The Child Parents of South Nyanza

Because of the Aids scourge, parents in South Nyanza are either teens — or over 80

By OTIENO AMISI

Somewhere in the hot, vast plains a bell rings. Hordes of children come rushing to a small, mud walled hut in the middle of the compound. It is time for the midday meal at Bala Children’s Home. Pastor Dominic Ochoo, with a wooden ladle doles out a mixture of boiled beans and maize grains.

He sighs deeply as he looks at the stretching queue of children and aged people, each eagerly clutching onto a plastic plate. Ochoo knows there will be nothing for the children tomorrow, unless someone – anyone – comes to their rescue. Leading the pack is a lanky, bow-legged teenager.

Daniel Ojwang is a 15-year-old “father” of five. His parents died three years ago. That “promoted” him to the unenviable position of sole bread winner for his three sisters and two brothers. Though the children still live in their parent’s one-roomed hut a stone’s throw away, their lives revolve around the Bala Mercy Children’s Home. On the same queue are Lilian Atieno, 10, and George Oyugi, 12. They two lost their parents to Aids late last year and are now under the care of Rosalia Awino, their 85-year-old grandmother. Trembling from rheumatism and frail with age, Rosalia balances herself on swollen legs, tightly clutching onto the bowl in her hand. She does not leave until her two “children” have received their portion of the humble meal.

Then she sits the children under the only tree as they eat their lunch. It is the first and only meal of the day, a donation from a visiting Australian pastor. This scenario, with limited variety, is repeated with monotony throughout Karachuonyo West Location, Nyanza. Several homes have been abandoned as the Aids scourge takes its deathly toll. Helpless children are left in the care of frail grandparents.

Their only hope lies in the centre, which provides free education. Lying in the low rainfall zone immediately bordering lake Victoria in South Nyanza. The lush green vegetation at this time of the year belies the sweltering scorched earth and heat-frozen stalks that will soon be the mark of these plains in a few month’s time. Despite the vast acres of fertile black cotton soil, unreliable rainfall and dwindling labour – occasioned by the high death rate – has compounded the multiplicity of woes for the residents of Rachuonyo District. When, after a long dry spell, dark clouds gather above their heads, the children smile. But the elders know it will be the same story. Like too little rainfall, too much rain is a bad omen. The farms are washed away and the roads rendered impassable. The only bridge that links the location to the rest of the world is washed away, and the villagers have to make do with logs placed across the roaring Oluch river.

Typhoid, caused by lack of safe drinking water, malaria and a host of other diseases combined killed as many as 3,340 people in the district last year. But the biggest threat is not in the unpredictable weather or the swollen rivers. The real danger is the Aids scourge, which continues to decimate the population, taking away the most energetic and productive members of the peasant community.

Pastor Ochoo, founder of Bala Mercy Children’s Centre, estimates that there are at least 500 children orphaned by Aids in the location alone. While the number of children who need shelter, food and clothing is overwhelming for the miniature centre, the aged are also in desperate need of assistance. The centre, affiliated to Faith Christian Outreach International, can barely provide a meal and basic education. There is a desperate need for food and health care. Child prostitution, drug abuse and child labour is on the rise in nearby towns like Kendu Bay, Kosele and Oyugis.

The local district education officer, Japheth Odhiambo, says eight in every 10 girls enrolled in Class One do not complete primary education. Early marriages are normal. It is not uncommon for girls as young as 13 to marry older men as a way of escaping the widespread poverty and heavy responsibility that comes with the death of parents. The number of child-headed households is fast rising. Pastor Ochoo’s programme has submitted a request for funding to the tune of Sh23 million to care for the construction of classrooms, a dormitory block, a water pump and buy a generator. He is appealing for food donations to keep the feeding programme going, and the 300 children alive.

At least until the next season. He hopes to establish a vocational centre , but that is far in the distant future. There is an urgent need to empower the local community in the fight against Aids. But it is dawning on world leaders that efforts to fight Aids must be closely linked to the fight against poverty. Aids continues to undermine food security for many households by depleting human labour. It also eats up scarce financial resources, especially for poor families. It is estimated that up to 60 per cent of household incomes are spent on medication in families where a relative is sick. Typhoid, malaria and a host of other diseases killed 3,340 people in the district last year, but the biggest threat is the Aids scourge.