The COVID-19 outburst has laid limelight on the economic disparities and the delicate social safety that leaves marginalized communities to bear the brunt with or without a crisis. While the virus infects people from all walks of life, low-income families have been the most affected due to lack of access to basic needs.
KWAHO has been at the forefront to avail social assistance programs to provide marginalized communities with basic supplies and relevant information to cope with the crisis. The story below is one of the success stories gathered from the field when while implementing a COVID-19 response program sponsored by UNICEF through WASH Alliance.
In a tiny cornered dark shanty, lives Paul Maikani, a blind middle-aged man living with his two daughters, one aged 6 and the other 9 in Mukuru Kayaba, a slum East of Nairobi. His wife died two years ago leaving him and his children at the mercy of his aged mother and well-wishers.
“Come In.” he ushers us to a rugged armchair at a dark corner filled with a heap of unfolded clothes where we are to sit and says a casual ‘karibu’, a Kenyan most popular phrase to tell one to feel at home. He seats on a bed opposite where we sit as his children cuddle around him as he pours out his heart about the plight of his misery.
“When COVID-19 hit the country, I wondered what our life would be like for me and my two girls. We had no surplus food or money to cater to our needs and rumor had it that the country would be put on lockdown to contain the disease. Other than that, the government instructed citizens to adhere to the COVID-19 prevention guidelines like washing hands often, wearing a mask in public, etc. we had no supply of any of the things needed for our personal safety, not even water as we had no money to buy some from the vendors. Worse, the sanitation situation of this slum is quite critical. Toilets are a distance away from our houses that are not even free. We have to pay money to use the available public toilets. I felt shattered but I had to find the strength to sought help for my kids.
Thank God my mom and brother don’t live far from here. They have really come through for us. They have sought our help from people from all walks of life. In fact, they’re the ones who got us into getting the household handwashing facility and bar soap donations from KWAHO!” He exclaims.
“Now at least even with little to eat, we can always wash our hands easily from the household handwashing facility and have enough soap for domestic use to last us a couple of days.”
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