— On Fri, 8/1/08, mundia mundia wrote:
From: mundia mundia
Subject: THE FORGOTTEN KOOBI FORA GENERATIONS
Date: Friday, August 1, 2008, 6:27 AM

This archaeological expedition of street children in Kitale and Eldoret Towns interestingly starts from Koobi Fora, referred to as the ‘cradle of mankind’ through Loyangalani (the place of trees) within Turkana District.

In fact the likes of Hon. John Munyes, the Minister for Labour and his political counterpart Hon. Ekwe Ethuro must have been ¡products¢ of the history of Koobi Fora.

From the same route of the journey, there comes a young, beautiful girl with a light complexion. Nancy Kaimos, now an ex-street mother whom in February this year delivered a bouncing baby, but on the streets of Kitale. At the Social Hall residence in Eldoret Town she would seek post-natal medical and ‘parental’ guidance apart from facilitating provision of BCG vaccination for her baby at the Eldoret West Health Centre adjacent to 64 Stadium.

On my mind I get a slap on my soul as I contemplate the medical tribulations of one Alice Lumilinjo a.k.a Mama Kibaki, the son. The HIV positive Alice has literally seen, heard and felt the kicks of life. With her skin on bones, though at times drunk to cloud the pains of her world, she would ask for money for food and at times chang’aa. She would either get the illicit liquor from small-scale dispensers at Macharia, Kidiwa or Kamkunji estates and the surrounding slums.

Impressively what she never forgot behind was the presence and protection of her only child ‘baby Kibaki’ (pronounced as Kibakii), the five year old ever smiling and playful street child.

On the residency and accommodation of the two caring and young mothers, the Municipal Council’s Social Hall had various misgivings. Lack of bedding and sanitation facilities were major hindrances to their survival including that of their growing babies. The anatomical structure of the Social Hall proved inhabitable. The shared toilet and bathroom were always dirty and with no lights or power. Shortage of water only worsened the otherwise yearned hope for another chance for a better life ahead. The other children would share their sleep; more than two on withered blankets, pieces of tattered mattresses and a few beds for the girls and their babies.

According to the children, majority of them left Lodwar District that covers 17,000 square kilometers, through 300 kilometers across Kapenguria town into Kitale and Eldoret towns. Some chose to reside in Nakuru and Nairobi hoping to re-live in a country known as ‘ Kenya ‘.

As I still contemplate about the young Kibaki’s face basking in his sickly mother’s affections, my mind convinces me that senior ex-street persons, as a power keg, would go off soon. Some of them are now in juvenile remand homes, many have been buried secondary to mob-justice and police shooting apart from some being treated and ¡consoled¢ at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital¢s wards, the ICU and the freezing mortuary. From babies to youth and young adults, the street fraternity has now chosen to wear their heartily presence, memories and graves as badges of honour.

On the flipside though, when hope became deem the ex-street children would on every Sunday troop to the Jesus’ Love Ministries (Venus Inn) to literally be fed with the word of God from Pastor Patrick Kurui and his caring and motherly wife, Christine Kurui. Their blessings and prayers would help instill back hope for a brighter day. After some church service the younglings would huddle back to social hall for a simple lunch of Githeri from the dark-sooted sufurias. For them, they only knew of two days of the week, the worries of Today and prayers for Tomorrow, when another Sunday would come by as a special day.

Even as it poured with rain the rather ignorant but excited ex-street children would light a bone-fire at the makeshift kitchen as the dull flames restoked their desperate and hopeless-looking faces while their dilated eyes sightedly campaigned to visualize the meaning of the smoke above the flames that took their sorrows away.

Late in the night, as their eyes got heavy with sleep on the cold floors and sometimes wet sacks, after a long day’s out, they would melt into the night with their fears, worries and hopes hidden beneath their wanting bedding. At times, unprovoked anger after a night-fight would bring some the temptation to go for the jugular and even go native may be for the spirits of their forefathers in Turkana to listen to their inner transference crying orgies.

It is said that, ‘elephants never forget’ and many still wish that majority of the ex-street children and young persons, with their lilting Turkana accent cemented in Swahili but brilliant of mind, would one day awaken future souls and winds of their tribulations. Now that some have joined school, their education and re-learning would facilitate course for spiritual and literary historical reformations since experienced and witnessed. ‘Dreams From My Father’, a book by Barrack Obama, the US Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate may be a good read to help them understand their roots, yearnings and future lives. The ‘seeds of their future’ that had previously been planted way back from the time of their great grandfathers, at Koobi Fora, the ‘cradle of mankind’, would help unravel their otherwise desperate and sorry mystery.

Only recently the ex-street children were made to scatter to the four winds. Precisely on Thursday the 10th of July ’08, from where they had called ‘home’ far away to the volatile streets of Eldoret apart from other informal settlements. They had hoped to stand tall away from the streets but were literally turned into pieces of firewood to fuel the menace at the office of the department of social services.

The point to put through is that the office of the Director of Social Services and Housing in Eldoret helped peel them one by one like an onion while doling out goodies aplenty. To mention the least 9 bicycles, utensils, matchboxes, 2Kg of maize each and a few hundred shillings but with no place to have a night’s sleep were the special offers for them. The director’s main achievement fell on putting a weak finish into the elusive project. The prescient fate of the project as previously experienced proved harsh for these young souls. Currently their immediate fate is but a reflection of their previous frozen pasts while on the streets but had a strong yearning for the
rays of the sun from Turkana to melt down their sufferings and ¡bring them back their humane lives¢. As they now stand in the middle of the muddle with their full years of desperation we should not allow some to rule the roost of our larger society with greed and arrogance.

Even with the recent visit by some NGO officials at Social Hall, miscalculated ploys by some to attract raw funding from the government’s kitty and corporate sector should not excuse those with their elastic budgets and cumulative deficits and unprecedented bankruptcy at the expense of humanity and constitutional rights to catch the worm as the early bird does.

Cocking a snook at the pockets of donors for more funds without the office of the Director for Social Services having an intention of sustaining such viable projects would not only bring us aback but would decapitate and annihilate part of our society, as some have already done with the ex-street community, especially those from the ‘cradle of mankind’ – the Koobi Fora generation. The forgotten family perceived to be ignorant.

Mundia Mundia Jnr.

– – –
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 06:49:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: john rop
Subject: Fw: THE FORGOTTEN KOOBI FORA GENERATIONS