POVERTY AND JIGGERS:THE STORY OF EVELYN AND HER TWINS.

Shinyalu, Kakamega county.

When I left Nairobi for Lugala in Kakamega county, I had no idea I,d be writing a humanitarian article under the shade of a tree. In front of me was a mud-house that 4 children and both their parents call home. Among the children, Anna and Aisha a six month old pair of twins infested with jiggers. Their older siblings were also infested. It is miracolous that their mother and alcoholic father are not suffering the same fate. From the outside where I sit, their crowded one room house is not fully moulded on the side.The wooden frames that support the mixture of clay and dung, are exposed and the wall looks to have taken in some dump due to the ongoing rains.
Meet Evelyn, mama wa boma, as wives are referred to around here. Judging from her  face, she is probably in the range of 30-35years. She is in her second marriage and is also the  mother of the seven children .Three from her previous marriage, four in her current one. Family planning education is a bit hard to come by around here. A team of volunteers is clearing the one-room house, for fumigation. I pull Evelyn to the side for a  chat. The twins are undeerweight. Due to her financial constrains, she feeds all her children with porridge and a bowl of ugali at lunch and just before they sleep. The twins survive on porridge and breast feed. Anita plays around with my T-shirt and the beating of my heart fascinates her. The innocence in her eyes, authentic. I have to hand her back to the volunteer, its time to remove her jiggers.

Evelyn and Anita.

 

Around 19.5 million live below the poverty line in Kenya according to UNICEF. This hinders their access to proper medical care and follow up. I notice the effort of our team leader, Hannington Kimathi trying to negotiate with the neighbors to help the children bath daily at least, to ensure they do not get re-infested after we leave. Jiggers being primarily a personal hygiene issue, bathing with soap and clean water is a big weapon. The shrugged shoulder response from the neighbors clearly showed a served relationship between the family and them.

Fumigation of the home.

Lack of personal hygiene is one of the major causes of jiggers.

“Kusaidia hivo tunaweza lakini mzee wa huku ndio shida.” One of them explained.

One of the volunteers asked at this point, ” Mama wapi mzee wa hii boma?”. She was reluctant to answer.

A few seconds later, she spoke. “Ni saa ngapi? “ It was around 2 hours past noon, I informed her. “Anakunywa busaa.” It suddenly made sense. It made sense why, a home with six people had no toilet. It made sense why, the cow at the corner of the plot, tied to a peg was very huge but the children very hungry and malnourished. Most families in this area were largely patriarchal. The father was tasked to provide food,shelter and clothing. If for any reason, more so addictions the man in the family found another place to spend his money, then children sleeping hungry is bound to happen, as in the case of Evelyn and her children.

“Mzee anafanya kazi?” She was asked. “Ndio, anafanya pale kwa kichinjio, lakini akilipwa anaenda busaa.” It was the trend of most poor families around this place. Fathers make money but it never reaches the family, but ends up in the pockets of hundreds of women who brew traditional beer without permits. An hour from when we arrived,a man with clean, recently bought pair of gumboots walks into the compound. He stinks alcohol. Everlyn silently gets into the house, almost un-noticed. This must be the husband I tell myself. Fear is written all over her face. The drunk man greets all of us and with confidence proclaims, “Karibuni, mimi ndio mzee wa boma.” ­­ Being the journalist I am, I signal my partner, Cyrus Kanyi to put the camera ready, an interesting video is about to happen. A drunk man facing the reality of being brought to book. He was already recording.

Then it was time to tackle the elephant in the room,
“Sasa mzee, ni nini mbaya? Kwa nini familia inakaa hivi?” The Peace Ambassadors captain asked him. He replied without thought, as if he had been asked this question so many times, “shida ni mapato. Inakuwa kidogo sana. Nikienda kazi kila siku nalipwa 200, haitoshi.”
“Mzee mapato, itatosha aje kama kila wakati unapata pesa unaenda kutajirisha mama wa boma ingine huko kwa busaa.  Mama hapa akona kazi nyingi ya watoto na ako pekee yake. Ukiingia jioni, unataka chakula.  Mzee kusema ukweli, ni watoto atalea ama ni wewe atapikia? Ona hata hujajengea yeye choo, anaenda kuomba choo kwa majirani. Kusema ukweli mzee unajua ukona bahati, hatujakuja na chief. Hawa watoto serikali ingechukua na wewe uende ndani. Shukuru Mungu bado bibi yako hajahepa.”

He had a point. In the middle of all this, Evelyn had not left the home or acted in a manner to bring shame to her husband who looked 50 years old. Amidst all this chaos, I went to look for Evelyn. It takes a woman of high perseverance to have lived in such conditions and not even attempt an escape. She avoided eye contact. I figured out she did not want to be seen talking to me, a big difference from the person she was just before the husband arrived. As she walked away I noticed how worn out her shoes were. Outside someone asked the father, “Mzee tafadhali toa viatu.” He obliged. What I had suspected all through was true, inside those clean gumboots were a pair of jigger-free feet. He was jigger free and in good shoes, but his children were all infested, walking in torn slippers. His wife was walking in worn out shoes. One of the motorbike drivers who helped get here said, “huku kitu inakaa mzuri ni mzee wa boma na ngombe ya boma.”
I talked to the ACESS Kenya representative who told me that in Western province and the larger Lake basin region, that was a common scenario. Poverty, he said is the biggest hindrance to kicking out jiggers in Kenya. Compelled by the innocence of the children at hand he promised to take up and follow up the case personally. “These children have a right to a life that is acceptable by standards of human dignity. I have seen many cases in my 6 years of de-jiggering Kenya, this case is unique. Honestly, who knows if these kids decide to just study, they may end up beating people from the cities at their own game.”

 

Aisha and her sister after she was de-jiggered.

The story of Evelyn and her children exposes the lapse in the county managed health system as the communal health volunteer is based very far away and was not accessible . We discovered Evelyn because of a free medical camp courtesy of Nairobi hospital and Kakamega Forest Heritage foundation. People of the same economic class as Evelyn expressed that medical care is far away from their places and when they find it, its very expensive. This explains why Evelyn had never seen a family planing expert since most if not all of them are found in Kakamega town. Most of the sick people decide to just stay home with their illnesses while some turn to the super-natural natural world for answers. I counted 15 churches in a span of 25 Kilometers.

 

The prime preventive measure of the jigger is observing cleanliness. Wearing of shoes should also be encouraged to ensure that the flea does not find entry into ones feet. In infested areas, people should check their feet daily for freshly burrowing jiggers, which are visible as minute black spots and cause an itchy sensation. The fleas may also be deterred by a repellent applied to the skin, although walking barefoot in dirt quickly removes it. If it is possible to locate the area of soil where jiggers originate, it could be burnt off or sprayed with a suitable insecticide in an effort to kill the fleas.