AN EXPERIENCE OF POVERTY

Stella, right, studying.

Stella Ata waits for someone to push the door and break the silent mode of the three children sitting round on a table. She is the elder among them. It is eight in the night and the mother has not yet arrived from Westlands where she does laundry activities. Of the three children sitting in the semi-lighted room, only one was in school in the day and for the whole week. It is Friday and two have spent the whole week indoors. Luckily, the door creaks in and their mother steps in tired from the long walk. The children are suddenly filled with joy and talk happily. But she is not carrying any food in her hands.

Emmy is the mother of Stella. She is also a mother of four other children- living with three at Gatina, Kawangware and two residing with relatives at the countryside. Her husband died in 2013 when her last son was barely four years old. With no inheritance or savings, Emmy has been forced to search for means that would ensure the provision of the children’s needs. Her hopes for securing employment are lamed by the reason that she has no secondary education. She has no capital for a micro-business either. Emily is related to none who can step in for economic support but her semi-skilled brother who lives in the same locality and helps in contributing for the monthly rent.

Straining to see in the kerosene lamp light what she is writing, Stella hopes that when her mother will get money, she will be enrolled in Gatina Primary School if not a private one. It is 20/03/2015 and Ata has not stepped in school since the year started. Her wish in the ended year was to join school in grade 7 and pass highly in 2016. She however avoids thinking of her dwindling ambitions and promises herself that all will be well soon. She reads and writes in the house when alone so that come the time she will be in school, no one will notice that she was far from books.

If Emmy could have had means, Ata would be in school. She would be providing meals all day and not the unpredicted eating patterns in the house. Her house rent of Ksh 2200 would be easy to afford. She would be living with all of her children for she says that the two are living in pitiful states at the rural side. She could be renting a better house where dirty water does not run at her door. Her walls would not be of iron sheets where the peace in the house is interrupted by noise from the neighbourhood. She would not be in the slums. But her conditions assure her that she will continue being in that condition a little longer. Maybe till her children grow up to explore better lives. And the education that would ensure this happens is not at her reach. She closes up her hands at the end of her belly a sign that though life may be hard for her, she wishes the best for the children.

Ata’s younger brother, Dan, suffers from scabies infection. That is why he has not been in school for more than two weeks. His left leg is wounded. His right ear is wounded. Some boil marks are fresh on his hands. He must have been scratching himself severely. He cannot walk or play. He takes a low position among  other children who may opt for a fight or play when he cannot run or use his legs for defence. The wound has been on the leg for long. When Emmy accessed medical attention, he did not have money for the medicine. It goes that the boy may continue ailing unless someone intervenes.

Dan's wounded leg

Dan and his brother are among the children under Heart to Heart Orphan Children program. Their support has been limited to school fees and lunch food provision at the school. The institution does not cater for medicare. Being absent means that the boy is missing his end term exams that may affect his class performance at the end of the year. 

It adds that the children having spent the whole day without food, the mother comes in seemingly upset by the turn of events in the day- she had no luck for a job. She prepares to leave for some minutes and visit her brother to beg. Emmy hides her pain in the large jumper as her children do in their short lasting smiles. Inside, she is weak, empty and malnourished more than the children. Her low voice only affords a strong ‘Thank You’ to a visitor. And her life continues. Maybe tomorrow her walk will be lucky.

The writer is a volunteer at Heart to Heart Orphan Children. Their true names are confidential for the organisation and any person who may lend a hand. For more, link to the organisation.