by Lenah Bosibori
Nairobi, Kenya: Harriet Achieng is a grandmother taking care of her two grandchildren left behind by her daughter who opted to relocate out of town for greener pastures. Achieng, who is fishmonger at Nairobi’s Mukuru Kayaba slums says that since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Kenya, she has never provided three meals a day to her two grandchildren as her business take a beating.
“Recently I had to ask a leftover ugali from my neighbor who was throwing it in the dustbin to quench the hunger my grandchildren were going through,” Achieng said as tears rolled down her cheeks. Achieng who lives in a tiny single room with no bed said that life took a turn for the worse since Kenya reported its first Covid-19 case in mid-March.
“Even if I look healthy as I maybe because of my big body, I am hungry inside my stomach, I sometimes have to skip meals the whole day so that my grandchildren can have something to eat, ”said Achieng. She said that in the early months of Covid-19, many organizations and
well-wishers were giving out donations in the form of food but nowadays when the situation is worse they are nowhere to be seen. “Sometimes I am forced to lock this child in the house because they might go to every house begging for food,” said Achieng. She said that being Asthmatic gives her sleepless nights in the small room with nothing to wake up to the following morning.
Maurine Waithera a ten-year-old pupil at Plainsview primary school in Nairobi’s South B Estate said that COVID- 19 has denied them playing since there are no playgrounds around.
“We have been forced to play along the corridors or on the staircases because that is the only safe place around, some children go beyond endangering their lives by playing on the roads,” said Waithera. She said that she has to skip some meals so that her other siblings can get something to eat because young ones need to eat after every four hours.
“At school, my stomach was always full because my friends could share with me what they had but not anymore,” said Waithera.
House chores
According to a number of children interviewed for this story, water has been a big challenge around the area because they have been camping at water taps for a whole day due to the queue but since Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) started supplying free water they can now breathe a sigh of relief.
“I am very happy with the free water because the money used to buy the commodity can now be used to buy kales for lunch that we used to skip,” said Waithera. Her mother said that if the schools were to open today she can take her children there and would not regret if they stayed for an entire week studying without going back home.
“Our houses are small and if you happen to have many children they keep making noise until you feel you can take them somewhere so that you can relax,” said Waithera’s mother. Innocent Masaki, head of community policing initiative (Nyumba Kumi) in Mukuru slums said that parents are undergoing immense struggles in order to put food on the table.
“I have tried my best to enquire the families that have nothing and provided them with basic needs in conjunction with local charities,” said Masaki.
