Predicament of a jigger infested family in Kanduyi Constituency

Written by Rosemary Wachiye

They only take a meal a day, sometimes they go without food, they have torn clothes to wear, they walk bare feet and live in a dilapidated house with dusty floor only convenient for the breading of jiggers and flea. This is the life of a family from Sikalame, Kanduyi Constituency who are all infested with jiggers from the mother to the last born of the family. The older child, has known no other better life than that of being gnawed by the jiggers and is used to it, and has no other explanation for the young ones who have also come to be part of the suffering. The setting is of a single mother Ms. Everlyne Nekesa and her three children aged six, five and eight months respectively. They live in abject poverty a situation that has been made worse after the demise of their father a couple of weeks ago. He died after a long illness coupled with blindness and whose body was also a feeding ground for the jiggers.  “The house we live in, is in bad shape it has no floor and we live in it just like that yet the jiggers have spread all over, in our clothes and every where we sit, we beg for people’s assistance,” said Ms. Nekesa. Besides the jigger menace, the family has lost their piece of land after a relative sold it off to a church that has already put up structures to the wall of their tiny house leaving them with no space for farming.  “We have no farm to plough so that we can plant some food for our survival, the only plot we have has been sold by my son in-law and left us a small portion where the house we live in stands,” she lamented. Though there has been a Good Samaritan Mr. Joseph Murunga from the same region who has come forward to assist them and took them for medication at the Webuye District Hospital where they are getting treatment and extraction of the jiggers, they still want more people to come to their rescue. During their father’s burial, well wishers contributed an approximated Sh75, 000, but it is such a pity that the mother and her three children have not tested a single cent from the money. The family wants the intervention of the provincial administration so that the relative can leave them alone. However, Ms. Nekesa could not disclose the name of the relative explaining that if she did, she will be endangering her life as well as her children’s lives. Area Assistant Chief Mr. Godfrey Okumu confirmed the claims by the family and stated hat he had received complains from Mrs. Nekesa and he took to advising the man but still it didn’t work. What is surprising is that even with the confirmed number of times the woman has reported for help to the administration, nothing has been done.