the grandmothers concur with the Canon. “I take care of five orphans after my daughter and her husband died. But the children are very stubborn and refuse to be sent. The teenage girls spend the night out and when I ask them to explain their absence, they weep and wail saying if their parents were still alive they would not suffer,” explains another grandmother.

Another grandmother Gaudensia Anyumba Lorna Owiti, says at 73, she and her grandchildren wakes up at 4am to prepare prepare an evening her orphaned grandchildren meal of traditional for school. After attending to her household chores, she sour vegetables. has to feed the children when Gladys Otieno and her they rush home for lunch. grandchildren outside But when she sends them to their house. Granny fetch firewood or water they Leutina Atieno poses refuse to help her and she has with her grandchildren to do it herself! who were left very Grandmother Gaudencia young outside her hut.

Akinyi Anyumba says she thought at 70 she would sit Pictures: Omwa Ombara with her grandchildren under a huge mango tree and their mothers would bring have these orphans to take care of. They give me her a variety of food. She often dreamt of lots of a lot of joy and remind me of my childhood. I laughter in her home in old age. would do anything to help them secure a bright “However, today my children are dead and I future.”

Vulnerable children remain protected

Continued from page 8 “If the children later turn 18 and want to travel out for further studies, the home has to go back to the Children’s Court to obtain an order. That is how well protected the children are,” she reveals. I stay in the verandah for about 20 minutes and leave without seeing any of the children.

I try another home. On Dagoretti Road, just after the Karen roundabout bus-stop lies the Nyumbani Children’s Home. The children are popularly known as “Watoto wa Mungu (Children of God)”. At the gate, a strict guard inquires my mission. After a five-minute screening, she retains my identity card and allows me to go to the reception.

What strikes me most is a huge picture with about 50 children’s photos hanging on the right wall of the reception. The headline reads,

“World Aids Day 2010”. Every child has painted a picture of their view of the world. One picture is heart rending. In colour pencil, one child aged about seven, has drawn a very tall but very thin man called “Aids”.

Two forlorn children, a boy and a girl sit in front of a coffin that is huge enough to carry the father and mother. On the coffin, instead of a wreath, lie the words “Aids the Killer”.

The staff is friendly but firm. The social worker tries her best to get me an interview but again the protocol is such that one must get authorisation from the Executive Director. For the three hours of waiting at the reception, I only manage to see one child. However, soon I hear a group playing and laughing heartily. In another few seconds a boy of about 10 years is brought in for counselling.

10

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Child herders of the capital city

School boys get into menial labour to keep families alive

By STEVE AKUNO and NICHOLAS ROBI In the outskirts of Huruma estate lies one of the busiest markets in Nairobi. This is where one can buy goat or sheep meat at a good price. For those who want the animals live, they are equally available. The place is known as “Kiamaiko” animal market.

It is here that traders conduct their daily activities of selling goats and sheep to their customers. From as early as 5am, the market is a beehive of activity with animal traders exchanging mainly goats and sheep for money.

In the midst of this market, are young boys aged between 10 and 17 years who freely mingle with others perhaps unaware of what their presence here implies.

The boys have not just accompanied their parents. They are here to work. Their jobs include grazing the animals in the nearby fields.

At times the boys are given the task of feeding the thin looking emaciated animals with grass which is sold at KSh350 a stack.

Paltry earning

Even though these boys are supposed to be in school, what excites them and their parents is the KSh150 or KSh350 they take home after spending time grazing animals the whole day among other jobs that earn them some few shillings.

These boys are always at the market by 5am waiting to conduct a rather difficult task amid the chilly weather. In the early morning, they help in removing the animals from several lorries that have lined up before transporting them to designated areas.

From a close look, two boys are seen struggling to hold on to 10 goats as they wait for their owner who seems not to be in a hurry in paying them.

They are paid KSh10 per goat. Meaning they make KSh100 before they leave the market for school.

Most of these boys prefer working very early in the morning and are around the market from between four to five o’clock before they get back home to prepare for school.

There are others who prefer to remain behind probably to make more money if perhaps they missed the early morning opportunity.

Challenges

The most challenging part comes whenever there is a go-slow in the market. During such a time, businessmen give young boys the animals to go and graze. They sometimes have to travel to areas such as Kasarani, Kayole, Embakasi, Ruai and even Kiambiu in a bid to get the best pasture for the animals.

Even though most of these boys love their “job” the challenges they encounter once in a while is a clear indication that things are not good.

Hassan who declines to give his second name says that things are not good as compared to some years back.

He says these days one has to be on the look out especially when one is grazing the animals in an unknown territory or alongside roads.

“The animals (goats) might either be knocked down by speeding vehicles or even the City Council officers might just arrive from nowhere and confiscate your animals,” explains Hassan.

And what happens when the animals are taken away by the City Council askaris?

“In case the animals are confiscated then the owner will be forced to pay a fine of KSh350 per animal,” he sums it up.

The most challenging part comes when one or two of the animals get knocked down by a vehicle. In such a situation, the owner will demand to see the carcass of the goat in order to ensure there was an accident.

And if some of the animals get lost and you as the person entrusted with looking after them

fails to trace them, you have to pay KSh5,000 per animal as a fine, failure to which you might end up in jail.

Owing to all these problems, some methods have been devised in order to minimize the rising cases of animal losses.

Ibrahim Mamo Kiyo, 21, who is only one month old in the trade, has chosen to look after the goats near the market to avoid problems that his fellow colleagues go through.

The first born in a family of five, Mamo says lack of jobs and poverty are what have brought misery to his life, forcing him to move from Moyale to Nairobi in order to find himself a job.

Poverty

In Nairobi, Mamo is lucky to find a few friends who he stays with apart from the little that he normally gets paid when he is out in the grazing field. “I earn between KSh150 to KSh200 which is good because it is better than being idle,” says Mamo.

Though he has a certificate in masonry and carpentry, he is optimistic that one day he will secure a job with the little skills that he has.

In addition, Mamo has a driving licence.

Unlike his peers, his dream is to get a job and

“The animals (goats) might either be knocked down by speeding vehicles or even the City Council officers might just arrive from nowhere and confiscate your animals,” — Hassan

Boys herding goats at Kiamaiko meat market before going to prepare for school. Picture: Nicholas Robi

help his parents who stay in Moyale.

Even though all is not lost, Mamo’s appeal to the Government is to create more job opportunities to help him and other millions of other jobless youth realise their dreams.

When begging becomes a source of livelihood

By HENRY KAHARA Amina Abdalla, 12, is smartly dressed and appears very innocent, together with her younger sister, Hadija, five.

“Help us,” says Amina.

“With what?” asks the pedestrian.

“With money,” she responds.

What are these small girls doing in the streets begging for money?

They claim to live in Kawangware with their mother, a single parent who is sick and has sent them to borrow money and foodstuff.

Every weekend, Amina who is Standard Five at Dagoretti Muslim Primary School comes to the city’s streets to beg for money.

“We mostly get Sh200 but sometimes we get as much as KSh500 in a day,” she says.

Amina and Hadija are not alone in this. There are many other street children like ten-year-old, Antony Odhiambo, a Standard Five pupil at St Bakata Primary School in Mukuru kwa Njenga.

He lives with his sister in the slum.

Daily bread

Her sister washes people’s clothes to earn a living. According to Odhiambo, Saturday and Sunday are his days to contribute to their daily bread. To make ends meet, he collects metal items which he sells in the same slum for KSh20 per kilogramme.

“I go round looking for scrap metal items which I sell to earn some money,” explains Odhiambo.

When the scrap metal sales do not meet his target of KSh200 he ends up in the streets begging.

These children depict a picture that city residents thought had disappeared when in 2003 the

come to the hotel. Sometimes they get a lot of money.”

He says that some come with forms pretending that their beloved ones are sick or claim they are orphans in need of financial assistance.

“Another day a boy was given KSh1,000 by a white man, he ran away and after less than ten minutes he was back,” says the guard who maintains that someone could be using the children for selfish gains.

No action taken

A street child holds his money collection container. Most street children make a living from begging.

Picture: Reject Correspondent Narc government mopped up all street children and took them for rehabilitation.

However, it now seems the party is over as street children are back and Nairobians are no longer enjoying their freedom.

According to a guard at Hilton Hotel who declined to be named: “Street children always come here to borrow from foreign visitors who

Kelvin Otieno, a sweepstake lottery vendor along Aga Khan Walk says the parking bay next to the stretch works as the residence for some street children in the city. “If you come here early at around 6am you will find a group of them sleeping at this parking,” says Otieno.

The scenario is also replicated at 7pm. Otieno’s observations are echoed by a City Council employee who says “we have reported the matter to the office but no action has been taken”.

Otieno says that it is hard to recognise the children as beggars because some of them are very clean, especially girls.

He observes: “Many of the children who engage in this vice are between six and 12years.”

According to those who have seen these children, they are usually in their business in the evenings but a few of them can be seen during the day and especially on weekends.

According to the new constitution: Chapter 4, part3 section 53[1e] Every child has a right to parental care and protection, which includes equal responsibility of the mother and father to provide for the child whether they are married or not.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

11

Street children find a new occupation

By BARWAQO ARESS A boy, barely out of his teens is busy washing one of the numerous cars that have been parked near the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) long room in Mombasa.

It takes him about 45 minutes to complete the task, and the owner, businessman Abdulmalik Ali hands him a KSh100 note which he pockets. He then puts aside his water bucket waiting for the next customer seeking his services.

This is the world of Chris Omondi, a street boy who has turned into a car washer following dwindling fortunes along the streets of Mombasa where it has become increasingly difficult to raise enough money to survive.

Previously, Omondi and his three friends earned more than KSh300 begging from residents within the central business district about a year ago. However, the harsh economic times has affected them.

Regular police patrols in the area also mean that any attempt to snatch handbags or pickpocket tourists will mean spending nights in the police cells. With no kin to pay bail, such a misfortune may well mean a probation sentence or forceful absorption into a destitute home.

Street families

Competition from street families has also brought mixed fortunes to the street urchins who have to contend with the increased number of beggars seeking the ‘elusive’ shilling from Mombasa residents.

Increasingly, Mombasa town has become a haven for street families who visit only on specific days, to sleep over from Thursday evening to Friday when the Muslim community give out alms and food packets throughout the day

as demanded by their faith.

The street families, mostly women accompanied by their children and some with elderly spouses usually attract more sympathy from their donors who prefer to give the alms to families instead of the urchins who usually use the money to buy glue and other illicit substances.

This scenario has now disadvantaged the urchins who cannot cope with the stiff competition for survival on the streets. They have to look for alternative ways to earn a living.

Although some children still steal side mirrors, tyre rims, brand stickers and locks among other gadgets to sell, most have been to jail after their attempts were thwarted by hawk eyed guards and pedestrians.

This has prompted some of them to turn into parking attendants and temporary day watchmen while others have now gone a notch higher and ventured into the car washing business in order to put food on the table.

A cyber cafe dealer in the Central Business District, Abdulrahman Abeid says he has an arrangement to pay KSh50 daily to a street urchin to guard his car from 9.00 am to about 12.30 pm when he breaks for lunch and later until 5.00 pm.

He has been paying the 13-year-old for the last ten months and the arrangement has worked well as the car has not fallen victim to vandalism. This is unlike before when he was forced to replace some gadgets regularly after they were stolen.

“The arrangement has helped rehabilitate the boy since other neighbours have also contracted the boy to watch over their cars and wash them whenever for which they pay an extra KSh100,” explains Abeid.

Scores of street urchins have ventured into

Older street children demonstrate demanding that the rights of street children be recognized. Picture: Reject correspondent car washing business to make ends meet. Moses Kioko, a street boy who cannot remember his exact age is considering venturing into car washing since it has become increasingly difficult to beg in the town.

“Stealing or rummaging through dustbins for food is no longer the best option for me. I would like to look for a decent alternative to improve my lifestyle,” says Kioko.

Day care

Although the Mombasa Municipal Council runs a day care programme at Tononoka area where street urchins can access food, drink and even education, Kioko is not ready to embrace an ‘official’ lifestyle as he still considers the streets to be more lucrative than

the sheltered centre.

“The carefree life on the streets, without certain rules and orders from anyone on when to eat, sleep, wash or even brush your teeth is what makes street life so attractive,” he says.

Kioko and his colleagues still spend their nights on the pavements but say it is still better than sleeping on a mattress and blanket under the watchful eye of a guardian.

Another beneficiary of the car washing venture is Charles Njuguna, a teenage street urchin who says it is much better than plucking side mirrors from parked cars or snatching purses.

He has devoted his time and energy into car washing to wean himself off the dehumanising street life.

Haven of hope for Mathare’s destitutes

By ALEX NDIRANGU In an open yard sandwiched between two storey buildings in Nairobi’s Mlango Kubwa Estate, rivulets of raw sewage trickle down from nearby houses to form a stream that flows to form a pool of murky water at the centre of the yard.

From one corner, Monica Kanini snoops around the shores where several street children are lazing. In one hand she holds a glass of water and some tablets in the other.

From the look in her eyes, she is looking for someone in particular. Suddenly her face lights up. She has finally found Elizabeth Wambui, one of the nine children at the base, who is HIV positive. She walks up to her and nudges her to wake up.

Still groggy from sleep, Wambui swallows the drugs, which apparently are anti-retrovirals despite the fact that she has not eaten anything since morning. Mission complete, she curls herself back to sleep.

Care

For the last eight years, Kanini has been taking care of destitute street children in this yard.

“I talked to the owner of this plot and persuaded him to let the children stay in this place instead of sleeping on the pavements where they are always at risk of being attacked by night guards and other members of the public,” she explains, showing the 30 by 40m yard which about 200 street children call home.

This is where they come back to after their daily toil fending for themselves on the streets.

According to Kanini, life at the centre which they call ‘base’ was normal until two months ago when two children died of Aids related ailments.

“At first, I thought it was just the normal ailments and that they would just recover but I was wrong,” she explains. Kanini adds: “After a couple of days, one boy died followed by the other in a week’s time.”

street boys stumbled upon a discarded infant.

It then occurred to her that more children “I have instilled them the virtue that you are may be infected and would die if treatment was your brothers’ keeper and that’s why they picked not availed to them. She decided to seek assisthis baby and brought him to me. I named him tance from the Catholic nuns from the nearby Moses,” she says cuddling the bouncing baby in St Juliet Hospital who offered to test the street her arms. children for HIV. Of the 54 children tested, nine Moses tested negative. “I plan to adopt him,” tested positive. says Kanini who has seven children of her own.

In addition to testing, the nuns offered Kani“They are uncared for yet most of them are orni anti-retroviral drugs for the children. phans and are at risk of being sexually abused,” “I was advised to feed the children on a balshe says adding that rape and sodomy is a comanced diet before administering the drugs,” exmon occurrence on the streets. plains Kanini who depends on well wishers to Kanini hopes the Government will provide provide food for the infected children. basic needs for the children to ensure that ART However, with the rising food prices, the little handouts she gets are reducing by the day and hardly enough for the children. . According to health care personnel, ARVs work efficiently if an adequate diet and proper nutritional care practices are met. This also includes managing opportunistic infections and symptoms.

According to Kanini, the Government’s plan to rehabilitate the children in 2003 failed due to failure by the authorities to engage the children in meaningful activities.

“They need to be inClockwise: Some of volved in activities that will the children with their bring out the best in them,” benefactor Monica Kanini she says insisting that street children are a talent galore at the centre in Mulango with lots of potential.

Kubwa. Bernard Irungu In her eight years stay plays his homemade with the children, Mathee fiddle. Kanini prepares to (mother) as she is fondly administer the ARVs drugs referred to has seen plenty. to the children. Of the 54 She still remembers the children tested, nine were afternoon early this year positive. when during their escaPictures: Alex Ndirangu pades in the streets, some

programme they have been put under is successful. As we are talking to Kanini, Bernard Irungu, a street boy and a budding musician enters the yard wobbling under the weight of a heavy sack. On his left hand he is holding a selfmade guitar, and as though on cue, fellow street children crowd him.

Dropping the load of scrap metal that he has been collecting all day, Irungu positions himself before he starts to strum the instrument to a solemn tune. Led by Mathee, the children belt out tunes that depict the plight of street children and urging the society to stop looking down upon them.

12

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

Empowering child workers through skill development

By FLORENCE SIPALLA “Apondi* was about eleven years old when she came,” says Naomi*, recalling when she had her first house help. “I was young and I had just had my first born.

What I really needed was someone to hold (take care) of the child. I did most of the work.

I would wake up at around 5am and start with washing the clothes before making porridge and lunch for Apondi,” explains Naomi. “I would then leave her with the task of taking care of the child.”

Like Apondi, Wanjiku* was also recruited to help in the household as a child. “At first, I was looking for a house help,” says Bernadette.* “I recall my brother telling me to ‘take the kagirl, she will play with the baby until you get someone’.”

Both Apondi and Wanjiku had dropped out of school for lack of fees and engaged as househelps. However, they were lucky to have come across employers who saw the potential in them.

Education

“I found that she was very knowledgeable and intelligent,” says Bernadette of Wanjiku who was from her rural area. “Once my daughter started going to school, I decided instead of her wasting time here at home, I empower her,” says Naomi.

Naomi enrolled Apondi in a tailoring programme run by Crisis Pregnancies. The NGO programme targeted girls who had dropped out of school because of unplanned pregnancies.

However, other girls in need of skills development were also welcome to take the course.

That is how Apondi who was a Standard Three dropout enrolled. “It was a walking distance from where we lived. Apondi could go to class after finishing her morning chores and would pick the child from school at around 2pm. When the schools closed for holiday, Apondi did not go to the tailoring school as she had to stay home and take care of the child,” says Naomi.

When Bernadette’s daughter started going to school, she also enrolled Wanjiku in school.

“We learnt that she had dropped out at Standard Four. We took her to nearby Central Primary School in Eldoret where she enrolled in Standard five.”

Bernadette explains that Wanjiku changed school in Standard six when they moved to a different locale. She completed her primary education and joined Moi Girls’ High School, Nangili.

“I think I know her better than her mother,” says Naomi, an administrator who explains that Apondi started working as a househelp before age ten but her mother used to receive her wages. “It is only when she was about 17-18 that I started giving her KSh1,000 and sending the rest to her mother.”

Apondi completed the tailoring and embroidery course and was later attached to someone who had a stall at Makina market. “She even got a job in town and would go to work and come back to my house,” says Naomi. “She stayed with me for one and a half years after she was employed and only left when she got married at 24. I gave her a sewing machine as a wedding gift,” says Naomi.

“She actually ended up with three sewing machines as her mother and mother-in-law each gave her a sewing machine,” says Naomi.

Those close to her felt Apondi needed the machines to start her own business. Today, she runs her own tailoring business at a market in Kibera.

But Wanjiku did not leave her employer’s place amicably. After completing secondary school, she got involved with a young man in the neighbourhood and got ‘married’.

“I was thinking she could do catering or something to do with hair and beauty. She was

very neat and a good cook,” says Bernadette who could not hide her disappointment.

She adds: “I felt quite aggrieved. I needed her to be equipped with a long term thing for her future. She went before we could do that.”

“Somehow I felt at a loss because we did not part on an agreement that now she was ready to go. She walked out because of bad influence. She did not bring him home officially,” says Bernadette who considered Wanjiku as her daughter.

Today, Wanjiku works in a hospital as an attendant but with no formal training. “She has something to put on the table,” says Bernadette resignedly.

Bernadette’s fmily took a shamba boy to driving school. They also helped him find employment.

“These were children with special capabilities.

They were kind of talented and their output was good,” asserts Bernadette. “They were very obedient and hard working so we felt really at that age, how can we reward them?”

Bernadette explains the motivation behind their actions.

Rampant child labour bars children from school

By BEN OROKO

An underage girl employed as a maid cooks while holding the baby. Employers who come across such children need to empower them.

Pictures: Reject Correspondent

Disappointment

Like Bernadette, Naomi still feels that Apondi could improve on her education. “I keep telling her if you have time, there is gumbaru (evening class) you can go to,” says Naomi who wishes Apondi could have had an opportunity to access more formal education.

Looking back, Naomi says: “At times, I felt guilty, but then I would think hata nikimpeleka shule, nani atanishikia mtoto (Even if I took her to school, I would ask myself, who would take care of the child)?” She explains: “The decision to have Apondi acquire tailoring skills was arrived at in consultation with her mother. At that age, she didn’t know exactly what she wanted in life. She was not very decisive.”

But even when employers want to empower their housegirls, it is important to have them psychologically prepared for the change.

Eva Kasaya, a published author and former housegirl explains the uncertainty she felt when her employers asked her what she would do once their daughter was old enough to go to school and they did not need her services. This was at the beginning of their work relationship.

“I felt like they were going to fire me like

“It was a bit scary, like I had just being dumped in the world. I was not 100 per cent ready to go out there.”

— Eva Kasaya, Author

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

tomorrow as Wamaitha was growing very fast,” says Kasaya.

She recalls there was relative security knowing that she had food and shelter while in employment. The beginning of a life of independence would mark the beginning of uncertainty, a sentiment well explored in her book, Tale of Kasaya.

Eva is full of praise for her last employers.

They took her to a tailoring school in Dagoretti which was close to their home in Karen. Her employers increased her salary to ensure that she had enough money to cater for her fees and other expenses. And when the time came for her to leave, they gave her a sewing machine to start her off.

But despite all this, Eva remembers the fears she felt. No one had ever asked me when I would like to leave,” she says.

Kasaya who started working as a house help at age 15 had never been responsible for making all decisions pertinent to her life. Most decisions were made by her employers, some of whom really mistreated her.

“I felt like am still a teenager. I want to have that shelter,” she explains. “It was a bit scary, like I had just being dumped in the world. I was not 100 per cent ready to go out there,” says Kasaya. “Living with them, did me a good thing. I have adjusted to the environment the way it is.”

Kasaya went to live with her sister after leaving employment with David and Wanjiru Kabibi. She started a tailoring business that was sustaining her until the 2007 post poll violence.

She moved back to her home in Mbale for fear of attacks. In Mbale, business was slow.

“People would rather buy food than make clothes,” says Kasaya in a matter of fact manner.

“These sides it is hard to market, people prefer to buy food especially now when the food is scarce. It is only in December when someone wants to pay KSh150 for a leso outfit,” explains Kasaya. This is too little and not enough to meet her expenses.

Kasaya advises employers to consult their girls on what they would like to do to improve their livelihoods. “I just wish most employers would do that with their girls,” she says reflecting on how her employers empowered her to be independent. *Names have been changed to protect identity.

There are growing concerns among many stakeholders across the country that many pupils are engaging in domestic child labour to the detriment of their education and future careers.

Despite the introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE), the situation of child labour is worrying in the Kisii region as many children continue providing cheap domestic labour, fetching water and firewood. Others help their parents transport various items to markets.

Investigations by the Reject revealed that children who are engaged in domestic labour at household levels perform poorly in school since they do not have adequate time to concentrate on their class assignments.

Majority of the girls provide domestic labour at household levels leading to late enrolment in primary school. Jeriah Nyabuto, a parent from Boochi Village in Kenyenya District says the demand for girls’ labour at the household continues to pose a serious challenge.

“Traditional divisions of labour among boys and girls continue fuelling child labour as girls take up household responsibilities that deny them access to education,” says Nyabuto.

She observes that HIV/Aids pandemic has forced many children to drop out of school as they end up being responsible for their siblings.

“The negative impact of child labour on education has been fuelled by the HIV/Aids scourge which has forced many children to drop out of school to take up odd jobs to supplement care giving for their families. This is done at the expense of education and future careers,” says Nyabuto.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, there are nearly two million children aged between five and 17 who are engaged in child labour.

Declining standards

Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Kisii Branch Executive Secretary Mr Shem Nyaundi says rampant child labour has contributed to poor performance in national examinations as well as declining education standards in Gusii.

“As a teacher, I am worried with the increasing cases of children not going to or dropping out of school to provide cheap labour,” observes Nyaundi, who is also a teachers’ representative.

Kisii Central District Commissioner Benjamin Njoroge blamed poor curriculum delivery on rampant child labour.

Njoroge who is also the chairman of the District Education Board observed that despite the Government’s introduction of FPE, in the country, it is ironical that majority of the parents in the area are reportedly engaging their children either in domestic chores or income earning activities at the expense of education.

“I am reminding parents in the area that education is important for shaping the children’s academic future,” Njoroge says.

He asked all local provincial administrators to come up with periodical data within their areas of jurisdiction to enable Government to ensure all children are in school.

“I am challenging chiefs to provide leadership and educate the local communities on the importance of taking children to school since it is Government policy that all children of school-going age go to school to tap the benefits of the programme,” stresses Njoroge.

Njoroge cautioned that the Government will not spare anybody found engaging in child-labour.

“The Government does not approve any activities exploiting or engaging children below 18 years in child-labour activities as it deprives them of their right to education,” warned Njoroge.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Orphan emerges hero in school

By KABIA MATEGA When Nyongesa Mabuko Samson walked to Kamukuyua Primary School in Bungoma District four years ago to collect his KCPE results, little did he expect the humiliation that awaited him.

On arrival at the school, pupils and teachers jeered him as he walked out of the head teacher’s office just because he had not performed to their expectation.

Nyongesa, an orphan had to leave the institution in haste to save his face because what he got was far from his and the school community’s expectations.

Nyongesa had topped his class throughout the years. He expected to score more than 400 marks based on his past performances but instead managed 331 out of the maximum 500 marks during the KCPE.

Child workers on the rise

By JOYCE CHIMBI

School search

Four years later he proudly managed to translate the 331 marks that put him at crossroads with villagers and his former school community to a record A- (A Minus) in the 2010 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) results. This time he attracted hugs and standing ovations from all and sundry.

“I had to undergo psychological torture looking for a secondary school to join. For yet unknown reasons, all the principals of the six provincial and district secondary schools I approached for admission responded negatively,” explained Nyongesa.

After days of desperate search for a secondary school, Nyongesa was almost giving up taking to consideration that the clock was ticking close to the end of the first term.

Just before he could give up on his quest for a school, the unexpected happened. The boy who had just arrived in Narok District was informed about the school by a friend. He found himself at the gates of newly established Fanaka Secondary School in the outskirts of the town. The school had two iron sheet classrooms and a small timber office.

On the way to the school he met a man at the gate of the institution whom he inquired on whom to see in order to get Form One admission. Nyongesa was unaware that the man he was speaking to was the owner and a local church pastor. ‘’This man looked simple and when I showed him my Standard Eight result papers he led me to a structure that I later learnt was the main office but the headmaster sat here with other administrators and teachers,” says

13

Fanaka Secondary School Director Ayub Mureu (left) and Asante Africa Foundation regional Director Kanyi Gathii congratulate Nyogesa Mabuko (centre) who joined the school with 331 marks and left with an A-(minus) ranking him in second position in the larger Narok Districk in the 2010 KCSE. Picture: Kabia Matega Nyongesa.

However, his joy was short-lived when he learnt that the institution was a day school. He had no relative in Narok town who could accommodate him for the four years. He almost declined the offer.

Sponsor

As he pondered over his next move under a tree in the compound, good news from the school director’s desk was delivered to him through the secretary.

“The management had anonymously made a decision to foot my Form One school fees after considering my status as an orphan,” said Nyongesa who rose to become the school head boy.

As he was thinking about his accommodation challenge, his elder brother secured employment with Equity Bank, Narok branch.

The brother was not aware of his last born brother’s admission in a local school.

The teachers were very kind to Nyongesa and when he confronted them with his challenges they promptly tried to find solutions.

Although the school offered science subjects it had no lab facilities and depended mostly on self-created lab equipments some collected from estate dustbins such as mineral water and camera film cans. Laboratory water

was stored casually and collected with jua kali made jerri cans.

“Beside all the problems I encountered, I managed to score an A in Biology and B in Chemistry to prove my worth before those who contributed to my education during the four years,” explained Nyongesa as he received a back pat from the regional Asante Africa Foundation Organisation that also contributed towards his school fees.

Career

Nyongesa wants to pursue a career in law saying his role model is PLO Lumumba, Executive Director the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.

Being the only one who has made it to an institution of higher learning in a family of ten, Nyongesa has a burden to prove himself.

He heaps praises on his elder brother a security guard with G4S firm who he says sacrificed a lot to see him through after they lost both parents.

“I knew about the boy when the director reported his disappearance from school in the wake of the post-election violence that locked the country and went to collect him from home where he disappeared to,” said Kanyi Gathii whose organisation sponsored Nyongesa for three years.

While his counterparts are busy in school, young Kennedy Muti pushes the cart in the harsh sun not withstanding as he makes his trip to deliver water to various houses within Pipeline Estate, Nairobi County.

At only 12 years old, Muti the first born in a family of six children is not out of school because he lacks fees, after all, there is free and compulsory primary education.

Muti is out of school because he has taken over the burden of care where he must assist his mother provide for the family.

As the continent celebrates Day of the African Child, the issue of child labour larks around like a formidable ghost.

“Female headed households among the poor has continued to rise putting a strain on the capacity of these women to provide quality parenting to their children,” explains Ms Jacinta Kanari, a single mother who moves from estate to estate hoping to secure temporary work as a cleaner. It is a hard life to live for Kanari whose 13 year old daughter is already a house help.

“She should be in Standard Eight now but she helps me care for the family. Many people are ready to take up young girls to mind their children because they underpay them. My daughter brings us whatever she gets, her twin sister usually comes with me on my daily cleaning rounds,” explains Kanari.

And just like the girls, Muti has taken over the responsibilities that should have been his father’s.

“How do I go to school while I am the man in the house, our father was very abusive to us, we left him when I was five years old and have been on our own with our mother since,” he explains.

Although the issue of child labour is not new within the public agenda, statistics in relation to the number of children providing labour in various sectors have continued to increase.

“In the late 1990s, there were more than three million children working as labourers. At the moment, these numbers have increased to alarming levels and it is important that various stakeholders step in with interventions,” explains Grace Nyaruai, a teacher in a private school in Pipeline.

Nyaruai says the country is sitting on a time bomb and if these children do not get an education then the situation rules them out of formal employment in future. “They will most likely resort to crime,” she says.

Various reasons have being given by parents whose underage children are engaged in one form of labour or the other as they try to justify the vice.

These reasons range from the death of parents to breakup of the family structure and poverty.

Despite odds, man celebrates tattered childhood

By HENRY KAHARA “In every young boy there is Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela if not the world’s richest man Bill Gates and similarly in every young girl there is Mother Teresa,” says Mbugua Mumbi, author of the famous and inspiring novel Excuse Me Your Dream is Calling You. “What I’m saying in short is that in every human being there is seed of greatness,” says Mbugua, the fifth born in a family of eight girls and three boys.

Born in Kiambu County in the late 1960s, Mbugua and his siblings were raised by their mother a single parent Mumbi Njuguna who was a bar attendant. To him life was not a walk in the park.

Despite the fact that he wore tattered clothes, slept on an empty stomach and when lucky fed from dustbins at Gatanga Shopping Centre, today he can sit back and relax. He is the managing director of Success Signature.

It all started when he was in Standard Five in Gatanga Primary School when he was sent home to collect school fees. Her mother did not have the KSh100 needed for activity fee.

Mbugua was forced to stay at home looking after his younger siblings. “I kept on nagging my mum that I wanted to go to school,” he says.

One morning, his mother dressed him and they left for Thika town. He did not have a clue of where they were going. It came to his mind later that they were going to borrow money from his mother’s friend who was working at Thika Barclays Bank.

Ambition

According to Mbugua this was his turning point. When they arrived he was mesmerised by the environment, a lot of money and the smart people he saw.

When they went back home, Mbugua interrogated his mum about Barclays.

“Mum can I also work there one day if I excel in my education?” he asked. His mother assured him that if he desired he could also work there.

Today Mbugua who holds Masters in Strategic Business Management from United Kingdom has worked in the banking sector for over 10 years.

“I have worked as a manager in the same bank, I visited with tattered clothes,” says Mbu-

gua, a father of two.

“Success lies in you, it is personal, and you have to be passionate about it. My mum could not have succeeded for me, she inspired me to be passionate about my dream and that was it,” says Mbugua who has visited more than 250 schools in a bid to help children discover who they are.

Mbugua who confesses that he has never seen or heard news of his father urges the young people not to make permanent decisions based on temporary situations, because nothing lasts forever. He says that the bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity.

“Manoeuvre through challenges with a dream. Dreams are seeds of reality,” says Mbugua who also authored Vitamin for Success.

Currently, Mbugua is working on five books which he is optimistic will be out before the end of this year. “I am working on life skills student text books Form One to Four. I am also working on my third novel titled Seeds to greatness.

Although he is now running his own company, Mbugua says that he has neither been in

Mbugua Mumbi, the banker and entrepreneur who had a difficult childhood but overcame his challenges to become successful.

Picture: Henry Kahara counselling and guidance class nor has he been in any physcology class. However, he attributes his status to being an avid reader.

14

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Early and forced marriage hangs over Pokot girl

By JOY MONDAY

Eunice Domongile had grand dreams. The bright 14-year-old was determined to go to university and become a doctor so she could help her fellow Pokots. Her teachers at Kasei Primary School in Pokot North district were sure she would realise her dreams. She was the best in the Standard Seven of 29.

However, as fate would have it Domongile’s dreams were shattered when one day during school holiday, she was married off to a 50-year-old man as a fourth wife.

Determined to let the girl pursue her dreams, the school management committee, a local girl child rights activist and other sympathisers resolved to convince the girl’s husband to free her from marriage. However, this was not easy.

Elder’s word

After long negotiations during which they showered the old man with all sorts of gifts, he eventually agreed to let Domongile go but on condition that she would return to him after her studies.

In the Pokot culture, the elder’s word must be respected. “We had no option but to agree or a curse would befall us,” says Debora Katina, who led the team that negotiated for Domongile’s release.

None of the stories highlights the plight of the Pokot girl-child like the story of 12-year-old Mary Tokilio, a Standard Five pupil.

She tearfully narrates how one night, with no explanation, her brother forced her to walk a long distance while threatening her with a knife.

Her widowed mother Teresa Lowasikou had travelled to Sigor about 250km away, in search of food for the family.

Her feet were sore by the time they arrived at the home of James Lesikau in Kiwawa village, about 60km away.

Here, Tokilio learnt that she was to become Lesikau’s third wife. In exchange, her brother would get a harvest of sorghum from two acres of the old man’s field.

Katina, coordinator of Yanga’t Child and Women Organization came to the girl’s rescue moments before she was married off.

“Everything was ready for the ceremony by the time I arrived with four other people. Animals had been slaughtered and the elders were drinking local beer,” she explains.

An ugly confrontation ensued as the suitor and the girl’s brother swore not to let her go.

Armed young people hovered around.

“I stood my ground and managed, through the support of my peers to secure Tokilio’s freedom,” says the child crusader. Tokilio hopes to go to university and become a teacher.

Also married off early was Domongile’s classmate, Jane Loritele, 14. Her father took her out of school when she was 10 to help her mother with domestic chores, pending marriage.

Refund

“I was in Standard Six at Kasei Primary School. An old man came to ask for my hand in marriage. My father accepted and the man brought cattle, goats and blankets. I was to become his third wife without consent,” she recalls.

Once again, the school’s management committee and the local elders swung into action.

Katina says the man, who was about 60 years old, insisted that the bride price he had paid for Loritele be refunded in the form of cattle before

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Top: A section of buildings at the St Elizabeth Rescue Centre in Pokot that funded through a World Vision Donor Margo Day. Picture: Joy Monday he could part with the girl.

“Her father was helpless because he was not in position to pay back the 48 head of cattle demanded by his son-in-law. Consequently, a public meeting was summoned to discuss the refund,” says Katina.

After lengthy talks, the girl’s relatives agreed to contribute the 48 head of cattle for her release. Loritele has sworn not to get married until she has completed her education and achieve her dream of becoming a doctor.

In Standard Four at the same school, 12-year-old Jackline Lodonyany was just five years old when she was given away by her father to a childless woman.

“I do not know if my new father paid something to my father. I looked after livestock until I turned eight. Then the local chief ordered them to take me to school,” she recalls.

Every girl in schools in West Pokot County has a sad story to tell. According to Katina, hundreds of girls have been rescued from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriage to elderly men.

And the recent construction of a rescue centre brings hope to many Pokot in danger of being married off. The international non-governmental organisation World Vision has opened a

“When I was in primary school, I never knew I would one day be lucky enough to attend a secondary school.

— Dominica Chelata

girl’s secondary school in Morpus, in response to the increasing cases of Female Genital Mutilation in the area.

St Elizabeth will be more than an academic institution serving as a home for the girls and providing them with a safe haven from harmful traditional practices.

Donation

“The school project came up as a result of increasing number of girls in Pokot West County failing to transition from primary to secondary level. The girls were dropping out of school due to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and forced marriages,” says Pauline Okumu, World Vision Kenya Director.

The construction of the school was made possible through the KSh20 million donation from Margo Day, a World Vision donor from the United States of America.

“Ms Day visited St Elizabeth Primary School early last year and was heartbroken to learn that girls could not go back home during the holidays and that most would not transition to secondary school due to lack of support,” said Justus Koech, a donor Liaison Officer at World Vision Kenya.

Dominica Chelatan, who ran away from home to escape FGM, is in Form Two at St Elizabeth Secondary School and has been living at the rescue centre since her arrival.

“When I was in primary school, I never knew I would one day be lucky enough to attend a secondary school. Then it was just a dream, but now my dream has come true, and no words can describe the gratitude I have for Ms Day and World Vision,” explained Chelatan during the commissioning of the centre.

Challenges of teenage motherhood

By EDWIN MAKICHE When Caroline fell in love with a classmate ten years ago, she had no idea of the implications of her actions. Then she was a young girl in Standard Five. At the time, it only seemed like fun but as fate would have it, she got pregnant and from then has led a life full of regrets.

Her parents were angry with her and ordered her to dispose of the child. Though her boyfriend agreed that she moves in with him, economic hardships forced her to go back home.

“My husband was too young and unable to fend for both of us because he was still in school.

Life back home was intolerable and constant beatings from my father and brothers drained me,” she says.

Discriminated

Caroline later agreed to marry an old man in their village as a third wife but this was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Apart from the routine beatings from her new husband, her co-wives never recognised her and equally denied her access to the family farm and other property and had to struggle to fend for her child.

After three years of suffering, she decided to quit the marriage. By then she was pregnant with a second child. Her destination was Nairobi where she worked as a house help for a neighbour since she had no academic qualifications for a decent job. While there she enrolled for part

time typing classes.

Now employed as a typist in a local secondary school, Caroline says she always works towards ensuring that no other girl undergoes what she went through.

For Chepkorir, 19, whose life follows a different pattern, this dawn finds her along the road as she ferries water from Mara River to supply to clients at Kembu Shopping Centre. Through this daily struggle, she is able to earn a little income to feed and clothe herself as well as her two-year-old son.

Her life took a path that she was not ready for when she got an ‘unwanted child’ as her family puts it. She took refuge in the small shopping centre after refusing to yield to her parents’ pressure that she gets married to an ageing polygamist.

Chepkorir and Caroline are typical examples of teenagers who have fallen into the pregnancy trap. Theirs is the story of girls who parents and guardians are unwilling to take back to school after they conceive.

Their dreams end with pregnancy and if one does not get married, they end up doing menial jobs to make ends meet. Perhaps this is a too costly price to pay for a child who is still under the care of their parents.

The numbers of teenage pregnancies and school dropouts in Bomet County is on the rise, a reality that is worrying parents and teachers alike.

This is amid the introduction of free primary education and free tuition secondary education.

The KCPE and KCSE performance has also been waning. According to last year’s KCSE statistics, the percentage of girls from Bomet who scored the minimum university entry of C+ was 16 percent compared to 38 percent boys.

Culture

However, the most worrying fact is that most of the parents in the county are caught up in the cultural warp that a girl-child belongs ‘outside’ and cannot enjoy equal privileges with the boy child, especially when it comes to access to education and inheritance.

The girl-child is looked at in monetary terms of what she can fetch as ‘the bride price’ rather than the pride that she would bring her family when she completes her education.

Until recently, cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) were rampant in different areas of the county especially Chepalungu Constituency.

According to Gideon Samoei, a teacher at a local primary school in the county, the number of girls enrolled in the early years of education -Standard One to three is high compared to boys.

However, as they progress, their numbers reduce to almost a quarter on reaching Standard Eight.

“Most parents cannot resist the temptation to give out their daughters for marriage once a willing suitor comes around. Girls who fail to honour their parents are in for torment and nagging,” says Samoei.

Caroline Chemutai, a teenage mother.

Many girls drop out of school when they fall pregnant, cutting short their education. Picture: Edwin Makiche Chepkorir recalls the day when she broke the news to her parents. Her father threw her out saying that he had wasted his fortune trying to educate ‘a prostitute’.

Mulot, Kembu, Silibwet, Kapkoros, Sotik and Bomet towns in the county have in the recent past witnessed an increasing number of young girls engaging in commercial sex, this despite the threat of HIV infection.

According to Councillor Julius Lang’at, the problem crops out of poor leadership right from the family upto the community and county levels.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

15

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Parents in Malindi abdicate their roles

By FIBI DAVID Two babies were rescued by police officers in Barani area, Malindi, Kilifi County after their mother locked them indoors for three days without food.

The children aged one and a half and three years old were rescued by police officers who broke into their house to gain access to them.

Malindi District police boss David Kerina confirmed the incident saying they were informed by neighbours that there were two children who had been crying consecutively for three days.

Kerina sent officers to check on the babies and found the door into the room locked from outside while the children kept on crying from inside.

The officers who were forced to break the door found the two lying in bed in a pathetic condition.

A day after the incident, a woman by the name of Ann Njeri, aged 28 years reported that her two children had been stolen from her house.

On interrogation the woman admitted that she had left the children in the house and went out for three days. She claimed to have instructed the elder boy to take care of the young

one.

The woman was arrested and charged with neglecting her children.

Kerina said the children appeared weak when they were rescued adding that neighbours said this was not the first time they were being left by themselves.

The incident raised an uproar with women leaders and residents claiming that cases of child negligence within the town have become so rampant.

Suspicion

Rosina Mwamburi, a neighbour of the victim says that Njeri is suspected to be a commercial sex worker in town who repeatedly leaves her two children for several days forgetting to return home to take care of them.

“One time neighbours were forced to break her door and give the children food after Njeri had left them hungry and crying,” says Mwamburi.

Malindi is known for cases of commercial sex work, child negligence and drug abuse.

The Italian dominated tourist resort has attracted a number of women who come in the hope of getting an Italian husband. Marriages have been proposed to most of these girls with some materialising while others hit-

ting a dead end. It becomes a problem when the women get pregnant and are dumped by the tourists who run back to their country.

Maurine Atieno Ochieng, 25, from Maweni Village is a victim of false promises by a 68-year-old Italian man who impregnated and left her with a baby girl.

She met the Italian at Arris Gym Club where she worked as a gym instructor while trying to raise money to enable her finish a college diploma.

“The man approached me to be his girlfriend and wife in future since he had had materialising relationships in the past with African women who lied to him,” she says.

Desperate girl

At first Atieno was hesitant since she was young and was only trying to raise money for college. The Italian promised to facilitate for her education before they got married and since she was desperate, she fell into the trap.

No sooner had he paid part of her school fees than he issued instructions. “I will only marry you if you get pregnant for me” were the words he used as he convinced her that the child would bring them closer.

“We kicked off the relationship well and I anticipated that my life will be good since I

will complete college and also help my widowed mother, but life turned out differently,” she says.

Abandoned

The man dumped Atieno and her child. She has now been moving around town looking for help to ensure the Italian takes responsibility for the child, pays for the four years of her life that he wasted and the school fees he promised.

“I am not the only one who was messed by this Italian. Several women have confided in me that the same Italian impregnated them but took them to a doctor after which they ended up losing their pregnancy,” she explains.

A technical advisor at a Child Protection Centre in Malindi, Bernadette Muyoni, says several cases of child negligence have been brought to her attention.

She confirms that the Italian case has reached her desk adding that serious action will be taken against the man.

“We have heard about this Italian who has been writing several bouncing cheques to evade responsibility,” observes Muyoni.

Efforts to get comments from the Italian were futile as he claimed not to speak or understand English.

Predicament of Mwingi’s poor school children

By LYDIA NGOOLO Most cases of school dropout and poor academic performance are the result of the legion of challenges the poor children face. In Ukambani, especially in the districts of the larger Mwingi region, famine and hunger have been a major drawback causing children from the semi arid area to perform dismally in school.

Many parents in this vast area live from hand to mouth due to poverty with a majority operating small-scale businesses like selling vegetables, cooking mandazi and repairing bicycles among others whose turnover is negligible.

During a recent interview with the Reject, the Mwingi Primary School head teacher Joseph Muthui said children from poor families encounter many difficulties as they struggle to pursue education.

“Ours is a school of 514 pupils with 254 boys and 260 girls. Our biggest challenge is perpetual famine and food insecurity among the families where the pupils are drawn,” explained Muthui, adding, “drug abuse and high cases of immorality are also common among the children”.

Famine

The larger Mwingi has been experiencing severe drought and famine. This has forced many pupils to drop out in favour of doing odd menial jobs. At worst the girls who drop out engage in prostitution in order to put food on the table.

“It has been difficult for us to retain these pupils in school. I have been here for five years and I have not seen any Government sponsored school feeding programme to this school or any other within Mwingi central,” said Muthui.

He added that it was unfair on the part of the government to have withdrawn the school feeding program in Mwingi central primary schools in favour of schools in peripheral dis-

tricts like Kyuso.

Mwingi Primary School pupils carry their own packed food to school. The downside about the packed lunch is that only a few of them can afford.

“During lunch you will notice those unable to carry packed lunch sleeping under trees or inside the classrooms. Those unable to withstand hunger and are brave enough Pupils at Ithoka Primary School in class in Mwingi County. Children in the semi-arid area face numerous challenges in accessing education. Picture: Lydia Ngoolo go round begging for food from their well to do buddies,” observes Muthui.

He adds: “However, there are those a Standard Eight pupil. She adds: “Parents are job has been left to teachers and pastors. We are who steal food from others. Most of the culprits thereafter expected to buy the rest of the pads ever occupied,” observes Musyoki. are street children undergoing rehabilitation at to last the full period.”

The girl-child is not well protected in the the school.

Another challenge facing school children district despite the fact that it is the role of a is parental influence and improper mentoring. parent to meet essential needs and offer protecMany wayward parents use vulgar language tion to the daughter.

On the home front, other pupils are dictated within their children’s hearing. Their behavFor lack of sanitary pads and towels, girls upon by their parents to sell local illicit brews iour obviously poisons the child and makes from poor families use old, dirty and tattered such as Karubu and leafy drugs like miraa them abusive. clothes during menstruation. Some girls feign among others. The constant contact with the Muthui gives an analogy of a case in which illness during such times. In some cases takes contrabands results in students using the drugs. a fight broke out between two Standard Two up to five days.

“It is not my wish to allow my children to children when one taunted the other with an “During such times, we donate sanitary sell mughuka at home but considering that its abusive remark. pads. We normally buy and keep them in the sale gives me KSh200 daily, I cannot stop as He said such crude language borrowed by head teachers’ office but they get expended very I have to raise money to cater for their needs children from their parents makes them indisfast forcing us to constantly replenish stocks,” and other obligations,” says Martha Musyoki, ciplined and ill mannered. says Abigael Musyoka, teacher in charge of girla single mother of four from Kivou location in child at Mwingi Primary School.

Mwingi Central District.

“If one of them messes up her dress while in “Many parents have little time to guide and A Standard Eight pupil at Mwingi Primary school we usually report the same to Musyoka counsel their children as they spend most of School, Maluki Kilungya, said lack of adequate who in turn gives us two to three pads to bring their time hustling to eke a living. The bigger learning facilities and uncompromising envito the affected colleague,” says Munanie Philip, ronment has been militating against good and rewarding academic results.

“We usually do not have adequate text books for revision work because they are few. When one wants to borrow a certain book, chances are he will find another person using it. On the other hand our classrooms do not have concrete floors and some desks have broken parts,” — Martha Musyoki, mother said Kilungya.

Illicit activities

Lack of books

“Many parents have little time to guide and counsel their children as they spend most of their time hustling to eke a living.

16

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Development train leaves Boni children chained to culture

By MNYAZI JOE She was determined to oppose her father’s proposal to marry her off in Standard Four at the age of 13 in 2006. She wanted to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor to save mothers from her minority community from maternal deaths.

Aziza Abdalla is from the Boni community, in Panda Nguo area on the outskirts of Witu Location, Lamu County. She has never forgotten the day when her father Ustadh Ali Omar Atik came home one evening and told her that he had met rich man who will pay her bride price to save the family from poverty.

“I openly turned down his suggestions and told him off not fearing the repercussions because my intention was to proceed with my education to become a doctor,” she says.

Aziza says on the material day her father came home with man after negotiating with his parents on the bride price.

Declined proposal

According to the Boni community, women are supposed to be housewives. Education is of no benefit to them. Aziza stood out among a group of girls. Though dressed in a buibui, hers was clean unlike her peers who looked unkempt.

Now in Form One at a day school in the area, and Aziza is struggling to get through with her secondary education. Life through primary school was not easy after she rejected the marriage proposal.

“My father never forced me to be married when I rejected his proposal. Despite all the poverty, he struggled to educate me through to Standard Eight. Now he is still struggling to see me through secondary education,” she says.

She is yet to fulfil her dream of becoming a doctor but is faced with lack of fees because her father a casual labourer is struggling to cater for his family.

Women of the Boni community do not deliver in hospital as it is considered a taboo. They are attended to by traditional birth attendants who many times cannot handle complicated cases.

This often leads to the death of the mothers.

It is for this reason that Aziza felt she needed

an education to be able to bring change to her family. This is why she opposed her father’s proposal of being married off at a tender age. Despite the struggle, she still hopes to achieve her dream.

Most of Aziza’s agemates are already married and have between three to six children.

They often stigmatise her and accuse of still being a child.

Poverty

For them having children is wealth for the family of the husband and that a girl is not supposed to be at her father’s homestead when she reaches a certain age.

“I usually pity them for being enslaved by the old culture. I wish they would understand the risks they have put themselves in by dropping out of school at a tender age,” she says amid tears.

Last term Aziza almost dropped out of school because her father could not raise the balance of KSh4,500. She could only manage to pay KSh500 and was thrown out of school.

Her father says poverty was forcing him to marry off his daughter. “Yes it is true I wanted to marry her off because of the financial problems at home that I am unable to deal with,” says Ustadh Ali Omar Atik, Aziza’s father.

Atik only does odd jobs for survival which are also hard to come by. He has three other children in high school who are also depending on him for their education.

Rebuild

The Boni community is known for being hunter and gatherers. They came to Panda Nguo Village before independence and were the first people to be internally during the Shifta War. After the war the Boni returned to claim their land. They are now trying to cultivate food crops. However, poverty levels are still high and few can access education, particularly the girls.

The local leadership has managed to build a secondary and primary school called Pandanguo to promote the education for the locals but the number is still not satisfactory.

Hussein Ali, a teacher from Pandanguo primary says last year the school had only 17 can-

Aziza Abdalla was to be married off when she was in Standard Four but she resisted her father’s plans to marry her off. Now she is determined to complete her education and become a doctor. Picture: Mnyazi Joe didates who registered for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education.

“We are also faced with a huge shortage of teachers and have only seven teachers in the entire school,” explains Ali. The economic factors also contribute to the low performances and dropouts amongst girls in the area.

“Girls education is low because majority get into early motherhood or are married off at an early age between 14 to 16 years when they are supposed to be in school,” he says.

Area Councillor Hassan Al Beity says education standards for girls are worrying. He called on parents to move away from the old beliefs and cultures. “They should invest in the education of

the girl child so as to improve their livelihoods,” says Beity.

Through the local authorities they have tried to allocate bursaries to needy students in the area so as to promote education standards.

“We have also tried to come up with school projects in the area particularly the rural areas so as to ease access for those who are far from the institutions to get education,” explains Beity.

With the modern system of living and the rate at which the country’s is developing there is need for such communities in the grassroots areas to be enlightened and sensitised on the importance of education with a view to empower them to improve their standards of livelihoods.

FGM taken to hospital as community fights hard

By Kipkoech Kosonei A sombre mood engulfed the hall. Tears flowed freely as the girls narrated their anguish in the hands of traditional circumcisers.

“I escaped and slept in the forest for two weeks only sneaking in at night to eat at my mother’s food kiosk when my father was not seeing me,” said Damaris Kindi, 13. “I had been married off to an old man who had paid 10 head of cattle to my father. I later hiked lifts to Narok town from Ewaso Kedong’ about 70 kilometres away,” she says. Damaris, who had then not been to school, is now happy to be in Standard One at Siana Boarding Primary.

In 2004 Sophie Meseno, now 22, ran away from her Olokurto division home when she got wind that a husband had been found for her.

“I had just completed Standard Eight and was looking forward to a bright future in secondary school. I fled with the help of my uncle who is also a pastor,” says Meseno who is now an accomplished tailor, who is nevertheless forced to work within the precincts of Tasaru Girls Rescue Centre in Narok town which has been her home for the last six years.

Meseno fears working from town as she can be recaptured and taken back to her ‘matrimonial home’. When she remembers the cut which was performed on her a month before the aborted marriage, it chills her to the bone.

Such is the picture and story of the over 100 girls who have found refuge at the centre. About 200 others are sponsored at various educational levels ranging from primary, secondary, technical and tertiary institutions. However, these are the lucky ones. Other girls die or suffer quietly, in various manyattas which dot Maasai plains in the hands of circumcisers.

Forced circumcision

This cultural practice, in which girls barely in their teens are forcefully circumcised, has refused to fade away despite modernity engulfing Maasailand.

The culture is so entrenched that those hellbent on practicing it have devised new ways of continuing with it while evading the law.

In a recent interview, Narok District Children’s Officer Julius Ngoko said the practice was now being carried out in hospitals, including government facilities.

“This new strategy to circumcise girls at the hospital where law enforcement officers and watchdogs cannot suspect has made it difficult to stamp out the vice,” he said.

A recent Kenya Demographic and Health survey indicates that the FGM prevalence rate in Rift Valley province is 32 percent, and 27 percent nationwide with wide variations within FGM practicing communities. Narok stands at an alarming75 per cent.

A land mark ruling three months ago brought to the fore the heated debate existing between members of this community on this practice.

In an unprecedented judgment, a Narok court jailed a man and a woman for 10 years each after a botched procedure which led to the death of a 12 year-old girl at Naroosura area of Narok South district. Sasiano Nchoe died on August 18, 2008 after bleeding for five hours and her body was immediately buried in a shallow grave.

“It was a loud message that FGM kills and that people can be jailed for perpetuating it,” says Mrs Agnes Pareiyo, Executive Director of Tasaru.

However, some hardnosed elders who were interviewed condemned the ruling and vowed to press on with the time tested culture which they

said was important in preparing girls for marriage and making them responsible members of the society.

‘Unfair sentence’

“How can you jail a responsible man who was preparing his daughter for marriage? It was only unfortunate that the girl died,” said Mzee Tarayia ole Nankoris, 75, at his Morijo-Loita home on the border of Kenya and Tanzania.

He said under the traditional justice system only the circumciser would have been made to pay one cow as a fine “as the killing was clearly inadvertent”.

An anthropologist from the community, who requested annoynymity for fear of being seen as insensitive to the plight of the girl child said the sentence was grossly unfair as it did not consider the cultural environment in which the act was performed.

“I blame the system which criminalises female circumcision because had it been legalised, the girl would have been given proper medical attention and she need not have died,” he said and praised the practice as having served the purpose of regulating the number of marriageable girls.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

Tribulations of orphaned children

By AJANGA KHAYESI

While it is illegal to engage children as labour, certain occupations are breaking the law and engaging in child labour.

One such industry is tobacco farming that has been exploiting children by employing those that are underage.

A labour official from Nyanza Province Mr Peter Otuane has called for the arrest of parents who make their children work. He directed the provincial administration to stop child labour in the tobacco farms saying the children were being exposed to chest and heart diseases that are associated with the cash crop.

“Parents who still find their children as a source of cheap labour in the farms should be arrested and prosecuted. We should not ruin the future of children by subjecting them to dangerous occupations,” Otuane asserted.

Down pour

Lost

Tom returned to school where he stayed over night with the institution’s security man. The following morning villagers accompanied pupils in search of the lost girl.

With her school bag tied on the back, villagers discovered Akinyi’s body two kilometres away but safeguarded by branches of an uprooted tree.

Akinyi’s story characterises the challenges many school going children encounter in their pursuit of education.

Akinyi’s family had experienced the hard side of life when their father Charles Otieno was found murdered by the lakeshore in 2006.

Double tragedy followed the family in 2007 following the demise of mother and her son. The ailing mother Roselyne Achieng succumbed to death in mid 2007.

Abuse

Girls from Tieng’re Primary School in Kisumu line up for safe drinking water.

Picture: Ajanga Khayesi The eldest son William Obura dropped out of school in 2006 while in Standard Seven to work for the villagers, digging on farms, fetching water or transporting goods for paltry wages. The income sustained the family catering for daily necessities and supported the ailing mother.

While riding his late father’s bicycle, Obura was knocked by a hit and run lorry along the Kisumu-Bondo road and died on arrival at the Kisumu District Hospital.

Burden of care

Akinyi was forced to become head of the family taking care of her siblings who included Tom and Master Joseph in lower primary.

On her way home, Akinyi would fetch dry sticks and wild vegetables from the bushes to cook for supper. She had to spare time to collect water from River Kisian. Occasionally, she skipped lessons to nurse and take Joseph to hospital whenever he fell sick.

“Akinyi would always arrive in school late because she carried the family duties on her

shoulders,” says Judith Akelo, a neighbour.

The children would miss mid and end term examinations if a Good Samaritan failed to pay for their examination money as required by the school administration.

School necessities such as uniforms, shoes, bags, soap and food among other items became a nightmare for the siblings.

They depended on alms from neighbours and churches around.

Despite having a home, inside the house, Tom and Joseph were traumatised following Akinyi’s death. The two boys could occasionally miss school as they went round the village searching for what to eat from other homes.

Although the two boys could not communicate about issues surrounding them, the situation became unbearable that they started sleeping anywhere darkness descended on them.

Recently, the two siblings were admitted to the children orphanage in Kisumu were the boys are now coming to terms with the new environment.

Children who miss out on parental care, love, quality education and acceptance into the community find themselves in a state of depression. Child abuse and neglect which were previously uncommon in African culture are now the order of the day. As we mark Day of the African child, it is important to take stock of children who are suffering because of people’s negative attitude towards them.

Suita Sifuna, 9, is a Standard One pupil at Siloba Primary School in Musikoma location in Bungoma South District, Bungoma County.

Most of his peers with both parents alive or with one parent are either in Standard Two or Three. He is behind his peers because his single mother is not only jobless but also mentally challenged.

Soita, with his mother Rose Nafula, 31, live in a grass thatched house in Siloba Village on the outskirts of Bungoma town. The house belonged to Nafula’s late mother. According to the Bukusu culture the house will be demolished after a ritual is performed to appease the dead mum.

Their continued stay in the house, which

By KARIUKI MWANGI

is becoming unfit for human habitation, is uncertain. Despite his tender age, Soita in most cases does manual labour at the expense of education in order to earn a living.

The young boy and his mother work on peoples’ farms to get their daily bread.

Child at work

Sometimes the people they work for take advantage of Soita’s tender age and his mother’s mental disorder to exploit them. “I do not go to school every day because sometimes I am forced to assist my mother to weed maize and other crops for people in order to earn a living,” he says.

Soita, however, quickly points out that sometimes their day’s earning is never enough to buy a two kilogramme tin of maize locally known as gorogoro.

“Some people we work for are just too inhuman. They over work us and at the end of the day pay peanuts,” he laments.

But as Soita struggles to earn a living, his step brothers and sisters perhaps swim in luxury because his biological father is said to be a civic leader in Bungoma County Council.

According to Soita’s maternal uncle Calistus Barasa, the civic leader married Nafula

The Nyanza Provincial Labour Officer, Hellen Maneno said other factors that pushed children to work for cash included poor education infrastructure that failed to attract and retain them in school as well as family instability caused by divorce or separation and teenage pregnancy.

“High cases of child abuse and forced repetition of class in schools have also contributed to child labour in the region,” observed Maneno.

Education officials said only 61 percent of boys and 35 percent of girls in Kuria reach Standard Eight, with others dropping out before sitting the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations.

A two–day workshop at Kehancha Hotel was recently informed that due to quick and easy cash in the tobacco industry, students were dropping out of school to work in the farms.

A tobacco buying company, Alliance One Tobacco, is now organizing a series of farmers’ workshops in Nyanza to sensitise their contracted growers on the need to stop exploiting children.

The farmers from Kuria West and Kuria East Districts have been taken through laws that prohibit child labour and asked to give the young ones a chance to pursue secondary and university education.

Alliance One is a merchant for exporting tobacco leaf to Europe and other parts of the world unlike BAT Kenya and Mastermind Tobacco which manufacture their own cigarettes.

Alliance One officials have set aside funds for the sensitisation workshops as part of their corporate social responsibility. The multi-national has also set up a scholarship fund for the education of the bright children of their farmers.

Vulnerable children benefit from donations

Boy with mentally challenged mother wallows in poverty

By AGGREY BUCHUNJU

Child labour rife in tobacco farms

By ODHIAMBO ODHIAMBO

When Florence Akinyi left for school mid last year, she was a contented girl and relatively full of future dreams.

She joined the rest of the population at Maunga Primary School in Kisumu District, hoping to spend the day as she had been doing in the last seven years.

As pupils reported back to school from lunch break, a heavy downpour ensued that left the 13 year old girl worried. She told her classmates that ‘the last days have come’.

The rainfall continued for many hours and the students were forced to start walking, hoping to reach home before darkness.

Akinyi called her younger brother Tom Onyango in Standard Four and they set off towards the lakeside where their home was situated.

Wading through the narrow foot path, the two youngsters who are also orphans reached the flooded River Kisian. The onelogged monkey bridge had been swept off and darkness was on their heels.

Akinyi held her brother’s bag in the left hand while gripping his right hand to cross the river. No sooner had she made the first step into the water than strong waves carried her down the river. Tom was left shouting for help but no villager came to their rescue since everyone was holed in their huts following the heavy downpour.

17

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Soita Sifuna joins his mother Rose Nafula in weeding a maize farm in Bungoma in order to earn money for buying food. Picture: Aggrey Buchunju and the two were blessed with two sons.

The two reportedly parted ways when Nafula developed mental problems. She went back to her parents but unfortunately both of them have since died.

Her husband re-married and has since forgotten her and their second born, Soita.

Nafula’s brother alleges that whenever he meets the councillor, the politician promises to support the boy with all basic needs including food and school levies.

However, the civic leader has never lived up to his promises. “I am now contemplating taking legal action against the councillor,” he discloses.

There is the need for guardians, parents, teachers and all other stakeholders to join hands in the support of vulnerable and orphaned children to enable them live a good life.

This was said by the leader of Embu Youths Aids Advocates Martin Wachira when he led in delivering food and shoes to orphaned and vulnerable children of Tumaini Matakari early childhood education school in Embu.

Speaking during the donation ceremony at the centre Wachira said the initiative was aimed at ensuring proper clothing and feeding for the orphans.

“Most of the children are orphaned after their parents died of Aids. There is need to show them love and care so that they too can feel as part of the community,” said Wachira.

The food donations would last the children about six months. Wachira observed that much attention has only been given to HIV positive patients and neglected the children with the disease saying there is need to shift attention to orphans whose situation is caused by death of their parents.

“Our organisation has also increased sensitisation initiatives aimed at educating the children in schools and colleges on behaviour change and on the importance of healthy living,” Wachira pointed out.

He said this will ensure that children and youth grow with the knowledge of the consequences of HIV and Aids as well as other sexually transmitted diseases so that they are able to make informed decisions in life.

18

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Esageri offers hope for deaf children

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Rare phenomenon as twins dominate school

By MARION NDUNG’U For many Kenyans and indeed many people in the world over, hearing is one of the senses that is treasured and often taken for granted.

This is however not the case for the population that suffers from hearing disabilities. They end up being left out of many activities merely for the fact that they are not able to hear.

However, for the children of Esageri Primary School for the Deaf there is hope for leading an almost normal life. As the Day of the African Child is celebrated, for Esageri, as the name suggests they are not able to perceive different sounds.

Located in the heart of Rift Valley on the Nakuru- Ravine Highway in Mogotio Constituency, the school’s visible features include two blocks of classes and two dormitories located on one corner of the larger AIC Esageri Primary School compound. The classrooms were constructed with grants from the Government totalling KSh1.7million. It is also these funds that pay support staff to the tune of KSh68,000 per month.

Commitment

The centre started in 1992 under its sister school Esageri Boarding Primary School. In March 2009 it became a fullyfledged primary school. The school has pre-unit classes as well as a primary school section. It also has boarding facilities.

It offers technical courses such as dressmaking that are meant to empower the pupils to be able to fit into society and learn skills just like any other normal person.

The administration is determined to make the school a centre of excellence for special needs in the country and the East African region at large. The school boasts of highly trained teachers who all either have a degree or diploma in special education. They are instrumental as they are able to address the unique issues that arise from students with special needs.

The school’s administration is requesting the government to invest more in special schools, and even construct a special needs university to cater for such people.

Despite the challenges they face, the pupils of Esageri School maintain joyous faces. They entertain via songs that one of the teachers interprets to the gathering. In the 2009 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations, the school emerged the second best special school in Rift Valley Province with top position in Mathematics and Kiswahili.

Some of the students proceeded for secondary education in a special school in Kericho district. The pupils also participate in co-curricular activities that have seen them go up to national level in several sporting activities.

The institution like many others faces some challenges that include lack of proper boarding facilities. It only has two semi-permanent dormitories and is in need of permanent facilities. Most of the children in the school are also either orphans or have a single parent which makes it difficult for them to pay fees for the children. About five of the parents have hearing impairments with no sustainable means of paying school fees for their children.

Sponsors

A major sponsor of the school is the Catholic Church in Marigat which pays fees as well as maintenance expenses for some of the children.

Kenya Airways also recently gave an assortment of boarding facilities valued at KSh500,000 which have gone a long way to assist in dealing with the boarding problem.

However, the school still requires more donations to help run its programmes which are relatively expensive.

With the presence of the school making a difference to the neighbouring communities, the Mogotio District Commissioner Mr. Julius Ngumo, who is a member of the district education board, is cautioning parents against hiding their physically challenged children at home. He says this is equivalent to denying them their basic rights which includes education.

Ngumo says: “Parents with physically challenged children should take them to school early so that their talents are realised through education.”

The district has a child hotline number which the public is called upon to report cases of child abuse for necessary action to be taken. Members of the public are particularly called upon to report cases of physically challenged children who are denied the right to attend school. The hotline number is 0712 238 806 and is operational 24 hours.

By MACHARIA MWANGI Find one and you will invariably find the other. This is the case with ten children within the same locale who end up confusing people. They are five sets of twins schooling in the same institution at the Manera Primary School in the outskirts of Naivasha town.

Like birds of the same feather, the group maintains close contact and are only separated by the sitting arrangement at the school situated next to the famous Delamare Estate.

The strange phenomenon continues to baffle the teaching fraternity as they try to unravel what is turning out to be a mystery of sorts as four sets of twins are attending the same class.

The fifth pair fell by the wayside dropping back to Standard Two after failing to cope with the rigours of Standard Three work, leaving their colleagues to soldier on, but keeping close tabs with them on the playground.

Attention

Among the group, only a set of the twins are fraternal — boy and girl — with the other pairs enjoying uncanny resemblance.

The identical twins hog the biggest attention among their peers as they engage in their favourite pastimes.

Perhaps conscious of the interest they have aroused lately, two of the twins in self congratulatory spiel, confidently strut along the tiny compound.

Even their class teacher, Teresiah Karanja, appears perplexed by the oddity.

“It is exceptional to have four sets of twins sit in the same class let alone the same institution,” she confesses.

Two set of identical twins draw the attention. For a stranger, it is almost impossible to tell them apart. The siblings similarity bamboozles even close playmates who spend virtually all their time engaging in childhood games.

“I cannot tell them apart. If any of them engages in any kind of mischief, it is hard to single out who did it,” confesses teacher Karanja as she is fondly referred to by her pupils.

Bond

During the visit, the youngsters are out in the field performing a skit. What is captivating though is that each pair keeps a close tab on each other.

Innocently, the twin sets of Mary Njambi and her sister Charity Muthoni enjoy pulling stunts on their teacher when caught on the wrong side of the school rules and regulations.

“Each of them pleads innocence heaping blame on the look alike sister. Such a scenario complicates the matter more,” says Karanja.

They also appear to share the same intellect, alternating positions and securing the same score during examinations.

Calm pair

Another pair, Verah and Lydiah Odari appear withdrawn and confused by the interest they have aroused. Due to their small stature, they can be easily picked out.

“They are reserved and barely get into any sort of naughtiness.

They only come out strongly if one of them is wronged by a classmate,” says their class teacher.

The two are in sharp contrast of Victor Omukoto and his twin sister, Noel Osita who are vibrant both inside and outside the classroom.

“They are academically gifted and active participants in class work,” the Standard Three teacher sums them up.

The last of the group, Susan Mukami and Mary Wanja appear older than they are, at age nine, they are fully aware of the pairing peculiarity that has thrust them together.

They appear to relish every moment of it and are not hesitant to throw a haughty laugh incase an unfamiliar person fails to pick out the difference.

Resemblance

Any of the two is likely to miss school if the sister is unwell or has failed to attend school for various reasons.

A school teacher, Joseph Gathege was in for a rude shock when he went to invigilate an internal examination at the unusual class.

“While distributing examinaFrom top: Four sets of twins at Manera tion papers, I was amazed by the Primary School in Naivasha town. Victor striking resemblance of two sets of Omukoto his twin sister Noel Osita, Charity twins that are Njambi and Muthoni Muthoni and Mary Njambi, Mary Wanja alongside Verah and Lydiah,” he reand Susan Mukami, and Verah and Lydia calls.

Odari. Pictures: Macharia Mwangi On enquiring about the relationship the other pupils pointed out uniqueness. two more sets of twins seated in the But the tiny school appears to have a same class. “It was simply unbelievable,” history of admitting twins, with identisays Gathege.

The pairing continues to attract interest cal twin boys having completed their from the older pupils who cannot fathom primary education last year in the same institution. the incredible phenomenon.

“They gave us torrid times due to their The pupils hail from different parts of Naivasha and were hitherto, unknown to identical nature and appeared to take pleaeach other until they became aware of their sure in what they were doing,” says Gathege.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

Children rescued from dungeons of a religious sect

By BEN OYANGO

By OCHIENG JUMA

Guide book

Proof

Nyagaya was asked to leave and bring documents showing that the child was hers.

However, the girl identified as Jacinta denied allegations of being mistreated adding that she just went there to work for God. She said one day she asked for fare back to Kisumu and she was given but to her surprise Baba Nyasaye, the sect leader who at Opapo bus stop, she got confused and fiwas allegedly detaining children at nally went back to the church.

St. Joseph Legio Mariah Church in “I asked ‘Baba Nyasaye’ to give me fare Opapo area in Rongo. The rescued so that I could go back and reunite with my children in tattered clothes under family members for a while but I just found police guard. Pictures: Ben Onyango myself back at the church,” explained Jacinta.

Nyagaya’s claims came a day after chilwho are supposed to be enjoying the dren were rescued from St Joseph Legion fruits of free primary and secondMariah Church at Opapo area, Rongo District ary education as maidens at his resiwhere they had been confined in a deplorable dence. state for about three years.

“This cult has been a mystery in The children aged between seven and 15 our village. We are very grateful to years were saved following a raid conducted the Government for rescuing the jointly by security officers, a Nairobi based children who have been living a life NGO and members of the press. of religious dogma. We urge the auThe raid followed media reports that some thorities to continue monitoring children were being confined and sexually activities in this compound to ensure they are abused by members of the sect. legal,” said Duncan Okongo.

According to Prof Cyprine Atieno, chairOkong’o added: “Other than young chilperson of the Cradle, the organisation that dren, authorities should also look into the case organised the raid, the children have been subof adolescent girls who are being sexually exjected to sexual and labour exploitation. ploited at the church.”

Atieno who condemned the unlawful acRongo District Children Officer Peter Ogot tivities by some religious leaders appealed for said he received complaints from the commuquick intervention by the government. nity that there were children who were supShe said they realised the children were sufposed to be in school but are being locked at fering when they were tasked to collect buildthe church. He confirmed this to be true after ing stones from Opapo centre and were at visiting the place. times denied food.

Ogot said it was not easy to immediately “I was surprised when one of the girls was rescue the children because the operation positively identified to be a pupil at a nearby needed a group of police officers because while primary school who had gone missing and her entering the compound children were ordered whereabouts unknown,” Atieno said. to hide.

Raid

Journalists advocate for children’s rights Stakeholders have been asked to take centre stage and empower children on their rights in line with the new constitutional dispensation.

“We need to change the concept of all stakeholders in ensuring the rights of the children are safeguarded. Children are the future of any society. We all need to promote their rights,” said Kihu Irimu, Plan communications for development manager.

Plan has a programme unit in every province in the country. The organisation is present in 48 developing countries. In Eastern Province the organisation is engaging journalists in the region to advocate for children rights.

Prisca Ogolla Nyagaya recently presented herself at Rongo Police Station requesting the release of her daughter who she claimed went for treatment at a Legio Maria Church known as New Jerusalem. The daughter who is an only child is supposed to be in class eight at St Paul’s Primary School.

Nyagaya claimed her daughter suffered from a very long illness which interrupted her education for over two years.

“I took my child to that church for treatment. I had not neglected her but I am requesting to go back with her. Madam OCS, I admit my mistake for taking her there, I never knew that the church had been practicing child abuse,” she pleaded.

The hungry looking children had torn clothes, no shoes and emitted a body odour.

The rowdy members of the sect engaged the rescue team in a heated argument and even locked up the gate before police officers forcibly opened the main gate firing into the air and using tear gas to save the children who were in bad condition.

The raid which lasted for about an hour attracted villagers who condemned the sect leader for denying innocent children their basic rights like education.

At first, the efforts had failed after believers turned rowdy to children officers and administration police officers from Rongo District. The officers were detained at the gate for over 15 minutes as two old men in charge of the gate demanded they removed their shoes and demanded that even the police bow before entering the compound.

The neighbouring community accused the man known as Japolo Ja Ugenya of practicing child labour at the church and turning girls

19

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

“This cult has been a mystery in our village. We are very grateful to the Government for rescuing the children who have been living a life of religious dogma. We urge the authorities to continue monitoring activities in this compound to ensure they are legal.”

— Duncan Okongo

“We were not able to get in since we never had committal documents and a search warrant. Again we did not have enough security to allow us storm in but we had reliable information that there were children inside that were not going to school,” explained Ogot.

He added: “When we forced our way into the church, all the allegations which were being put against the church leader were confirmed to be true because we managed to get over 12 under aged children doing manual work at the church compound when they are supposed to be in school,” explained Ogot.

Apparently most children are not from the area. Some came are from Migori and Kisumu with a few coming from the neighbouring community.

Over 50 parents whose have lost their children also turned up at the law courts to see whether they could find them among those rescued.

Court case

The morning after the media captured the story, Rongo Residential Court had a curious crowd waiting to hear the charges. The children were asked his name and they said they referred to him as “Baba Nyasaye (father God).”

Hundreds of parents from all over Migori, Homa Bay County had come to look for their children who had been missing but none were found. They requested the Government to demolish the church.

Area DC John Korir said that the Government will closely monitor the activities of religious sects in the region to ensure that the law is not violated.

Rongo magistrate Samuel Nyakundi committed the children to Manga Children Remand Home for two weeks.

“Children have their rights and it is the duty of everybody to ensure children are treated with dignity,” said Nyakundi.

Under the umbrella of Journalists for the Rights of Children Network (JRCN) Eastern region, the scribes are working on a pocket size guide book for journalists on coverage of children issues and their rights.

“With this guide book we will able to reach more journalists and open their eyes on rights of the children and advantages of having a country that promotes the rights of children,” said John Irungu, Eastern Provincial Information Officer.

“When journalists cover stories involving children like defilement, post-election violence and even accidents, they develop some kind of trauma in their lives, some may not notice it immediately,” observed Caroline Wahome, Plan information and media coordinator. She added: “The conference will enable journalists realise some of the suffering caused and also learn about dealing with the different traumas.”

In a programme guidebook titled Promoting Child Rights to End Child Poverty, Plan Chief Executive Officer Nigel Chapman says they expect to reach more children and communities and make an even stronger impact in their lives and the development of their countries.

Young boys carrying building blocks for pay. Children are misused to provide cheap labour. Picture: Correspondent The eight MDGs were formulated on the basis of the Millennium Development Declaration signed by leaders of 189 nations in December 2000. They are to be achieved by 2015.

Reports show that between 2009-2010 access to primary education has improved in almost all regions. The increase was especially remarkable in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. Yet 69 million children worldwide were denied the right to education in 2008, almost half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Systemic discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, social status, language or disability is a major obstacle to universal education. Children from poor communities and girls are the most likely to lose out. The same applies to children in conflict areas.

20

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Starvation hits Pokot amidst drought

It is early morning at Kamusuk Village in East Pokot. Depangole Maria sits outside her hut, with her grand children, nephews and nieces preparing a meal for the day.

She and her extended family, with whom she lives with did not have dinner last evening and skipped breakfast this morning.

Maria and the children are busy preparing sorich, some wild fruits which have become a delicacy for some families in this drought stricken district.

Her brother has left for the forest to look for more fruits. His wife left for her maiden home when starvation took its toll at her matrimonial home.

Under another tree, Maria’s 20 year old daughter Tegla Ngorabok breast feeds her son. Never mind the last time she had a meal but she has to keep the baby on the breast.

No Food

Hopeful

By HUSSEIN DIDO A severe drought looms in parts of Upper Eastern as water related conflicts increase in the region.

Already human versus wildlife conflict is high as they fight over scarce pasture and water. Those upstream have diverted water for irrigation leaving those downstream without water.

In Isiolo, more than 900 primary and secondary school children at Isiolo Barracks are faced with acute water shortage after herds of elephants invaded the area, uprooted pipes and emptied tanks due to the current drought in the region.

This comes amid complaints from the locals that there has been conflict between humans and wildlife over scarce resources as drought.

According to the school’s head teacher, David Muriungi, elephants from neighbouring parks get into schools at night. The wild animals roam in the school and uproot the taps and empty water tanks meant for pupils.

“The elephants normally come in seasons especially when its dry. They are normally peacefully but they destroy trees, pipes and taps,” explained Muriungi.

He said students and pupils are forced to carry water from homes because elephants normally drink what is left in the tanks.

By RACHEL MUTHONI

Her blind grandmother sits around. Once in a while she asks for some food but is reminded there is Depangole Maria prepares none in the house. The family will wild fruits with children have to wait for another 12 hours in East Pokot. A woman when the sorich will be ready. quenches her thirst with Apparently, these fruits are bitter dirty water in East Pokot. and have to be cooked for long to kill Most dams and wells have the poison. After a while, Ngorabok will leave the homestead and take dried up in the area following two children to the nearby Chemprolonged drought. olingot District Hospital.

Picture: Rachel Muthoni They are both suffering from diarrhoea, a condition that the hospital’s acting Medical Superintendent Dr a bull that was going for Francis Amaya says is common.

KSh45,000 is now fetchAmaya attributes this to contaminated waing as little as KSh8,000. ter that the community uses. Most of watering East Pokot District points in this area have dried up since the onset Commissioner Amos of the dry spell causing livestock and humans Mariba says pastoralists to scramble for the little commodity available. are to blame for the throw At the nearby Kositei Primary School is a away prices they are being group of young children aged between two and forced to sell their livefour. They are not yet of school going age but stock. are set to go to school once the lunch bell rings.

Before the onset of the Each of the children carries an empty bowl dry season, Mariba ador plate. It is the tool they carry to school with vised them to sell some of the animals, save the most of them getting lunch under the school money and restock when there is pasture. feeding program, the only meal they have for “But they are too attached to the livestock to the day. let go of them. Now they have to count losses and I hope they will learn a lesson,” says Mariba.

The DC warned some residents who had When they see a World Vision Relief Agenbumper harvest last year against selling their cy truck passing by, they try to stop it, hoping produce but they sold off a bag of maize at only their bowls will be filled to the brim.

KSh800 and emptied their granaries. Now they Known for distributing relief food in the are starving. area, these vans have become familiar and are “I even explained to them that an average an icon of hope to many residents, children and family of eight children as most are here needed adults alike. at least 2,700 kilograms of maize per year,” says This is the lifestyle of most young ones here.

Mariba.

They walk around carrying empty plates, hopMarigat, Tangulubei and Chulo markets are ing they will come across someone who cares to no longer operational as the Government tries fill it for them.

Maria says 10 of her 15 goats have already succumbed to the drought and she could lose the rest if the dry spell continues.

“I wish I could sell the remaining ones but there is no one to sell to. Brokers have vanished and they no longer come for our livestock,” she says.

The few whose livestock get market are being forced to sell them at throw away prices. A goat which was selling for KSh5,000 in November is now selling for between KSh300 and KSh500 while

Red flag raised over human animal conflict

Attack

to prevent further the spread of foot and mouth disease after an outbreak.

To avoid such loses, Mariba says the community must change its lifestyle and learn to make maximum utilization of their resources.

Relief

Having sold off all their harvest at throw away prices, residents of almost all areas of East Pokot now have to depend on relief food.

However, only 26,300 of the district’s population of 133,000 people are currently allocated relief food. Mariba says the beneficiaries account for a meagre 29 percent of the currently starving population.

According to area World Vision manager Prudence Mugana, it is a challenge to reach beneficiaries of relief food.

She says some families have migrated in search of pasture, forcing the World Vision to issue their relief food to respective area chiefs.

While the food donated should be enough to last targeted families for a month, most of it does not last for as long as beneficiaries share with neighbours and relatives.

“No one would watch their neighbours die of starvation while he has food in the store, they share the food we deliver,” says Mugana.

Each of the children carries an empty bowl or plate. It is the tool they carry to school with most of them getting lunch under the school feeding program, the only meal they have for the day.

“We are calling on Kenya Wildlife Services to intervene and ensure that we are at peace with the animals,” said Muriungi.

In another incident three people were admitted at Merti Health Centre after a hyena attacked and injured them at a resource based conflict in the area. One of the victims was praying when the hyena attacked him and bit off his right hand thumb.

The other one was injured on the right leg while the third victim had an injury on the left leg after they struggled to save the old man from the hyena.

The herders were taking animals to a watering point when the hyena descended on the man who opted to stop and pray along the Rako Bula area of Merti District. This comes amid water shortage in the area following the current drought that continues to bite.

Merti ward councillor Halake Fayo who accompanied the victims to hospital said there has been looming danger of conflict over scarce resources between wildlife and human beings.

He said hundreds of wild animals especially leopards have found their way into the towns and are causing terror by killing livestock and raiding watering points. Fayo called on the Government to urgently move in to address the challenges following the conflict.

“I am disturbed that my people are at risk because the hyenas might be having rabies which will end up creating problems for us,” he said.

Kenya Wildlife Services officers have been dispatched to the areas to try and control the conflict.

Starvation

According to relief food agencies, more than 250,000 people in northern Kenya are at risk of starvation with women and children bearing the brunt of food insecurity as devastating drought depletes resources. Children under five years, pregnant women and the elderly people are badly affected by food scarcity as the La Nina condition continues fuelling the drought.

The Kenya Red Cross officials who were led by Regional Coordinator Daniel Damocha raised alarm that the situation was getting worse with drying up of water pans, dams and shallow wells in the entire region.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

21

Hope for children with rheumatic heart disease

By KARIUKI MWANGI Rheumatic heart disease has for a long time been rated as one of the most serious forms of heart diseases of childhood and adolescence. It involves damage of the entire heart and its membranes.

For more than 100 children from Oldonyiro division, Isiolo district who have been diagnosed with the disease it has been a safe passage as they have been treated and the disease contained.

Vulnerable children

Ndugu Zangu Children’s Home in Oldonyiro division was started back in 1997 with the aim of helping the vulnerable, abandoned, neglected and disabled children.

According to the proprietor, Mathew Lempurkel, there was a lot of neglect and abandonment of children, most of them suffering from various disabilities.

Lempurkel says all was well at the home until 2000 when they encountered a child who was having unfamiliar symptoms of an unknown disease.

Together with the home’s co-founders, they took the child to Kenyatta National Hospital where he was diagnosed with a heart disease. The child needed open heart surgery.

“The communities living here are very poor and most of them cannot afford such an operation since it is expensive,” notes Lempurkel. He adds: “None of the hospitals in the country offer the surgery for free or at an affordable rate.”

With the help of an Italian priest, who had been posted in one of the churches in

the area, the sick boy was flown to Italy where he was treated and then brought back healthy.

However, soon the home was coming across many such cases. “The home has continued to accommodate more children as many cases of heart disease continue to be encountered,” says Lempurkel.

Through partnership with cardiac specialists in Italy and Salam Centre for Cardiac surgery in Khartoum, Sudan which is an organization sponsored by the Italian government, United States of America and the United Kingdom, the home has sponsored children for open heart surgery.

Over 100 children recently benefited from a free computerised heart screening which was conducted at the home by volunteer cardiologists from Italy. This was with the aim of assisting the children diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease to go for open heart surgery.

“The cost of screening is very high as hospitals charge about KSh10,000. The free screening attracted a huge turn out of children who are seeking treatment,” observed Lempurkel.

He said that the number of children affected by the rheumatic heart disease particularly those aged between five to 20 years has increased tremendously noting that something needs to be done to ensure their treatment.

During the screening period, 40 children were referred to the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum Sudan for open heart surgery. The rest will be

flown to Italy for specialised treatment.

Lempurkel says that since the start of the partnership, the home has assisted more than 100 children undergo open heart surgery. The children have come from as far as Meru, Baringo, Laikipia, Mombasa and West Pokot among other areas.

“We do not discriminate the children on the basis of tribe, region or religion.

What is important to us is the health of the Kenyan child,” he says.

Lempurkel observes that the number of children who seek help from the home is increasing by the day making it difficult to help all of them at once. He would like the Government and other well wishers to help them with medical personnel, medicine and an ambulance among other health infrastructure.

He also notes that to help fly more children for further treatment the home requires support from well wishers.

For more than 100 children awaiting surgery, the home is their only hope that they will live to see the next day.

Lempurkel is hopeful that one day all citizens will be treated equally and receive equal medical attention, a way that will ensure there will nev.

From top: Luigi Panzeri, one of the founders of Ndugu Zangu Children’s Home in Oldonyiro in Isiolo County with 14 year old Cypriano Letamayia, the first beneficiary of the heart programme. An Italian cardiac specialitst who was in charge of the computerized screening exercise.

Pictures: Kariuki Mwangi

Government taken to task over Children suffer stunted medical care for disability cases growth recorded in eastern

By FRANK OUMA The Government is being asked to think about giving free medical care to children with disabilities.

This is because access to healthcare for physically challenged children continues to present a hardship.

This has led to many parents hiding their disabled children at home.

According to Dr Francis Ogaro, a paediatrician at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital: “The slow pace of treatment for children with disabilities has made it hard for parents to take them for medication whenever they are sick.”

Ogaro observed that due to stigma, many parents gave little emphasis on the health of children with disabilities.

“The new Constitution has a lot of provisions that address interests of children and people with disabilities. The Government should go further in addressing those challenges,” said Ogaro.

He noted that the Government was able to offer free treatment of TB and Aids as well as offer pneumonia vaccine. It should, therefore include disabilities.

Ogaro was speaking during a medical camp at Mother of Apostles, a special needs children,s rehabilitation centre in Eldoret.

The centre’s chairman George Kakala said stig-

matisation of children with disabilities was still rampant in the county.

“Stigma has forced many parents to hide their children at home. We need Kenyans support to ensure that disabled children get a better life since they are normal but only with some form of disability,” said Kakala.

He also challenged the Government to consider giving free treatment to children with special needs in the society.

Snech Rehab Centre, as it is referred to, was founded by a group of parents with children afflicted by various conditions which cerebral palsy, autism, down syndrome and spinal bifida.

“We should not use disability as an identifying characteristic of persons living with disability,” Kakala said.

The organisation was registered in 2008 by the Ministry of Gender, Children Affairs and Social Development as a community based organisation.

Kakala said they plan to set up a centre in Eldoret which will have a special school, an orthopaedic workshop or therapy clinic and a home for abandoned, neglected or abused children.

He said disability among children is manageable and urged parents to ensure they go for specialised treatment. The centre has about 50 children whose parents are members of the organisation.

By KEN NDAMBU More than two in every five children or 42 percent of children under five years in Eastern Province suffer stunted growth.

This is higher than the national percentage of 35 percent of children who have retarded growth.

According to 2008-2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) carried by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Coast Province is ranked second with 39 percent of children with stunted growth followed by North Eastern with 35 percent.

Children under five years in Nairobi have lower stunted growth of 29 percent, Nyanza (31 percent), Central (32 percent), Western (34 percent) and Rift Valley Province (36 percent).

The report says that while exclusive breastfeeding for infants is recommended for six months, mothers in Eastern Province breastfeed for an average of 2.6 months, a factor that may lead to stunted growth of children.

On the feeding habits, the report

says, although most children in the region eat foods rich in vitamin A, only 26 percent received vitamin A supplements slightly lower than the national rate of 30 percent.

In addition, only two percent received iron supplements while 34 percent of women got vitamin A supplement postpartum.

The report released during a workshop for KDHS stakeholders organised

by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in a Kitui hotel said iron supplements for 90 plus days during pregnancy is very rare in the province with only two percent of expectant mothers meeting the recommendation.

On the HIV/Aids scourge, the report said prevalence is lowest in the region compared to the other provinces with 3.5 percent adults aged 15-49 reported to be positive.

HIV/AIDS testing has also increased in the province with 22 percent women and 11 percent of men recorded to have been tested and received the results before the survey was carried out.

22

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

Sexual abuse in schools leaves poor parents in state of desperation Since discovering that her 13-year-old daughter was pregnant about a month ago, Juanita* has paid several visits to the local chief in her village in western Kenya, seeking justice for her daughter and punishment for the man who abused her.

“She told me it was her teacher who did it.

I confronted him and he admitted (he was the father) —he told me we could just settle it as adults,” Juanita, 47, told IRIN at her home in Migori District.

“We have been going to the chief because the teacher tells me he wants to marry my daughter and take care of the child, but I do not want that. Let him to take care of the child who is a result of his bad behaviour, but leave my daughter alone because I want her to go on with her education,” she added. “I am poor and now both my daughter’s and my future have been ruined by somebody I respected most.”

Recent media reports implicating an HIVpositive teacher in western Kenya in the sexual abuse of five girls aged between seven and 13, and a Muslim scholar in the country’s Coast Province in the sexual abuse of a dozen boys, has left Kenyan parents questioning just how safe their children are in school.

Dismissal

A 2009-2010 government report showed that at least 1,000 teachers had been dismissed from duty in that period for sexually abusing children. A separate study conducted between 2003 and 2009 revealed that 12,660 girls were sexually abused by their teachers, yet only 633 teachers were charged with sexual offences.

Furthermore, 90 percent of sexual abuse cases involving teachers never reached the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC), responsible for monitoring and implementing teachers’ codes of conduct.

Several laws, including the Children’s Act and the Sexual Offences Act, criminalize sex with children under the age of 18, and in 2010, the TSC issued guidelines designed to protect children from sexual abuse in schools. The new rules ban students from visiting teachers’ homes, warn teachers against using the promise of academic progress to coerce children into sexual liaisons and stipulate that any sexual abuse of a child should be reported to the commission within 24 hours.

“Any time we get reports about a teacher abusing a child, we will carry out our investigations and take appropriate action...We have released a circular to all schools detailing measures that should be implemented to reduce cases of sexual abuse of children in learning institutions. We have prosecuted some offenders,” said Nkatha Murungi, the TSC’s public relations officer.

“Any headmaster or teacher for that matter who knows that a sexual offence has occurred within their school and fails to report it [will face disciplinary action]; TSC rules are very clear on this.”

A 2009 study by Kenyatta University of more than 1,200 girls in 70 schools across 10 Kenyan districts found that when girls were impregnated by teachers, 45 percent of teachers suffered minor consequences, either a demotion, a transfer to another school or marrying the pregnant girl; an estimated 32 percent of teachers faced no consequences, while 25 percent were sacked. On the other hand, an estimated 76 percent of girls dropped out of school, with many others getting married, procuring abortions and even committing suicide; only one percent of those who left were able to rejoin school.

While the study found that 22 percent of teachers who impregnated girls were arrested, government and NGO officials say convictions for teachers who abuse children are rare, mainly due to the fact that unless a girl is pregnant, sexual abuse is difficult to prove. In addition, stigma means many families would rather keep the

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Parents disciplined for child neglect

By JOHN NDIRANGU

Primary School students perform at an event in Nyanza. Sexual abuse by school teachers has become rampant forcing the Teachers Service Commission guidelines to stem the vice. abuse under wraps and teachers often pay families to keep the cases out of court.

“Schools are the second highest after the family set-up where children are sexually abused.

The authority over children exhibited at home is extended to school and amorous teachers are using this authority to sexually abuse children under their care,” said Irene Nyamu, executive director of the NGO, Childline Kenya.

“We should extend this spotlight to religious institutions because even here, boys are getting sodomised and those reports are in the public domain,” she adds.

“Orphaned children and those from poor backgrounds are vulnerable because they lack basic needs and a teacher can use that to coerce them into a sexual relationship, putting them in danger of getting pregnant or getting infected and dropping out of school eventually,” Nyamu observes.

One of the reasons children rarely report sexual abuse by their teachers is because sex is often in exchange for good grades or material gain.

Esther*, Juanita’s daughter, said: “He used to buy me good things like pens and shoes. He even gave me pocket money. Later he told me to take water to his house and while there, he started touching me. That is the first time we had sex,” she told IRIN. “He said I would be his girlfriend because his wife was away. I feared him and would do everything he asked me to.”

According to Patricia Nyamolo, coordinator of Positive Mentors, a local NGO providing life skills to young girls, shame is another factor that prevents children and families from reporting these crimes.

Stigma

“Many families still view sexual abuse of children as too stigmatising to be made public and they do not report [it], making it extremely hard to implement the law... so it is kept under the rug and only when the child becomes HIV-positive or pregnant is it realised that someone must have been sexually abusing them,” say Nyamolo.

She observes: “Head teachers rarely report abuse of children, either because they are the culprits or are acting to protect the image of the school.”

She adds. “Many schools in Kenya are also sponsored by religious institutions who would

normally want to keep such cases under wraps.”

Provincial director of education in Nyanza Province Geoffrey Cherongis, says the failure to report sexual abuse makes his department’s work much more difficult.

“The Government has made it clear that it will not condone sexual abuse of children in school... but we cannot know unless it is reported to us,” observes Cherongis.

He explains: “There are cases where parents collude with a teacher after the child becomes pregnant, and says the teacher will take care of the child.”

Cherongis adds: “Some parents also benefit from gifts or money a child gets from a teacher... It is important to discourage parents from such arrangements.”

In 2008, Childline Kenya and the government set up a toll-free call centre where children can report abuse or others can report suspected cases of child abuse.

“Initially, it was hard to report abuse of children but since we set up a call centre, it is now easy to see the extent of these cases of abuse,” says Ahmed Hussein, Director of Children’s Services at the Ministry of Gender, Children’s affairs and Social Development. He adds: “It is refreshing because the TSC is now more proactive in dismissing abusive teachers from within its fraternity.”

In 2009, out of the 28,988 calls made to the centre, 697 reported the sexual abuse of a child.

Childline has since carried out awareness-raising campaigns in schools to increase the use of the service.

“There will be more initiatives to create awareness about the existence of the call centre to increase its use,” adds Hussein.

The initiative is limited, however, as in many rural areas, children cannot access telephones.

While NGOs applaud the initiative, they say much remains to be done.

“The provision of a toll-free line has helped, but schools must also put measures within their systems that make it easy for victims to report abuse without feeling intimidated,” observes Nyamolo.

She says: “They must employ counsellors or designate a teacher for that role and at the same time provide suggestion boxes through which students can report [an abuser] either in school or at home.”

Nyamu says it is important to sensitise parents about the rights of their children. “It does not matter whether the culprit says they will take care of the child or marry them, it is important to sensitise parents to know that seeking justice for the child is the most important thing,” Nyamu reiterates. She adds: “Culprits must not be allowed to get way with such offences... Otherwise we continue hushing it up and putting more children in danger.” *Not their real names Courtesy of Irin

“Schools are the second highest after the family set-up where children are sexually abused. The authority over children exhibited at home is extended to school and amorous teachers are using this authority to sexually abuse children under their care.”

— Irene Nyamu, Executive Director, Childline Kenya

The Government has embarked on aggressive campaign to ensure that all children within the school going age in Embu West District are in class.

The ambitious initiative has seen over 23 parents arrested and charged with child abuse and neglect. The Eastern Province Deputy Director Children Department, Irene Komu said that within the same period, over 53 cases related to child rights abuse have been taken in court.

“Embu West recorded the highest incidents of child neglect and abuse with an increase of over 45 percent as compared to other districts in the entire province,” explained Komu.

Most of the incidents include parents who use extra force in disciplining their children, neglect where most single mothers leave the children unattended for even a whole week.

“The latest incident involved a case where a woman from one of the estates in Embu town beat and broke her six year old son’s hands for allegedly stealing KSh250 from her neighbour,” said Komu.

The other incident occurred in Blue Valley where a mother locked three of her children in a house and left for a drinking spree. The case turned fatal as all the three children died when the house caught fire as they tried to cook tea.

Komu said the Children’s Act should be amended to define stiffer penalties to parents, especially the single guardians who will be found to neglect or abuse their children.

Need for comprehensive health programmes in schools

By KARIUKI MWANGI Stakeholders in the education and health sectors have been asked to join hands to ensure comprehensive health in schools.

According to Eastern Provincial Director of Education Boniface Gitau issues to do with illnesses, hunger, malnourishment, early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases continue to interfere with education.

“There is need to address values such as water and sanitation, nutrition, disease prevention and control and the improvement of the schools infrastructure and environmental safety so as to boost the health of the children,” said Gitau.

By working on those values the health of the children will be improved and students will perform better.

“The health initiative in the schools should not only involve the children but teachers and guardians as well,” Gitau observed.

The good health of the parents and the teachers also boost the performance of the children in school.

Gitau who was speaking in Embu during the provincial health stakeholders forum said children also need to be trained on values and life skills so that they can be able to solve the day to day issues to ensure they are free from mental problems which can interfere with their learning.

He hailed the move by the Government to provide sanitary towels to girls in the schools saying: “This has been a major setback to the girl child and if well catered for, we can improve girl child education in the country.”

He also attributed the poor health particularly sanitation facilities in schools to ignorance and ancient cultural practices by some communities who view providing such facilities as not being important.

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Day of the African Child

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

23

Sister Florence Muia Angel of hope for Naivasha’s destitute

By GEORGE MURAGE In the dark room, an emaciated body lies still as sun rays find their way through the rusty rooftop. Now and then, the body turns painfully with groans and hissing audible as the lone woman suffering from Aids reaches out for water in a dirty plastic cup.

Outside the timber house whose walls have seen better days, knee-high weeds grow taller by the day with the occupant too ill to even notice.

And just as the groans come to an end, a wasted mongrel sniffs around before raising its rear leg and sending a sharp jet of urine to the rotting timber.

The scenario is disturbed as a clean metallic gray car drives in and parks outside the falling house and out of it emerges a Catholic nun.

With a grey skirt suit, a marching head-scarf and dark shoes, the nun heads to the dilapidated house where she proceeds to clean the woman and offer her food.

After what seems like eternity, Sister Florence Muia unperturbed by what she has left behind heads back to her car to visit the next patient.

This time, she visits two orphans who are living with their aging granny and her entrance is greeted with shouts of joy.

Here she leaves behind special-nutritious flour for the use by one of the minors who infected by the HIV virus.

On her way back to her home, the nun passes through an Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camp where she drops some clothes and personal effects to the victims of the post election violence.

Sister Florence, as she is popularly known, is a figure of hope to HIV patients and the sign of peace to hundreds of IDPs languishing in poverty.

Holding a Masters in Pastoral Counselling, Florence left a well paying government job to cater for the ailing and less fortunate members of the public.

She has turned to a ‘perpetual beggar’ for the over 3,000 HIV positive people who see her as the only hope as the government forgot them long time ago.

Out of sheer hard work, she has moved from two classrooms to a state of the art multi-million centre that is Upendo (love) Village at Karai Naivasha.

“Upendo village is a project designed to respond at the local level to the needs of women and their children living with HIV/Aids,” says Florence.

The project surrounds them with resources and support to improve their health, increase their lifespan and enable them plan the future.

According to the sister, Upendo village is not a hospice programme where death is the final outcome! It is a place to offer love and hope.

The calling to deal with Aids sufferers hit her while she was doing her Masters in Loyola University in the US in 1999. This was the time when Aids was said to be catastrophe and needed urgent attention.

“Aids was then declared a national disaster and figures came up and this touched me. I decided to dedicate my life to assisting the victims,” she says.

A senior probation officer by then, she resigned while in the US and started looking for funds and her association Assumption Sisters backed her in the noble idea.

“Many were those who discouraged me wondering how I left a good paying job but at the back of my mind I knew I could make it.”

From 2002, the facility moved from two roomed classes to multi-million complex located in a three acre land donated by the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru.

The complex with a reception, laboratory,

and examination room, several offices and staff quarters is a sign of determination and hope for the nun.

After starting with one employee, she now has over 20 workers who range from nurses to nutritionists, drivers and volunteers all in the name of assisting the poor.

Sister Florence says that the home runs five support groups from Mai Mahiu, Naivasha town and South Lake where there are many who are malnourished and From top: Sister Florence hopeless.

Muia from Upendo village She adds that once the ailing get shows managers from DT proper diet and medication, they Dobie some of the plastic come back strong.

“We offer food supplements, therpapers bags made by apy and ARVs to our patients every HIV positive patients to Thursday as we believe that another generate income. Sister woman’s problem is our problem.”

Florence distributes food As they cannot afford to feed their rations to IDPs living in a families on a daily basis, the patients are satellite camp in Kikopey, given special Alpine goats whose milk Gilgil. Sister Florence they sell and use due to its nutritious dances with a granny nature. during a function at the The beneficiaries have also formed home. Pictures: George self-help income generating projects Murage like ornament making groups where their products are sold and the proceeds shared.

Among the 1,000 nominees, 134 were from Other projects include bee keeping, fish African countries while eight came from Kenya. farming, chicken rearing and making baskets But for Florence, the recognition gives her more using polythene. impetus to serve the less fortunate members of “We have assisted orphans go to school as I the public. believe that education is power and we cannot Born in a sleepy village of Kawauni in Kanjust target treatment.” gundo village, Sister Florence is 54 years old.

For her, seeing tens of HIV positive family The fifth born in a family of nine, life was feed on their own is a reason to smile and seek hard as her parents tried to make ends meet for more support to assist many others. due to the high poverty levels in the area. “AfShe blames the current Aids status and high ter finishing Standard Seven, my parents who levels of infections on poverty which has led to depended on farming could not make it. I had promiscuity and thus the spread of the disease. to personally go hunting for a school,” she says Upendo Village is not self-sustaining and re- with a distant look. lies on mission donations from the US and local In 1974, she was admitted at Manyatta Seccompanies like DT Dobie and Panda Flowers to ondary School where she would walk 20 kilosurvive. metres to and fro.

As if that is no enough, every year, doctors Eager to learn and prosper in life, Florence is and nurses from Catholic Diocese of Joliet in full of gratitude to her mother who would meet the US fly in for free medical treatment courtesy her halfway from school as she always would get of the nun. home late at night.

“We do get surgeons, dentists and others After two years of suffering, endurance, hard and at the end of the stay, they donate medical work and prayers, she left the school and joined equipment to the Naivasha District Hospital,” the Assumption Sisters. explains Florence.

“Despite leaving school at such a tender age, During the post election violence that rocked at the back of my mind I knew the importance Naivasha, Sister Florence through the Catholic of learning. I knew that I would go back,” exJustice and Peace Commission, was at the fore plains Florence. front to assist those affected.

Her dreams of serving the Lord were an“The sad thing is that four years down the line, swered in 1978 when she took her first vows IDPs are still suffering in satellite camps as our and for the next two years she worked with deaf politicians steal and make merry,” she laments. children.

For the humble soft spoken nun, her life has “That is the fist time I became conscious of risen from the barefooted girl in her rural home the problems afflicting the minors who are vulto the first ever Catholic sister to be made a pro- nerable to abuse,” she says. bation officer in the country’s history.

From 1981-1984, she worked in a Thika hosAs if not enough, Sister Florence was in 2005 tel with challenged minors and it was here that among 1,000 women worldwide who collective- she made her life changing decision. ly received the Nobel peace prize.

Ten years after leaving secondary school, she Under the project ‘1000 women for the No- decided in 1986 to go back to school as back in bel peace prize 2005’ the winners symbolise mil- her mind, something was still missing. lions of women who stand up against violence.

“Despite my age, I was admitted at Mbooni According to Dr Ruth Gaby Vermot Mang- Secondary School in Form Three and I faced lod who is the president of the project, it is huge challenges,” she observes. time that more women are honoured for their Among her classmates were her former stuefforts, courage and determination in peace dents in Thika hostel who she says assisted her a building. lot in the two years.

“It was a crazy idea in financial and logistiFlorence’s hard work paid off and in 1987 cal to strive for the nomination of 1,000 wom- she left with a second division and was later en from around the world for the Nobel Prize,” admitted in Kenya Institute of Administration she says. where she graduated with a Diploma in Social

Work in 1990.

This marked another milestone in her life because she was employed that same year as a probation officer.

She says: “This was a moment of pride for me. I became the first ever nun to be employed as a probation officer by the previous regime.”

From then on she worked in Nakuru and Kitui mainly with minors up to 1994 before she joined Catholic University for an undergraduate degree in sociology and anthropology.

Upon graduation, she had a short stint as the probation officer in Naivasha before she again headed to the US for a Masters degree in pastoral counselling.

She was in Loyola University in Chicago from 1999 to 2001 where the idea to form Upendo Village was born.

In her bid to serve the less fortunate, Muia has received various honorary awards from various organizations and learning institutions.

Among the awards are; Damen Ward (Loyola University) 2007, 1000 women for Nobel peace prize 2005 and Paul Harris Fellow Award (Rotary foundation) 2004.

Others are the 43rd International Eucharistic congress service award she received as she was chief sacristan during the late John Pope II ceremony in Nairobi in 1985.

24

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Day of the African Child

ISSUE 042, June 16-30, 2011

Why children engage in early sexual debut

By MARY NYAMONGO Studies have shown that early sexual debut, high levels of unwanted pregnancies and loose sexual morals are closely associated with the risk of Sexually Transmitted Illnesses (STIs) including HIV/Aids.

In the last 10 years, there has been an increased focus on the situation of people living in informal settlements in relation to determinants of health.

Informal urban settlements are characterised by congestion with an average of three people occupying a single-room that is used for all activities including cooking and sleeping.

Congestion

The poor living conditions in these settlements, coupled with the economic hardships, predispose the residents to critical problems relating to sexual behaviour. Unemployment and inadequate wages restrict the residents’ ability to meet personal needs and familial obligations.

Sexual privacy is an important issue among the urban poor for two main reasons. First, the cultural context within which sex has traditionally occurred in Kenyan communities has emphasised discreetness in sexual activity and reinforced it through a myriad of taboos and sexual norms.

Therefore, the lack of privacy in urban settlements contradicts the social rules of conduct which most people still subscribe to. Invariably this makes them guilty of breaking the taboos that regulate sexual behaviour.

Second, young people require an environment that reinforces sexual abstinence and postponement of sexual debut, the two most effective means of protection against HIV and other STIs and unwanted pregnancies. In addition, the youth require positive role models.

Overcrowding has been associated with early exposure of young people to sexual activities and consequently early sexual initiation. There is evidence that sexual activity begins earlier in the informal settlements compared to other areas, especially for females.

Lack of privacy

The median age at first sexual experience in the informal settlements at 16.1 for males and 16.3 for females is earlier than that for Kenya as a whole, which stands at 16.5 and 17.4 for males and females, respectively. There have been reports of young girls, as young as eight years of age, engaging in sexual activity mainly for favours.

In discussions with people in four informal settlements in Nairobi — Korogocho, Kawangware, Majengo and Viwandani — lack of sexual privacy emerged as a major concern, especially for the adults.

Study participants were of the view that children sometimes get to know what goes on when parents engage in sexual activities and this has

an influence on their attitude and behaviour.

Most parents in informal settlements try as much as possible to protect their children from seeing them engage in sexual activity.

The measures employed, which tend to be largely ineffective, include waiting for the children to sleep, switching off the lights and sending the children out of the home during certain periods.

Few of the people, who can afford it, rent for their older children separate sleeping rooms or hire lodges when they need to have sex. A woman in one community stated that: “Even if you draw the curtains, if you are a good woman you have to ensure all the children are asleep. Then the second thing you have to know is that you have a strong bed that does not creak because you have children in the house.”

She added: “Like me, I have my wedded husband and with him we have nine children.

We stay with them sharing the same space. Then you do it in a way that nobody nearby will get to know about it. I believe my children have never heard what we do.”

Vulnerable

Indiscreet sex is a problem in situations of alcohol and other substance abuse. Reports indicated that parents are drunk they cannot control themselves, hence they proceed to have sex even when the children are still awake.

Some gender dimensions also come to play. Women may give in to sexual demands from their partners to avoid waking up the children. It was reported that some men resort to alcohol to ease the pain or shame of such situations, and/or to gain confidence to have sexual intercourse in cases where they do not have the desired privacy.

Some may decide to come home late when their children are asleep to avoid the embarrassment, which leads to other consequences of inadequate parental presence and guidance.

A major negative consequence of lack of sexual privacy identified by the community members was early socialisation of children into sexual activity.

Some of them were reported to stay awake but pretend to be asleep so that

Houses in Nairobi’s Kibera slum. A family in a one-roomed house in an informal settlement where there is no privacy for husband and wife.

Pictures: Reject Correspondent they can hear or even peep to see what is going on.

Immorality, indiscipline and lack of respect were associated with young people’s exposure to what is considered an “adult activity”. It becomes difficult for parents to reprimand their children for immoral behaviour when the latter have seen them engage in sexual activity.

One adult man said: “You know you cannot wait year after year to get a house, so what do you do? You will tell them to go out (so that you can get intimate with your wife/partner).

What do you do? Are you not teaching them immorality and you are the father? If you had your own house you wouldn’t do that.”

Lack of privacy during sex was also associated to prostitution and unwanted pregnancies. Another participant said: “This problem of lack of privacy during sex has led to prostitution. Children listen, both boys and girls. They know. The girls listen and would like to do the same thing the next day. Even if you beat them thor-

“Children listen, both boys and girls. They know. The girls listen and would like to do the same thing the next day. Even if you beat them thoroughly, they will not change. They will go out there and practise what they see at home.”

oughly, they will not change. They will go out there and practise what they see at home.”

The other coping strategy of getting a separate sleeping room for the children was also blamed for lack of oversight by parents/guardians. The parents whose children spend the night in alternative accommodation do not have control over what takes place. In addition, other people who may be sharing space with the young may take advantage of the situation and abuse them.

However, focusing on space constraints and lack of privacy may remove attention from other critical factors such as sex for survival, lack of social control and oversight and media influence on young people’s early sexual debut, factors that are worsened by the deprived environment in which the young people are socialised in slum communities.

Furthermore, young girls and boys may be tempted to “go out” and fend for themselves through providing sexual favours. The availability of video houses specializing in pornographic films, which are cheap and easily accessible to the young people could also be influencing early sexual debut.

Executive Director: Rosemary Okello-Orlale

Programme Coordinator: Wilson Ugangu Editor: Jane Godia Sub-Editors: Florence Sipalla and Mercy Mumo Designer: Noel Lumbama Contributors: Musa Radoli, Abjata Khalif, Angelika Mendes, Gary Smith, Henry Owino, James Mbaka, Joyce Chimbi, Gilbert Ochieng, Rebecca Wangari, Muktar Abdi, Ben Onyango, Barwaqo Aress, Omwa Ombara, Steve Akuno, Nicholas Robi, Henry Kahara, Alex Ndirangu, Ben Oroko, Odhiambo Odhiambo, Kabia Matega, Joy Monday, Edwin Makiche, Fibi David, Lydia Ngoolo, Mnyazi Joe, Kipkoech Kosonei, Aggrey Buchunju, Ajanga Khayesi, Kariuki Mwangi, Marion Ndungu, Macharia Mwangi, Ochieng Juma, Mary Nyamongo, Frank Ouma, Ken Ndambu, John Ndirangu, George www.mediadiversityafrica.org Murage, Rachel Muthoni and Hussein Dido..

Children from more affluent homes are also exposed to early sexual activity but this is not due to lack of sexual privacy. It is more influenced by loose social morals of parents/guardians and exposure to pornographic materials through the internet, television and phones among other media as well as abuse of alcohol and other substances.

Solutions

To improve the circumstances under which people in informal settlements live in would require implementing livelihood interventions that would enable them to upgrade their housing situations and expand their living spaces.

This calls for upgrading of the informal settlements, which is one of the strategies of the Millennium Development Goals that Kenya is currently pursuing.

There is a need for interventions to deal with early exposure to sexual activity – either at home, in the community or through the media with a view to supporting young people to abstain and delay sexual debut.

This requires concerted efforts by different stakeholders including the youth, parents and decision makers.

Write to:

info@mediadiversityafrica.org

The paper is produced with funds from