Reject 111

August 1- 31, 2015

ISSUE 111

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

How youth in Kamulu have ventured into lucrative horticulture

. . . growing traditional vegetables and onions keeps their purses well oiled

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By FRED DEYA

iling land could be seen by most young folks as a dirty activity, but for some eleven youth from Kamulu Village, a peri-urban settlement a few kilometres from Nairobi, it is a lucrative business.

Driving off along the dusty road leads into the village manned with trace of game reserve; some antelopes take their morning meal in vast savannah grassland.

A few kilometres off the dusty road, large acres of virgin land are a demonstrative fact that practicing agriculture is just a narrative to Kamulu dwellers amid the area’s black cotton soil and Athi River flowing nearby.

Horticulture Farming

Riding on donkey pulled cats, two of the eleven garbage collectors rush to park their chariots in order to leading visitors into their horticulture farm.

The members of Kamulu Youth Self-Empowerment Project (KYSEP) could only look for Saturdays, parading their six donkeys with three carts to collect garbage across the village, but now they have to divide their time well after venturing into horticultural farming.

In an acre of farm, the energetic youths grow bulb onions and some indigenous vegetables that boost their income. Their piece of land is subdivided into two halves in order to accommodate indigenous vegeta-

bles (managu) and bulb onions.

According to Charles Lusichi, chairman of the youth group, early this year they contributed KSh15,000 to lease the piece of land. They then started to plant terere and managu (indigenous vegetable).

“We had only two donkeys when we started the garbage collection business after receiving KSh50,000 loan from Uwezo Fund plus another KSh40,000 from a friend,” says Lusichi. He explains: “This is the total amount that was used to buy donkeys and carts. However, we spent part of money to start farming.”

Lusichi says starting with indigenous vegetables was a better option because of their fast maturity and low cost of production that could give them some money after selling mama mbogas (women who sell vegetables) to manage their onion plantation.

Variety

“Terere and managu seeds are cheap and easily acquired as well as drought, pest and disease tolerant compared to spinach,” says Lusichi.

The group was able to harvest their vegetable after a span of two weeks of transplantation ready for marketing.

“We harvested the vegetables every week for three months.”

The idea of growing vegetables was not acceptable to everyone. A few members of the group opposed the idea of starting agriculture but changed their mind after realizing the positive impact on vegetable farming.

Kamulu Youth Self-Empowerment Project (KYSEP) group members pose on their farm. Below: Dorcas watering her seedlings at her father’s homestead. Photo: Fred Deya However, there are a few who quit.

Managu is planted in furrows on half feet by half feet spacing and occasionally foliar fertilizer is sprayed on the crop’s leaves to boost its vegetative growth.

The group earned about KSh20,000 from indigenous vegetable farming, the amount that helped them manage the red-onion crops.

Kamulu Youth Self-Empowerment Project gets support from Farmprenuer Programme, an Alternative Africa

Initiative. They also received facilitation from different agricultural trainings where they acquired the necessary farm management skills.

According to Waithera Mugo, Director Alternative Africa, the organization is keen to seek and contribute towards socio-economic growth through advocacy, offering mentorship platforms through training and incubation programs. They also provide affordable professional services and experts.

These experts are responsible to drill

youth and youth-led enterprises to get access into the corporate system.

“The group invited an agronomist from inspirational Land Institute to come and do soil sampling as they were ready to break the soil,” explains Mugo.

Technique

Theophilus Sambu, Kamulu Youth Self-Empowerment Project farm manager says their farm received a Continued on page 3

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ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Teenage pregnancies on the rise Incidences of young girls dropping out of school are becoming common. Even more worrying is that the girls are impregnated by men much older than them, writes Ben Oroko

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cold morning breeze whistles past a grass-thatched house in the far-flung Riakemuma village, Giasaiga Sublocation, in Sameta. In a distance, Grace Kwamboka (not her real name), a teenage girl dressed in a black heavy sweater and a black wollen headscarf emerges from the kitchen and walks straight to the vegetable garden.

Behind her, the sound of utensils and mute cries of an infant are heard as a dark smoke billows into the morning fog.

About ten months ago, Kwamboka, 15, then a Standard Six pupil dropped out of a local primary school and returned to her mother’s house to nurse her pregnancy.

With the comfort and counsel from her mother family and friends, Kwamboka was able to drop her earlier plans to procure an unsafe abortion. Her intention was to avert the shame of being called a mother at such a tender age. Instead she closed the dark chapter of her life and gave birth to a baby boy.

Hunger

Seated inside the kitchen, Kwamboka, now a young mother of one, bravely picks up her three-month-old son from a mattress on the floor and begins to breastfeed the infant whimpering from hunger.

Little did Kwamboka know life would just one day take such chilling turn of events when she had hoped to complete school and build a career in engineering.

It all started when a male teacher in school befriended her. The teacher started taking her for outings on weekends, during sports and school music festivals. Their love affair grew intimate and the teacher started dating her at his rental house in one of the market centres in Sameta Sub-County.

The sad tale of the affair exploded when the young and otherwise ignorant school girl discovered only too late that the teacher had impregnated her. ”I do not want to remember how my life has been turned upside down by someone who had the responsibility of guiding me about my fu-

Poverty drives young girls to sell their bodies to track drivers. Photo: AWC Correspondent. ture life. I blame it all on this shameless teacher for exploiting me sexually, only to leave me a dejected teenage mother with my son having nobody to call his father,” says Kwamboka.

Kwamboka is not alone. There are dozens of such innocent and ignorant teenage school girls who have either been impregnated by their boyfriends or teachers and abandoned with the burden of bringing up the children alone after the fathers of such children vanish into thin air.

Though the Government has made a major breakthrough in promoting girl-child education rising cases of teen pregnancies across the country remains one of the challenges.

Government efforts in addressing challenges of girl-child education have been captured in a Gender and Education Policy developed in 2003 which provides for re-admission of girls who become pregnant while still in school. The policy allows for them to seek admission in others schools different from the ones they were in previously to protect them against social stigma.

Trend

A worrying trend, statistics indicate that pregnancy accounts for 31 percent of all school drop-out cases among girls.

According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014, at least 44 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 have had sexual intercourse.

The survey further indicates that sex among

teenage girls is usually unprotected, contributing to early pregnancy, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted infections including HIV. Many girls fear telling their parents that they are pregnant and keep it a secret to themselves until such a time when they experience labour pains, catching the parents unaware.

Teenage pregnancies have forced many girls out of school to nurse their babies at the expense of education.

According to Mary Moraa, a single parent teenage pregnancies among many school girls is due to lack of information about sex.

Traditions

“In many African societies, it is a taboo to openly talk about sex in the presence of children. It is a subject treated with a lot of secrecy,” observes Moraa.

She notes that most parents are shy and do not openly talk about matters related to sexuality with their children, reserving it as subject to be handled in schools by teachers.

Nico Nyarinda, a Clinical Officer in Kisii blames teenage pregnancies on lack of curricula on sex education in schools despite the Government’s intensified anti-HIV and Aids public awareness campaigns.

Nyarinda notes that parents and female teachers are to blame for the rising cases of early pregnancies since they have abdicated from

their role of guiding and counselling adolescent and teenage school girls on matters of sexuality.

Some of the parents interviewed by The Reject expressed fear that rising cases of teenage pregnancies in schools may not be curbed successfully if parents of the affected school girls continue being compromised into monetary compensation with the perpetrators at the expense of the girls.

Impregnate

One of the parents claimed that most of the parents whose daughters have been impregnated are adamant to allow the law take its course as they are easily compromised by young men or even teachers who impregnate their daughters with impunity.

“How can a girl conceive and carry a pregnancy for several months and even give birth in school without the knowledge of teachers, especially the female teachers who are supposed to conduct routine check-ups in their respective schools,” poses Jane Mwango, a parent at Eburi DEB Primary School in Sameta.

Intergenerational

Concerns are rife that older men are luring your girls and abandoning them once pregnant.

Parents have urged the chiefs and the police to take action in order to protect the girl child.

Too young to wed: Malawi chief sends married children back to school A Malawi chief took bold steps to address child marriage in her community, reflecting the slow but steady progress against the practice in Malawi and worldwide, writes Jessica Mendoza

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n late June, Inkosi Kachindamoto, a Malawian traditional leader, annulled more than 300 child marriages in her district, ordered the children to school, and fired a number of village heads who sanctioned the marriages, the Nyasa Times reported.

It was a bold move that reflects the slow but steady progress, both in Malawi and globally, against forcing children to marry.

“I have terminated 330 marriages of which 175 were girl-wives and 155 were boy-fathers,” Kachindamoto told the Times. “I don’t want youthful marriages, they must go to school . . . no child should be found loitering at home or doing household chores during school time.”

Child marriage has profound effects on children’s socio-economic status and health. Girls who marry young tend to drop out of school, and are thus denied the skills that could help lift them and their children out of poverty, according to Girls Not Brides, a global partnership of civil society organizations.

According to the World Health Organization, early marriage also makes girls more vulnerable to HIV infection, domestic violence and pregnancy complications. The Agency says the latter is a leading cause of death for 15 to 19 old girls globally.

In addition, marrying young “limits the girls’ belief that their opinions matter,” says Kristina Lederer, director of development at AGE Africa, a non-profit working to bring education to girls in Malawi. “It shapes their sense of self-worth.”

Kachindamoto’s actions put into practice Malawi’s recent ban on marriages for children under 18 — a critical step in a nation where, according to Reuters, about half of all girls are wed before their 18th birthday, and about one in eight are married before age 15.

“This law is extremely crucial because child

marriage is a big, big problem in our country,” says Jessie Kabwila a parliamentarian who helped push the legislation. “The country will for the first time clearly articulate that we are saying ‘No’ to child marriage.”

Malawi is not alone in its efforts to end the practice.

Over the past 30 years, the percentage of child brides fell by about half in the Middle East and North Africa, The Christian Science Monitor’s Michael Holtz reported. South Asia has seen a similar drop in the number of marriages involving girls under 15, though the marriage of girls under 18 remains common.

Globally, child marriage rates have dropped from 33 percent in 1985 to 26 percent in 2010, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. If the pace of progress persists, the rate may drop to 22 percent by 2030 and 18 percent by 2050, UNICEF predicted.

In July, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR), recognizing the practice as a violation of human rights and a barrier to sustainable development, adopted a resolution to end child, early and forced marriage around the world.

Malawi’s ban on child marriage, which President Peter Mutharika signed into law in April and which imposes a 10-year prison term for violators, was also hailed as a victory for childmarriage opponents worldwide.

Still, advocates are quick to note that progress in the form of laws and resolutions are just the beginning. Ending child marriage means addressing its causes: ingrained traditions, gender inequality, poverty, and lack of education.

“Laws alone are not going to end the practice of child marriage, in Malawi or elsewhere,” Helena Minchew wrote for the International Women’s Health Coalition. Promoting reproductive health and rights, investing in economic empowerment of women and girls, and guaranteeing the safety of girls need to be part of any plan that seeks to seriously tackle child marriage, she continued.

“A law is only as good as its implementation,” Minchew added. “When the law is fully implemented and is complemented by other actions to empower and protect girls, we will see real change in Malawi and around the world.”

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ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Influx of street children in Nyeri raises concerns

By Catherine Muringi

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he high number of children with either one or both parents but have joined street life in many towns across the country is worrying.

This influx has been attributed to poverty, neglect by parents due to alcoholism, separation of parents as well as physical and sexual abuse like defilement among others.

Though there has been a perception that most of the children in Nyeri town streets are orphans while others are born to street families, it is now emerging that there are many children who spend the day in the streets but find their way home in the evening.

Parental guidance

According to Issa Adam, administrative officer Children and Youth Empowerment Centre, another reason why these children go to the streets could be due to lack of parental guidance at home.

He notes that most of the street children come from the slums where poverty levels are high. Nyeri town has several slums which include Majengo, Kiawara and Witemere.

According to stakeholders, the menace can only be addressed through the combined effort of the County Government, the Children’s Department and other key stakeholders.

Proposed solutions include rounding up the children and looking for ways to assist them.

However, according to Patrick Ndirangu, Nyeri Central Sub-County children’s officer, taking such children back to their homes may be an effort in futility as long as the conditions that made them run away from home have not been addressed.

“The best approach is to address the problem by empowering such families economically and sensitizing parents on parenting skills through public meetings popularly known as public barazas,” says Ndirangu.

He notes some parents are to blame for sending their children to the streets to borrow when they should be in school which denies them the right to education.

Parenting skills

Adam concurs with Ndirangu that parents need to be sensitized on parenting skills and add that social workers and chiefs should also be involved in ensuring that the children leave the streets and go back to school instead of having the police arrest them.

“If chiefs can take the initiative of coming together with parents and

Children feeding outside Children and Youth Empowerment Center.

Below: Huruma Children’s Home football team members clean their playing shoes outside the home. Photo Catherine Muringi advising them on how to prevent the children from going to the street, the problem will be solved,” says Adam. He adds: “This will be better than letting the police arrest them as the move will not solve the issue.”

Social workers can play a very important part in guiding parents if given some inducements as they cannot do this voluntarily. “They can help such children by going to the communities and training them on how to handle them,” suggests Adam.

He says the Government can use its officials to force the children out of the streets and ensure they go to school like what some officials in other counties have been doing.

“They can also be forced out of the streets because one of the reasons why some children go to the streets is to avoid being in school. This is all due to lack of parental care,” says Adam.

He explains: “In Nyeri, when schools are closed, there are some children especially from the slums who go to the streets to beg for money so as to help their parents.”

Adam suggests that once these

children have been taken back to their respective homes, children’s officers should do follow-ups to find out how they are faring.

According to Adam there has been a problem of children escaping from children homes and going back to the street. He notes that even if such cases are reported, relevant authorities at times take almost two months to locate and arrest such children. According to Adam, this indicates that somebody is sleeping on the job.

Arrest and prosecute

Adam calls for the arrest and prosecution of parents who deliberately let their children go to the streets at the expense of learning.

“Parents who let their children drop out of school and go to the streets should be arrested because this is neglect,” Adam reiterates. He explains: “A child has the right to parental care, medical services as well as basic needs such as shelter, food and clothing. If one can deny the child these, then they should be arrested.”

However, Adam notes that if such

children are taken to rescue homes, they are given about three months to adapt to the environment.

“This greatly helps them to be transformed from the kind of street life they were leading to a decent life they find in the rehabilitation centres,” he says.

They also have a chance to feed on a decent meal unlike what they feed on in the streets which encourages them to stay on.

“This is because if such a child is taken to school soon after arrival, they end

up escaping with books and uniforms which is a big loss to the institution,” says Adam, adding “this is only possible if the child is in school going age”.

According to Adam there have been cases of children running away from the institution only days after they are brought in and are taken back with nothing having lost everything.

However, for those who are older, they are assisted to learn skills that can help them in life as well as formal education.

How youth in Kamulu have ventured into lucrative horticulture Continued from page 1 go ahead to grow onions from the agronomist.

“The agronomist advised us to grow Red Connect onion variety due to its high yield capacity. We then bought one kilogramme of the seeds but we only used half a kilo on half acre of land,” explains Sambu as he uproots some weeds in the plantation.

“Onions seed are first sown in a seed bed where the plants germinate and stay for a month before being transplanted on the farm where they take four months to maturity,” says Sambu.

He says they were advised to use DAP fertiliser, a growth start up mecha-

nism which is added to the soil.

The fertiliser also provides nutrient for crop roots development. It is followed by CAN fertilizer, which is added two weeks later.

“We use the right organic chemicals to control weeds and pests. One of these is Oxygold for weeds control,” explains Sambu.

They use the recommended basin irrigation that holds water for a long time on a cotton clay soil for onions use.

However, for managu, they use furrow method of irrigation.

Kamulu Youth Self-Empowerment Project’s farm sits just about 100 metres off the river bank so irrigation is easy.

The group hires a water pump for a cost of KSh1,800 a day. The irrigation is done twice a week.

The group eyes to harvest about six tonnes of onions, whereby a kilo retails for KSh100 in the local market.

Project

There are those who have found the Kamulu Youth Self-Empowerment Project to be worth emulating. Upcoming athlete, Dorcas Wanjau admires the youth project. Learning from them she ventured into parallel tree planting. She has over 600 seedlings of japhrota tree whose nuts are pounded to produce diesel. Wanjau is already making mon-

ey from this selling a seedling at KSh30.

Wanjau who aspires to be an athlete trains with the Catherine Ndereba Foundation.

“I first ventured into spinach farming on a tiny piece of land which facilitated my daily fare expenses to Nairobi West Prisons where I train,” says Wanjau, who spends KSh300 for her daily commute to the city.

Lucy Mbaye, social-development manager at Alternatives Africa says they provide market solutions to the youth they work with.

“As an organization, we have an admirable relationship with young entrepreneurs. We buy farm produce from

young, innovative farmers then sell to restaurants or take to the market,” says Mbaye. She notes the move has saved many youths from engaging in criminal cartels.

According to Anja Waber, an onion expert at Soil Cares Limited, growing the crop in an open field could necessarily need prior irrigation before transplantation, then plantations take a row of one foot a part.

“Never plant onions too close to allow for right sized bulbs,” advises Waber adding that “weeding should be done by uprooting in order to avoid bulbs. If weeding is done using a hoe, the bulbs will most likely be destroyed.”

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ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Boy child neglected as fathers go missing

Child labour leaves children greatly exposed to violence

By ALLAN MURIMI

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hile children are supposed to be under the care of parents and guardians, this is not the case. The number of neglected children in central Kenya region has been increasing every years from 9,804 cases reported in 2007 to 17,678 cases reported in 2014.

According to the National Council for Children Services 98 per cent of the cases are reported by mothers after fathers leave their families and move to second marriages.

According to Hellen Waweru, chairperson National Council for Children Services, most families are headed by women and the reaction to the neglect has been battering of men.

Absenteeism

Speaking on child related issues, Waweru observes that absence of fathers has made the boy child lack a role model.

“This is why the boys in Central Kenya have less confidence than the girls,” Waweru notes.

Her sentiments are echoed by Ahmed Hussein, Director of Children Services who says 65 per cent of households in Central Kenya are headed by women, a factor that has seen the boy child lose direction.

“Boys used to be trained and educated on their roles as men after circumcision but due to absence of fathers they are now looking to their peers and this has led to the rise of illegal gangs like Mungiki who recruit boys in primary school,” explains Hussein.

Due to this situation, the council is encouraging parents to take boys to church organised rites of passage adding the community cannot be changed overnight.

According to Waweru the region has the smallest number of children in the country as fathers have abdicated their role.

The population of children in the region stands at 42 per cent compared to 52 per cent in the country and the council notes that most classrooms are empty.

Waweru explains this is as a result of being single or family planning for some women and lack of men to sire children for others.

“The men do not want to go near where children are made and they must wake up and become responsible,” reiterates Waweru.

Dispute

“Paternity disputes are also prevalent and the greatest hindrance is the cost of DNA which the majority of the affected mothers cannot afford,” observes Waweru.

There are also many cases of child sexual abuse including incest which is rampant yet few perpetrators are convicted.

The Council blamed late reporting to authorities and poor prosecution which has led to many of the cases being thrown out of court for lack of enough evidence.

Child labour has also been on the increase in quarries as well as within the coffee and tea plantations and in the rice growing areas of Mwea.

By Joyce Chimbi

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hile his counterparts are busy in school, young Kennedy Muti is busy pushing the cart to deliver water in various houses in Pipeline, Embakasi Constituents the harsh sun notwithstanding.

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

Muti is out of school because he has to support his mother put food on the table.

Prospects

Asked why he is not in school, Muti narrates an unfortunate story. “My mother is the sole breadwinner. How do I go school while I am the man in the house,” explains Muti. He notes: “Our father was very abusive towards us. We left him when I was five years and have been on our own with ever since.”

Muti’s case is not isolated. He is among a huge growing number of children who have to drop out of school to help bring in extra income into the home. However, it’s noted that children from female headed households bear a bigger burden of supporting their mothers.

“Although all of us want the best for our children, female headed households among the poor has continued to rise putting a strain on the capacity of women to provide quality parenting,” explains Jacinta Kanari, a single mother of two sets of twins who spends her time moving from estate to estate in search of cleaning jobs.

It is a hard life for the resident of Pipeline whose 13 year old daughter is already a house help.

Mother and child say no to violence against children. Photo: George Ngesa “She should be in Standard Eight now but she has to help me,” says Kanari. She adds: “Many people are ready to take up young girls to mind their children because they can underpay them.”

According to Kanari: “My daughter brings us whatever she gets, her twin sister usually comes with me on my daily cleaning rounds.”

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 labourers. “At the moment, those numbers have increased to alarming

“If these children do not get an education, this will rule them out of formal employment in future and they will most likely resort to crime.”

levels and it is important that various stakeholders step in with interventions,” explains Grace Nyaruai, a teacher in a private school in Pipeline.

Crime

Nyaruai notes that the country is sitting on a ticking bomb. “If these children do not get an education, this will rule them out of formal employment in future and they will most likely resort to crime.”

Various reasons have being given by parents of working children and even the children themselves to justify the vice. These reasons range from death of parents to breakup of the family structure and poverty.

It is, therefore, imperative to note that even as the number of children who have joined the Free Primary Education continue to rise, estimated at eight million todate from three million in 2003, there are those like Muti who constitute the large number of casual labourers missing an opportunity for education and empowerment that comes with learning how to read and write.

Against this backdrop of scores of children not being able to access an education, the Peace Initiative Kenya (PIK) is working in nine counties to ensure that this alarming situation is resolved. This is from taking into account that child labour is a form of abuse and violence against the child.

Children who are out of school are at a greater risk of facing various forms of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).

The PIK project, through its implementing partners is, therefore, urging stakeholders to take necessary measures to ensure children are protected and provided with every opportunity to become productive members of society.

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ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Children’s desire pushes teacher to being prospective rabbit farmer

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By OMONDI GWENGI

ast year, out of her children’s desire to keep rabbits, Margaret Odhiambo bought five rabbits from local farmers.

Odhiambo bought a Flemish Giant buck from a farmer in Kakamega at KSh3,500 and other four mixed breeds. She spent about KSh8,000 purchasing the rabbits and KSh20,000 for putting up rabbit structures.

As she was doing this, she did not know that this first step would set her family on a path to economic freedom.

Love for rabbits

“My children wanted to keep rabbits and I decided to buy the rabbits from local farmers around,” says Odhiambo. She notes it was a bit hectic to balance her teaching work and taking care of the rabbits when the children were in school.

After about six months into the trade, Odhiambo was faced with threat of rabbit diseases as well as lack of feeds and vaccines. She lost more than 20 rabbits within one week.

This certainly came as a shocker for the first time rabbit keeper.

She says: “I painfully lost that huge number due to what a local veterinary officer said was mite infestation. I had no idea how I could control them.”

However, the painful loss of her rabbits to mite infestation is an experience that has enriched her curiosity to find resilient ways of averting further losses.

Odhiambo instead resorted to using Servin Dust (a powder for killing mites) and oil. This she dusts on the rabbits and their hutches.

“Since I started using these remedies, I have not experienced any deaths related to the disease.

I have also been giving the rabbits antibiotics and multivitamins,” says Odhiambo. She says one of the challenges is lack of vaccine and commercial feeds for the rabbits in the local agro-vets.

Odhiambo says she also had a fair share of farming challenges especially during the dry periods when she was forced to travel long distances in search of feeds for the rabbits.

“I usually feed them on pellets which I buy at KSh500 per 10 kilogramme pack. This I supplement with vegetables and fruit remains which I collect from the market,” she explains.

Routine

Odhiambo notes that rabbit farming in addition to her other chores requires a lot of commitment. In her daily routine for instance, she wakes

up as early 4:30am to ensure that students go for their morning classes. She comes back to the house at around 5am to clean the rabbit cages and give them feeds before preparing for classes.

When there is a doe(s) that are about to kindle, she has to wake up in the middle of the night to check on them and ensure that there are safe deliveries.

“Most of the rabbits give birth at night and if you leave them unattended you might find the litter stepped on by the does,” she says.

Odhiambo, who is currently the Deputy Principal at Nyamonye Girls’ Secondary School in Bondo, Siaya County says rabbit meat can fetch you a fortune as it is one among the popular white meat available in the world.

She says: “I started with a small structure not knowing that the rabbits would multiply very fast. From the five rabbits that I bought, I now own more than 100 rabbits.”

Although some people tend to think that rearing rabbits is involving and requires huge capital, Odhiambo says it requires little space and the returns are good.

“I also had the same mentality but by slowly learning from the ropes, I have just developed passion for rabbits and would do it more than anything else. A mature rabbit fetches about KSh4,000.

When the Reject visited her home, Odhiambo had just come for lunch at her house which is in the same compound with the rabbits and poultry, so she is able to keep a close eye on them.

Future dreams

“When I started, I had no place to build the hutches and I decided to keep them inside my house. Many people could not understand this but I had no option. This is where I have been keeping them but I am looking forward to one day purchase some piece of land where I could keep them,” she says.

She uses the locally available materials like wood planks and second-hand iron sheets to build the rabbit hutches.

Odhiambo who expects more than 50 bunnies in the next few weeks says she keeps more than 20 bucks which she fattens and thereafter sells them for meat to colleagues and other people who come to buy for consumption.

“Rabbit meat has a big market but the only

Margaret Odhiambo begun rearing rabbits because her children loved them. Photo Omondi Gwengi. Below: Rabbit farming, a booming business. Photo: Omondi Gwengi challenge that most farmers experience is meeting the market demand. If you were to supply around 100 kilogrammes of rabbit meat per week to a restaurant, it means you must have a not less than 100 rabbits at any given time,” Odhiambo explains adding that this is why she has been selling to domestic consumers.

For those who want mature rabbits for meat, Odhiambo sells at between KSh800 and KSh1500 while two-month old rabbits for

breeding sell at KSh600 and KSh800 for does and bucks respectively.

“We have also tried to put up structures to the recommended type but not to perfection,” she says.

With the rabbits and poultry, Odhiambo looks forward to being a major player in the county’s white meat market by establishing own butchery that specializes in rabbit and poultry meat.

Parents who fail to report sexual abuse of children risk arrest

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By GILBERT OCHIENG

arents who fail to control and protect their children from sexual abuse and or early pregnancies resulting in school dropout, will be arrested and charged before a court of law.

Dishon Otuko, Samia District Children’s Officer sounded the warning while addressing over 400 beneficiaries and caregivers of orphaned vulnerable children who are in the Cash Transfer programme at Hakati, in Bwiri

Location, Samia Sub-County, Busia County.

Otuko lamented that although the Government is spending a total of KSh19.6 million annually in the Sub-County on orphaned and vulnerable children, school dropout rate is still high due to pregnancies and early marriages.

Care

“This is due to lack of parental care and has led to a majority of children attending video shows, disco or matanga (funeral) local dances, overnight prayers, night tuition and

other activities that keep the girls and boys out until late into the night,” observed Otuko.

The children’s officer complained that a majority of parents and guardians are encouraging their children to dress indecently, a factor that he blamed for the rising cases of sexual abuse.

“Majority of parents and guardians have left their children at the mercy of sex pests who have taken advantage of the situation to exploit the girl-child at the expense of education,” noted Otuko, adding that the rate at

which girls were dropping was higher than that of boys.

He warned that any parent who fails to report any case of child abuse risks arrest. Otuko noted that his office has been receiving over ten child abuse cases per month.

“The children’s office is handling over ten child abuse cases per month and majority of parents whose children have been abused on most occasions fail to follow up on the cases after being compromised by the perpetrators,” reiterated Otuko.

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ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

State urged to deal with security for economy growth

By Henry Kahara

K

enyan government has been challenged to beef up security so as to accelerate economy growth.

Addressing journalists in Nairobi Accountants and business advisors PKF partner Michael Mburugu said that investors will only invest in the country, if they are assured of their security.

Mburugu urged the government to take advantage of the recent global economy ranking where Kenyan economy was ranked as the best economies in the sub Saharan Africa.

“For now the government needs to accelerate the economy by creating a favourable environment for investors,” notes Mburugu.

Growth

Currently Kenya economy growth stands at 6.9 per cent and expected to reach 7 per cent next year.

“We are worried that the economy growth may go down in 2017 as it has been a norm that our economy has always been slowing down during election years,” said Mburugu.

He further adds that our economy estimates are slightly down compared with projections made for the country vision 2030.

“A lot need to be done for the country to achieve vision 2030. By now our growth is supposed to be at least 10 per cent,” he said adding that the government need to invest much in agriculture, manufacturing and energy sector.

He notes insecurity and terrorism

as the major challenges facing the current administration.

“We expect the government to increase security personnel, the quality of training and even making sure that the officers in the department have the tools for trade,” said Mburugu.

He reiterates that modernization of military and police department will help to give them adequate capabilities to deal with security threats arising from terrorism.

Mburugu said that economy growth will help to deal with problems Kenyans are passing through like unemployment among other vices.

According to Alphesh Vadher, a PKF partner, the government needs to understand all the challenges hindering growth such as corruption, insecurity, weak and poor infrastructure, inadequate and expensive power, higher imports than exports, inadequate investment in manufacturing and agriculture among others.

“These are some of the areas the state needs to put much effort in,” notes Vadher.

He added that there are a lot of leakages in government finances hence need for the government to act on corrupt officers.

“There is need of parliament to review penalties sanctioned under economic crimes law and the penal code as they are very lenient,” added Vadher.

Tackle corruption

He said the amendments will help bodies tackling corruption cases to have teeth to bite.

Youths armed for confrontation and possible bloodshed paralyse business, as by standers watch.

Photo: Joseph Mukubwa In 2014 Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 5.3 per cent compared to growth globally of 3.3 per cent, Sub Sahara Africa of 5.1 per cent, Tanzania of 7.2 and Rwanda of 6.2 per cent.

This saw Kenya ranked third in the top 20 fastest growing economies in the world in 2015 in a survey of economists by Bloomberg a head of other emerging markets in Africa.

Buoyed by this good ranking, it is expected that Kenya’s budgetary and taxation measures will promote current and long term solutions for a fast growing economy.

The theme of this year budget is En-

hancing Economic Transformation for a shared prosperity.

It affirms the broad policies and strategies outlined in the 2015 budget policy statement, under a five years pillar transformation programme.

The implementation of this year’s budgetary policies is therefore aimed at raising efficiency and productivity in the economy.

In turn this seeks to accelerate and sustain inclusive growth, create opportunities for pr productive jobs and secure livelihoods for all Kenyans.

This year’s budget which has been approved by cabinet and is waiting to be tabled in Parliament estimates Sh2.16

trillion.

Among the Kenya government projects which are expected to accelerate the economy include Standard Railway Gauge and lapsset project.

Mburugu noted that mega projects are known for attracting corruption thus need for the government to be careful.

“With completion of this projects revenue collection is expected to go high and borrowing is expected to go down,” said Mburugu.

This will help to do away with borrowings and government loans hence making it easy for the economy to grow.

Marginalized community benefits from wind and solar powered borehole

By FRED DEYA

water for home use and for their livestock,” says Odhiambo amid watering miraa and kale planation in the compound. He explains: “This is a small community but getting clean water was a nightmare.”

Residents of Inkwanchni village, which is situated along the KajiadoNamanga highway got their lives turned around courtesy of hybrid system of solar and wind turbine-powered borehole and two 15,000-litre water tanks tossed on top of a water kiosk.

The interconnected wind turbine and eight solar panels have the capacity to pump upto 70,000 litres of water an hour using a sub-massive water pump.

A

ccess to safe water for many people living in Inkwanchni Village, Kajiado County, has for many years been a pipedream.

Inkwanchni settlers have for a long time known that fetching water for drinking and for their livestock means covering miles to reach a tiny, muddy water dam.

However, things changed recently.

Today as the sun rises in the morning and scorching effect begins to stroke, a number of households flock into Mzee Yusuf ’s homestead to tap water for free, thanks for his innovation.

Yusuf ’s homestead hosts a water kiosk, on top of which are two 15,000-litre water tanks and eight solar panels, each generating 80 watts per day. Adjacent is a rotating wind turbine that can be noticed from a distance.

Pumping water

The solar panels and wind turbine are connected simultaneously (hybrid system) that pumps water from a 200-metre deep borehole.

“Many of the people in this community used to a walk long distance in search for water for domestic use and for their livestock,” says Shadrack Saigili, one of the beneficiaries as he stand near his motorbike with water cans ready to tap water.

According to Saigili since initiation of this project they can get clean water at no cost. He notes: “Most of the water sources in this area are shal-

One of the project beneficiaries queue to tap water. Photo: Fred Deya low dams which give seasonal, dirty water that is not conducive for our health.”

Saigili says getting clean water for consumption had been just a narrative to their community, appreciating the water tower right in the middle of Mzee Yusuf ’s home.

According to Yusuf the motive behind the project was to use affordable system of water generation which could last for a long period of time.

His second thought was to rescue the community he decided to dwell with.

Lucrative business

Yusuf acquired land in Inkwanchni and settled there before venturing into drilling a water borehole.

“Drilling this water is something

lucrative for me and people around this small community who all have equal access to clean water,” says Yusuf. He adds: “I used a lower price to accomplish this project, relatively cheaper than on-grid electricity.”

Henry Odhiambo, who assists Yusuf as a homestead casual worker observes the recommendable changes the small community has experienced since the establishment of the water tower.

Odhiambo who has lived in the area for some time now says he used to observe young and old folks walking long distances in the chilly morning as they went in search of water.

“Not long ago people from this community, from the young to the old walked long distances to look for

Expenses

A few years back, Mzee Yusuf rubbed shoulders with Craft Skills Limited, a local wind turbine manufacturing company in Kenya. He then negotiated for installation costs and procured eight solar panels from Nairobi.

According to Julius Mwangangi, Craft Skills technician who also doubles as off-grid wind turbine and solar installer, both solar panels and turbine generate different capacity of energy that powers the borehole at different times in the day.

Mwangangi explains that solar is normally switched on during the day when there is a lot of sunshine while wind turbine works all through but powers the borehole mainly during the night.

Eight solar panels have the capacity

to generate up to 640 watts while wind turbine can generate a total of 3,000 watts per day, enough to pump about 70,000 litres of water and also used in lighting the entire homestead.

Mwangangi notes that most people prefer solar/wind powered borehole because it is cheap and convenient to middle class and marginalized people and especially those living in dry areas.

So far, Craft Skills has installed over 100 off-grid wind turbines and solar panels that have targeted villages with low income and poor electricity connections, including the historic drought-hit North Eastern part of Kenya.

According to Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Sanitation in Kajiado the water table in the county is reachable.

This then makes drilling boreholes to harness clean water for domestic and industrial use easy.

Drilling of boreholes could make lives sustainable and spur growth in the agricultural and livestock sectors in Kajiado, the ministry’s report reveals.

Ensuring access to clean drinking water is one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals set in 2000 and which end in September 2015. The MDGs seventh goal of ensuring suitable environmental development was to ensure that halve the proportion of the world’s population had sustainable access to safe water and sanitation. Although this has been achieved, about 750 million people remain without access to an improved source of drinking water.

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ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Matrimonial property laws must be made to work for women

F

By DAVID KIARIE

or a long time the women in Kenya have suffered in the hands of men or fellow women in relation to ownership of land and property, even when it is evident they have had a share of jointly owned property during marriage.

This has been so due to lack of gender sensitive laws on property acquisition and a patriarchal setting where people generally assume that women should not own or inherit property.

Consequently, this has seen many women especially widows as well as the single ones and those who are divorced denied their rightful share of property and land in particular.

Land boards faulted

The situation has been made worse by land boards which have been found to be biased most often against women leaving them to wallow in poverty after divorce or following the death of their fathers or husbands.

Land boards have been faulted for comprising a very small fraction of women if any. Further, cases at the sub-county and county committees are determined in favour of men even if it means outright denial of rights to the women.

The boards are responsible for approval of sale of land and use of land as loan collateral among other duties.

The Constitution has a provision for the establishment of land and environment court which is expected to bring reforms in the handling and

determination of land cases in Kenya.

Land cases in the country especially those dealing with succession are known to drag denying justice to Kenyans and women in particular.

According to Rebecca Wangui of the Kenya Land Alliance, “it’s regrettable that while 80 per cent of the workforce in the agriculture sector are women, only one percent has land registered in their names while five to six per cent have titles jointly written in both their names and that of their spouses”.

Wangui says: “This has a bearing on women’s economic wellbeing in the country noting that land title deeds are mainly used as security to acquire loan facilities at many banks in Kenya.”

Her sentiments are echoed by Priscilla Nyokabi, Nyeri County Women Representative, who reiterates that the Constitution and Land reforms must be seen to work to the letter.

“There is need for vibrant community discussion on the Act to ensure proper understanding and development of more content,” says Nyokabi.

According to Nyokabi, there should a rapid result initiative in the Ministry of Land in order to ensure that women’s gains brought about by the Constitution of Kenya 2010 are safeguarded.

Other than poor rural women being the major labourers on farms, stakeholders note that a huge chunk of career women opt to quit their jobs in order to work on the farms and take care of their families while letting their husbands pursue their careers.

Annah Mong’ina at her farm. Women have a right to access and own land.

Photo: Ben Orokop “It’s only fair if the women’s contribution is considered during sharing of such property in cases of marriage dissolution,” they noted.

They said many community cultures discriminate against women and stressed the need to have women and men sensitized on the rights of women.

“It is not enough to have good laws and sensitized women. We also need to sensitize our men so that when they sit in decision making organs, they can determine cases without any particular interest to the gender of any party,” the experts cautioned.

The Act, however, underscores the need to have joint property registered in the name of both spouses with assumption that where, during the subsistence of a marriage, property is acquired in the name of one spouse, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the property belongs absolutely to that spouse only and that where, during the subsistence of a marriage, property is

acquired in the names of the spouses jointly, there shall be a irrefutable presumption that their beneficial interests therein are equal.

The Act says where one spouse acquires property, whether before or during the marriage, and the property is not and does not become matrimonial property, but the other spouse makes a contribution towards the improvement of the property, the spouse who makes a contribution shall acquire a beneficial interest in the property equivalent to the contribution made.

The Act notes that the interest of any person in any immovable or movable property acquired before a marriage shall not be affected by the marriage.

The law further says that subject to any other written law, where a man has two or more wives, each wife shall enjoy equal rights, be subject to equal liabilities and have equal status in law.

However, the Act notes that where

a man has more than one wife in a polygamous marriage, matrimonial property acquired by the man and the first wife shall be owned equally by the man and the first wife only.

If the property was acquired before the man married the second wife and the matrimonial property acquired by the man after the man marries a second wife shall be regarded as owned equally by the man, the first wife and the second wife, and the same principle shall be applied to any subsequent wife or wives.

The Act defines matrimonial property as the matrimonial home or homes, household goods and effects in the matrimonial home or homes, immovable property, owned by either spouse that provides the basic income for the sustenance of the family and any other property acquired during the subsistence of a marriage, which the spouses expressly or impliedly agree to be matrimonial property.

Builders urged to adhere to set rules while constructing

P

By Henry Kahara

eople constructing storey houses have been urged to adhere to set rules to avoid tragedies and losses.

Speaking during a forum held in Nairobi, NEMA chief compliance officer, Margaret Njuki urged members of public to be alert and report people who are not following construction guidelines.

“It is our collective responsibility as citizens to make sure that houses built on our neighbourhood meet the set qualifications,” said Njuki.

Njuki said that unless members of public report to them on the issues happening near them it may be hard for them to note what is happening in every corner.

Monitor

“We cannot be everywhere. There are some houses which are built without our knowledge but if the members of public can team up with us, we can manage to monitor what is going on,” added Njuki.

She noted that when any kind of building is being constructed neighbours need to be engaged during assessment.

“And that’s why I am encouraging you to give your opinion on the adverts you see us putting on the newspapers. Don’t just read them. We need your input,” said Njuki.

She urged members of public to raise alarm when they see people putting houses in an authorised area like in wet lands.

“If you learn that a certain house is being constructed very fast report it and we will do our investigations,” she said adding that there are certain courses which are supposed to be constructed in a day.

According to Nairobi City County Urban, planning and housing officer, John Mbale approval of a house designing is not enough. The building also needs to be supervised and inspected.

“I am encouraging people who are building to make sure they work closely with their structural engineer to make sure they succeed,” said Mbale.

“He added that when a building collapses it

does not only harm those who were involved directly but also the owner because he recurs a big loss,” he noted.

Mbale challenged Architects to always do total disclosure to avert loss as has been witnessed.

Collapse

According Ministry of lands works and Housing and Development works Secretary Aida Munano they have identified Eastland as a place with many cases of house collapsing.

“We are taking action against people who have not been adhering to National Construction Authority (NCA) rules,” said Munano.

This year there has been more than five cases of house collapsing.

According John Mucheni architecture in Nairobi the reason why Eastland is being faced with many cases of house collapsing is because of the corruption in the county government where people in charge ask for a lot of money to assess the site.

“Corruption is still challenge in the county

government you find that if I approach the responsible office they take long before serving me. And the reason why is because you want me to grease your hands,” said Mucheni.

“Since I do not have money to bribe I just do it using my own means,” he adds.

Tom Waiharo Mass Lab Limited Director urges county government to allow private bodies to monitor the small and middle level buildings.

“This will help to reduce regulators burden.

The big buildings don’t have a problem because those buildings usually meet the entire requirements,” notes Waiharo.

Waiharo advises people who are building to always make sure they conduct site investigations and material testing.

“Site investigation helps the engineer to know the kind of soil he is dealing with hence helping him to use quality materials,” he said adding that the process is not expensive.

“If you compare the investigation and testing price with the cost of a collapsed building they are totally different,” said Waiharo.

8

ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Young scholars inspired to dream big and transform communities

By Robert Wanjala

S

ince his formative days, poverty has been his daily companion.

Many are the days when young Brian Juma went to sleep hungry. With pangs of hunger gnawing at his empty stomach, he would retire to bed uncertain about what the next day would bring.

Young Brian almost gave up any hopes for education; the only weapon he knew so well yet badly needed to fight and salvage parents and his 11 siblings from abject poverty.

Brian’s story depicts the African youth, groping in the dark through rampaging poverty, hopelessness and unforgiving economic hardships.

Yet still his is a story of hope and determination; a narrative of perseverance, resilience and faith; a tale of victory.

Last week, Brian connected with over 50 young scholars and Alumni from 21 developing countries at Nairobi’s Savelberg Retreat Centre for a “Dream Big Scholars Conference.”

Connect

The four-day packed event brought together young superstars from the continent to connect, share knowledge and inspire themselves as agents of change in their academic and social circles.

The conference was organised by Wells Mountain Foundation, WMF, - a non-profit organisation that provides supports in area of education and other economic empowerment projects primarily in developing nations.

Brian’s past struggles and suffering is not unique until you listen to other scholars. Like Brian they have all seen, felt and tasted the deadly struggles that come with destitution.

They have witnessed suffering which dehumanizes and destroys the human soul.

The founders of WMF, Thomas and Carol Vitz Wells rescued many of these scholars from the verge of being “swallowed up” by the dangers that come with poverty and broken dreams.

The Wells couple, both graduates from Bucknell University founded WMF about a decade ago after several years of supporting several young Africans with personal cheques to enable them pursue education.

This one act of kindness has been galvanised into a fountain of hope for many less fortunate in society.

WMF today has 62 active students on full scholarship pursuing various degree courses across universities in developing countries.

“We have 62 active students in [various universities]. We expect 18 of this to graduate this year,” Wells said in an interview during the conference.

“We are finalising selection process for the new class of 2015 and we hope to add 30 new scholars to the group.”

Each year the selection panel is overwhelmed by the large number of potential applicants.

Last year they received more than 1600 qualifying applications but only 23 were selected after a rigorous exercise. Financial constraints have always

forced them to pick a smaller group but they are hopeful that the number will double as the funding burse grows.

Pursuits

Academic career cuts across. However, the number of scholars and alumni pursuing bachelors in medicine and surgery out numbers other disciplines.

Others are studying law, computer engineering, business and accounting, communication, project planning and development studies, library and information science, philosophy and archaeology among others.

Beyond its extensive involvement in areas of education and arts, WMF has an economic empowerment component that seeks to build community centres primarily in hard-hit economies.

It has also launched a Micro-Grant program which would be exclusively available for its WMF Alumni. The grant is to help start new or expand business or community based organisation or boost a community service project.

In addition to empowerment through education, it also supplies books to local schools under its literacy program.

“We do other things beyond education – like in Haiti which is real a poor country in Western Hemisphere, we have built community centres,” the Wells said in an interview.

Wells believes in giving back and volunteerism.

He says is guided by a simple principle his mum placed on their family wall back then during his formative days that read “what we are is God’s gift to us and what we become or do is our gift back to God.” This is the statement that inspires him into the selfless generosity for mankind.

He says that as an active volunteer for many years with Young Men Christian Association [YMCA], traveling in Africa including Kenya, Wells met young Africans with appetite for education yet they were helpless and with no resources to help them realise their dreams.

“These young people between the age of 18 and 25 years were volunteering in the YMCA but in need of financial support to pursue their dreams in education,” he says.

Wells was touched by the magnitude of despondency and desperation among many African youth and that is when he started drawing personal cheques to support some.

“My first support was to a lady named Victoria from Ghana. I personally wrote cheques to help her and then added a couple more and then [thought] I could do more if it is not just me,” Wells remembers. “I then asked my friends and other people to support and then started to do more.”

The Wells’ has continued to literally reconstruct lost hopes of hundreds of young men and women across the world.

He says his business – Wells Mountain LLC – a real estate development and Management Company is the family’s biggest source for the scholarship kitty.

Carol Wells on left leads other Wells Mountain Foundation (WMF) staff and scholars in the clean up activities in Kibera.

Below: WMF scholars participate in Kibera community clean up exercise.

Photos: Robert Wanjala “We also get support from friends and business people [including] my clients who have supported us not because they are friends but because they believe in what we are doing,” he says.

His personal generosity enabled young scholars to meet in Nairobi and obtain what leadership Guru Robin Sharma calls the keys to self-leadership, personal responsibility and spiritual enlightenment.

Like Sharma states in his book The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari, Wells Mountain is equipping young people to banish illiteracy and hopelessness from their lives by conditioning their minds to dream big and be the change in their communities.

He wants them to stop being prisoners of their past and became architects of their own future and of that of their generation.

Wells hopes for both closely knit professional and personal networks and relationships among scholars.

“I think one valuable resources for WMF scholars is each other,” the graduate from Case Western School of Law told scholars during his keynote address on June 25. “You are a valuable network…you are all superstars in your own ways [and] in different countries… and your connection with each other, talking to each other and supporting each other will [make] you much more stronger.”

The conference aimed at bringing together WMF beneficiaries from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds to interact and “increase their awareness of how to facilitate positive change” back in their respective communities.

Under the concept, “Dream, Plan and Do” the scholars were exposed to a wide range of practical workshops about social entrepreneurial, leadership and mentorship skills.

Other topics included how to give back to the community, how to develop community based organisation, how to start your own business, net-

working among other life skills.

The undergraduate scholars also got inspired by thought-provoking motivational keynote addresses from Africa’s best-known social entrepreneurs, social justice and community mobilisers.

The conference was climaxed with a community clean-up exercise in one of the Africa’s biggest urban slum – Kibera, which has almost a million inhabitants.

The scholars endured the breathchocking stench as they joyfully took a slice of unblocking sewage waterways, as a small way of their commitments of giving back to their community.

Settlements

The sight of crammed mud shacks with leaking old iron sheet roofs and poorly done drainage systems in the Nairobi’s informal settlement refreshed the scholars mind about the responsibility they have of making their communities a better place.

Many of them are already impacting their communities in a tremendous way while other hopes to dedicate their life careers to service of humanity.

Melisa Bhebe, 23, raised by single mother aspires to touch lives through her medical career. She is currently on a full scholarship pursuing bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery at National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe.

Melisa’s dream is no different from Phoeby Musonda a law students at Zambia Open University or Musupa Andrew Kasiko from Makerere University pursuing development studies.

Neither Kasiko’s vision different from Charles Kajokaya’s from Southern Sudan.

Kajokaya hopes to galvanize his fellow compatriots into a purposeful and focused entity driven by greater vitality, creativity and fulfilment. Brian too envisions a future where all school going children will not miss education because of a lack of basic learning materials.

Brian says that despite walking to school in tattered home clothes, which acted as his official uniforms and bare footed under sweltering sun, he kept his dream for education alive.

“Even though we wore ragged home clothes to school and lacked basic materials such as books, and that we walked bare footed [under] the scorching sun that did not hold me back from working hard” he says.

Brian today is among 15 Kenyan students on WMF full scholarship. He is a final year student studying a BSc in Community Resource Management at Kenyatta University.

Brain says: “WMF has given me a lot of hope and inspired me to work even harder to achieve my dreams.

As a community worker, I will use the skills and knowledge I have gained to inspire positive changes and development in my community.”

Inspired to inspire others, he urges young people not just to dream big but to keep their dreams alive.

“I believe one day someone will believe in you and your dreams and help you realize them,” he concludes.

9

ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Challenges facing AIDs vaccine

By Henry Kahara

R

esearchers are still looking for AIDS cure although there are a lot of obstacles facing them.

According to Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI) researcher Professor Ouma Wanzala there are various challenges facing institutions searching for AIDS cure.

Wanzala starts by saying that contract to other diseases like measles or malaria which do not have cousins AIDS has cousins.

“AIDs is not like other diseases.

There are varieties of AIDs virus.

There some who are infected with type B, C, D among others? Most of the times the variety goes with regions,” notes Wanzala.

He adds that they want to come up with vaccine which will protect one from being infected instead of coming up with a vaccine that will prevent the disease.

Vaccine

“Most vaccines fight the disease when it is already in the body. That’s how they are made but now we want a situation where by the vaccines will be fighting the disease before a person gets infected,” says Wanzala.

“HIV virus is a very clever virus it knows how to hibernate meaning if it sees an enemy it can coumflage and gets silence until the time it will be out of danger and it will rise again,” says Kundai Chinyenze, International AIDs vaccine initiative medical director.

For now researchers affiliated with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has reported a pair of neutralizing antibodies from HIV positive individual in Africa.

The two antibodies PG9 and PG 16 were found to be extremely neutralizers of HIV and capable of targeting a remarkably wide spectrum

of HIV variants.

“At least the vaccine has passed most of the steps a vaccine is supposed to pass and it has given us some light,” says Wanzala.

For a vaccine to be effective it has to pass three stages; in phase one they are interested in knowing whether it is safe.

In phase two it is a detailed part where they do samples with animals while in phase three they look at the protection level.

Although it has taken time to come up with this vaccine scientist say that the journey has been very adventurous.

“It would be remembered that Ebora virus was discovered by scientist who were searching for AIDs vaccine,” notes Chinyenze.

This has also seen continent like Africa coming up with research centres.

“Now we do not have to rely on western countries to do research.

We have our equipped laboratories

Activists take to the streets in a past event over HIV. Photo: AWC Correspondent although they are not enough,” says Wanzala.

Wanzala urges the government to continue investing in research institutes.

There is need of sustained funding in these centres.

“We need to invest in modern technologies plus we need to encourage young people to join this sector,”

says Wanzala.

He notes that lack of sufficient fund is one of the main challenge facing researchers.

“We rely on donors. Our government does not invest in research and this is very wrong,” said Wanzala.

He urges the government to set money for research centres during the budget since the sector is in dire need.

Councils to help ease stress in children

By LUCY LANGAT “A pupil came to my office and told me he would hang himself because he had failed to attain 350 marks,” a head teacher explained.

She said the pupil was an orphan and was desperate to hit the 350 mark so that he could be sponsored by Equity bank.

Target

He told his head teacher that he would either allow him to repeat class eight and try if he would attain his target this year, or he would hang himself. “I told him to get to class, even though he did not have uniform or even a single book,” said the head teacher. Luckily, the boy was later sponsored by the same bank.

Francis Ndirangu, another head teacher, had to adopt a pupil who threatened to commit suicide.

“It was only by luck that the boy spoke to me about the problems which he was experiencing under his guardians,” said Ndirangu

The teacher had to turn to a full time parent to the orphan, who is now in Form Two at a prestigious high school.

Such are the few cases of children’s suicidal thoughts reversed by a chance to express themselves.

However, an initiative to have a Pupils Governing Council (PGC) in all primary schools by the end of this year may bring hope to and end of rising suicidal cases among pupils.

In a recent deliberation between Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA) and United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), PGC were found to be a possible cure to their psychological problems.

Will this become an end to many attempts and successful suicidal cases among children?

Perform

“Children know what is good for them, adults like teachers and parents have a role of only guiding them,” says Elias Noor, a UNICEF official.

However, he noted that most schools in the country, he noted, lack a forum where children are given a chance to express themselves.

According to UNICEF, PGCs must be formed in all schools with relevant government officials to include president, prime minister and ministers.

This way, Noor noted, children would have an opening to express themselves on issues concerning their education and performance.

At Narok University College Primary School, a model school cabinet has been in place for close to one year.

“Every term, the cabinet meets for a purpose, the last time we met was to make school rules,” says Frank Kibelekenya, the school’s head teacher.

Since they formed the children’s parliament, Kibelekenya noted, a lot has changed among children, parents and teachers alike.

“Children are able to express their feelings including grievances through various ministries, rather than keeping issues to themselves.”

Kibelekenya introduced children’s

parliament in his school to help curb strikes, little did he know it would have such a big impact even at primary school level.

“The change was so noticeable that even a cook commented that children no longer had problems queuing for lunch,” noted Kibelekenya.

He was giving a testimony on how the children’s parliament would work for better learning, discipline and expression in primary schools.

As he was giving his testimony with a PGC, fellow head teachers who are also members of KEPSHA listened attentively.

Some had heard the idea but never tried it out, while others had met opposition from parents and teachers.

Prepare

However, they all understood the need to have children express themselves. “It is unfortunate that children in most parts of Africa do not have a voice even on issues fully concerning them,” noted Suguru Mizunoya, UNICEF’s chief of education.

Lydia Wairimu shares her experience. Photo: AWC Correspondence.

Developing a children’s council, he noted, would not only solve their mental problems, but also prepare them to be better voters and leaders in future.

“Some children are mentally disturbed at school for lack of facilities, if there will be children’s government, then it will address their issues through relevant ministries,” said Mizunoya.

He called for a quick move towards establishing a PGC in all primary schools, as this, would help ease the mental burden of stressed up children.

10

ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Violation of women rights in land management rampart

I

By Joyce Chimbi

t is discriminatory and against the spirit and letter of the Constitution for women to be denied control over land.

While a significant number of women have access to land, as laborers, few can make decisions regarding management of the land.

Land is without a doubt an emotive and thorny issue in Kenya as reports into various ethnic clashes over the years extensively cite conflict over land as one of the major causes.

Statistics

Documents by various government Ministries show that agriculture continues to be the bedrock of the economy with an estimated 80 percent of the rural population depending directly on farming.

In fact, Vision 2030 which is a government strategic plan on how to boost the growth and development of various sectors show that of the 8 million households in the country, 5 million are directly involved in agriculture.

Land and environmental resources are therefore significant to the livelihoods of people whose subsistence and economic growth are heavily dependent on such resources. This has made land a highly coveted property in the country.

However, land ownership has remained a reserve of men who hold a staggering majority of land title deed.

According to a report on challenges facing women in Africa prepared for the African Women’s Rights Observatory, a program under the United Nations Development Program, only one percent of women have registered land title deeds in their names while five to six percent of title deeds are registered in joint names.

Workforce

“This is in spite of the fact that up to 80 percent of the workforce is provided for by women yet they have no say in major decision making processes pertaining to land use and allocation,” explains Njoki Kanini, a land owner in Kiambu County, Central Province.

This gaping inequality has heavily contributed to feminization of poverty in the country, “Men are usually concerned with cash crops and rarely with food crops. After women have tilled the land and produced various

crops, the men take over,” explains Karanja Kiama, a farmer in Busia, Western Kenya.

The situation is made worse by the fact that even though women are the laborers, education on agricultural services is directed to male farmers, “Agricultural officers target male farmers under the assumption that since we are predominantly the majority of land title deed owners, then we know what best to do with the land and will pass on the information, this rarely happens,” expounds Karanja Kiama.

Although agriculture heavily contributes to the growth of the economy accounting for over 24 percent to the Gross Domestic Product as reflected in reports by the Ministry of Agriculture, the contribution of women to this growth remains invisible.

Due to women being undervalued as equal stakeholders in growing the economy form an agricultural perspective, they are equally

marginalized from engaging in economic decision making processes “Co-operative associations, where various decision making processes are made are a preserve of male farmers, women toil all day but they do not get an opportunity to guide various processes that can help improve land produce,” explains Mercy Njambi, a farmer and businesswoman at Wakulima(farmers) Market in Nairobi which is one of Kenya’s largest food markets.

Reforms

In a bid to address the land problem in Kenya, the Koffi Annan led mediation talks to broker peace as a result of the 2007 post election violence recommended the need for land reforms as well poverty and inequality. Therefore citing land, poverty and inequality among the most critical issues the coalition government needed to address in order to prevent a recurrence of violence.

It is against this backdrop that on

Land is still owned by men to a very large extent.

Photo: Joseph Mukubwa the 16th of December this year, the Cabinet approved the National Land Policy that seeks to introduce fundamental reforms that are primarily geared towards paving way for massive changes in land ownership.

Speaking of the just approved policy, the Minister for land James Orengo said that the policy emphasizes control in use and access to land.

It is imperative to also note that the current Constitution allows girl child to inherit land just like a boy child. This is a significant gain for women because it touches on the serious issue of patriarchy on whose foundation land ownership in Kenya is built.

Although it is important to have policies in place that speak to inequalities in access, use, control and ownership of land, notable developments in efforts to narrow gender inequalities in regard to land owner-

ship can largely be dealt with by addressing retrogressive cultures that are harmful to development.

“This is the point where the law works closely with culture. If this patriarchal society can understand the need for collaboration between men and women in land ownership and usage, the economy would grow significantly because all of us would be pulling in the same direction,” explains Owuor Omondi, a gender activist in Nairobi.

Even though it is a long way to go before more women can account for a larger number of land title deed owners, the current legislation on land in both the Constitution and the National land policy may just pave the way for a more long term solution to Kenya’s perennial land problems which are at the heart of the perpetual inequality issue in regard to land ownership.

Widows and widowers put on notice

It is now emerging that children are neglected and suffer as the parent left behind moves on with a new spouse.

BY Gilbert Ochieng

W

omen from Samia who marry men after the death of their husbands only to misuse the property left behind for the children have been asked to desist from this behavior failure to which, stern legal action will be taken against them.

Samia District Children Officer Dishon Otuko was concerned that majority of widows in the district whose husbands had died de-

cide to marry men who move into their homes to squander property left behind for the children.

He said that some even go to the extent of selling all the property left behind by their dead spouses hence subjecting the children to a lot of suffering.

Neglect

The children officer at the same time said majority of the affected children are forced to drop out of school to engage in child labour,

early marriages whereas some of them end up being detained in hospitals for failing to pay their hospital bills.

Otuko also complained that some fathers who marry other women after the death of their wives subject their children to torture, neglect and even going to the extent of chasing them away to stay with their maternal uncles.

Report

The children officer called upon the chiefs and their assistants from the respective lo-

cations to report all child abuse cases to his office so that appropriate legal action can be taken against those involved, adding that he has several cases in court regarding the same.

“My office is strictly monitoring child abuse cases in the district in order to protect children from mistreatment, neglect, child labour and early marriage,” said the children officer, adding that it is the responsibility of every individual to protect children from the vice.

11

ISSUE 111 August 1-31, 2015

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Land and property disinheritance

By Ken Ndambu

T

W

he Peace Initiative Kenya which is a project implemented by the International Rescue Centre in partnership with various partners has continued to reiterate that not only are there many forms of gender based violence, but that the society needs to be made aware of them so that interventions to eliminate them can be successful.

Not many in the society acknowledge that disinheriting women is a form of violence against women. The Constitution of Kenya is clear on the bill of rights and the need to eliminate all forms of discrimination including those based on gender, sex or marital status.

By HENRY KAHARA

omen in central Kenya earned themselves a big space in both print and electronic media because of their fight against illicit brew.

The women, led by their members of Parliament have been pouring illicit brew which they claim to have led their husbands and sons astray and rendered them impotent.

Most men in the country have been buried in the culture of drinking illicit brew, a situation which have rendered them unemployable.

Some have blamed lack of employment as the main reason behind high levels of drunkenness.

Maina Mwangi, 63 years old man who pushes cart in Nairobi says that unemployment is just but an excuse.

“You cannot say that you are an alcoholic because you do not have a job,” says Maina. He says that he has been pushing the cart for the last 31 years and the job has seen him feed and educate his family.

Progress

Education

In spite of a supreme law so progressive, many women are still locked out of property ownership.

Memories of the death of Ngei Mulwa six years ago are still vivid in the mind of his widow Christine Ngei.

“Were it not for harassment and mistreatment by his relatives probably I could not be remembering him that much,” the middle aged woman narrated her ordeal in the hands of her in-laws.

Ngei then removes her handkerchief from her handbag and wipes her tears as she recalls the sad moments she has undergone since the demise of her husband.

Experience

She then gains courage and gives the testimony of the experience she has lived with after the husband passed on to attentive stakeholders at a land and property disinheritance of widows and orphans by deceased relatives meeting.

Ngei says after the husband died in 2006, she was left under the care of the brother-in-law who first promised to help bring up his late brother’s siblings but later turned to be a thorn in the flesh.

Two years later, the man whom she had hoped of helping her suddenly became an enemy and used all means at his disposal to have her ejected from the family but the clan somehow intervened and allowed her to stay put.

“When he failed to achieve his mission, he devised another method of ensuring that there is no food to feed the family by letting his herd of livestock graze in my farms destroying all the crops,” says Christine asserting that she has lived with the problem up to date.

The story of Mithe Mulwa who lost her husband five years ago is the same. She says when she decided to sell one of the pieces of land left behind by the late husband to educate the children, the clan objected fearing that she will get the money and run away from the matrimonial home.

Instead, the clan through one of the brothers-in-law decided to dispense the sale on her behalf but to her surprise she never got any penny and the children were

Unemployment and the story behind illicit brew

Women are still laborers in farms they do not own. Photo Joyce Chimbi forced to leave school for cheap labour.

The brother-in-law who helped the clan to sell the land died before the transfer was transacted. Sensing danger of losing the land and the money, the buyer has now turned to the widow for refund of the money she never got.

Force

“I am caught up in a vicious cycle as the same clan is forcing me to repay money I do not have,” narrated Mithe.

Ngei and Mithe are some of the widows and orphans in the region who are traumatized by myriad of problems of land property disinheritance and hope the new Constitution will empower them to inherit property of their deceased husbands.

Thanks to a programme dubbed Women and Property Watchdog (WDG) which has come out strongly to sensitise widows, orphans and other vulnerable groups on their rights on land and property inheritance.

Unfortunately Ngei and Mbithe are not alone, according to PIK, in Kisii, “widows are often disinherited of their property by

their in-laws.”

The peace initiative further states that this is usually accompanied by violence meant to chase them away from their matrimonial homes.

“Burning suspected witches, who are mainly women in a calculated scheme to disinherit them, has become a deeply entrenched practice. Political violence and murder are at the lower end of the GBV Prevalence,” a PIK report assessing responses on GBV in Kisii County reveals.

However, not all cases of murder fall under GBV, the report is quick to clarify.

Intervene

Nonetheless, experts now say that there is need to equip widows and orphans with the needed knowledge and information on how they can be the sole beneficiaries of their deceased husbands’ land and property.

There is further need to have stakeholders brought on board and seek ways of dealing with the vice, failure to which widows and the orphans will continue to suffer as the society’s lust for wealth increases.

“I have educated all my children up to form four with this job and it has helped me to maintain a home,” adds Mwangi a father of seven.

Mwangi says that in life the decision you make is what matters and not the amount of money you earn.

“I often get an average of Sh600 and I am able to plan for the money and that’s why I have been able to come this far,” says Mwangi.

Mwangi notes that young people are lucky today that they can get loans from the government to start businesses plus they have some other opportunities courtesy of the Kenya Constitution 2010.

“There is even the youth fund where you can borrow and support your business. We never had such opportunities during our time,” notes Mwangi.

He adds that the main problem with young people today is that they do not want to work hard or even look for employment in the informal sector.

“I have tried to mentor men from my village in this job but they come for one month and the second month they flee. Most young men despise this job and it is not because they have a better option,” he says.

He further notes that most young men like pleasure hence spending what they have saved.

Savings

“Even if you are getting five shillings a day, I believe you can save two shillings and spend the three,” he says adding that he has a group where he saves Sh200 daily.

“Learn to manage what you get and you will see a difference in your life. As a young man you must be willing to start small. Do not despise the small beginning because that is what will give you break through,” says Mwangi.

Mwangi however says that he is ripe for retirement.

“I am now 63 by 2017 or 2018 I need to go home and do farming,” he notes adding that back at home he has livestock which are under care of his wife.

He further warns young men against taking products which will harm their bodies.

“When you are doing heavy duty jobs like I do, you need to take care of your body. Avoid alcohol for the sake of your health,” warns Mwangi.

Jacob Mbukuku shares Mwangi’s sentiment where he says it is unwise to be choosy when it comes to employment .

Transport

Mbukuku has a trolley where he helps people to transport small luggage helping him to make up to Sh500 a day.

Mbukuku, 30, says that his aim is to have some more trolley so that he can create jobs to young people.

Executive Director: Arthur Okwemba Editor: Jane Godia

Write to: info@mdcafrica.org

Sub-Editors: Carolyne Oyugi, Joyce Chimbi and Odhiambo Orlale Designer: Noel Lumbama

Contributors: Catherine Muringi, Gilbert Ochieng, Allan Murimi, Omodni Gwengi, David Kiarie, Henry Kahara, Robert Wanjala, Fred Deya, Jessica Mendoza, Ben Oroko, Isaiah Andanje.

www.mdcafrica.org

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