reject 114

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A monthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service

November 1- 30, 2015

Continued on page 3

ISSUE 114

Mentoring initiative opens opportunities for girls

By ANTONIA MUSUNGA

In light of increased safety, educational op-portunities and recognition that their voices count, girls and young women have more opportunity than ever before to significantly

contribute towards a safer and sustainable world. However, while this is the ideal situation,

girls and young women still face many chal-lenges related to gender roles and often have to reconcile their own dreams with societal expec-tations of what they should be.

It is for this reason that during the Interna-tional Day of the Girl Child marked on October 11th, women and girls converged in a rare op-portunity to interact and share experiences in a Nairobi hotel.

This was done through a mentorship plat-form dubbed “Mothers and Daughters” which provides an opportunity for girls to receive men-torship from women of various backgrounds..

The participants had an opportunity to share on the challenges they have encountered and lessons they derived from them.

Njoki Karuoya, founder Mothers and Daughters, urged both mentors and mentees to

interrogate the limitations that place girls at vul-nerable positions in society.

“Girls need women who can identify with their experiences and deliver motivating mes-sages to them to ensure they reach their full po-tential in life,” Karuoya challenged. She added: “This is especially so because girls can do better when opportunity is presented to them.”

Karuoya emphasized on the need for girls to believe in themselves because that is the first step towards a better place. She noted that by believing in themselves girls are able to break the barriers that hinder their successes in life as career women.

Urging the women and girls to embrace the principle of sisterhood upon which the program is based on, Karuoya urged the participants to walk with each other to raise the status of wom-en in Kenya.

“Let us not forget each other because even girls can empower each other through informa-tion sharing among themselves because girls get each other”, she said.

By working to empower girls, the mentors helped them challenge rigid gender stereotypes

Above: Some members of the Mother and Daughter Initiative at a past event. Below: Students from Machakos school for the deaf during this year’s

mentorship forum. The initiative provides an opportunity for girls to learn from professional women to make better choices. Pictures: Godfrey

Amara

2 U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h ISSUE 114, November 1-30, 2015

From classroom to the farm, no turning back for former teacher

Nail decoration hottest business for young men in Embu

By JOSEPH MUKUBWA

Twenty-eight year old Bilha Imbuka had a dream and that was to be a teacher. However, shortly after her training as Early Childhood and Development

(ECD) education and working as nursery teach-er she discover she had passion for farming.

Imbuka then got into horticultural farming.When she discovered that she literarily had

green fingers going by the bumper crops she has been enjoying for the past five years since she left the classroom.

She had served as an Early Childhood De-velopment Education (ECDE) teacher for several years at Ngano-ini Village, Embaringo area, Kieni West, Nyeri County.

Looking back at where she started in the teaching profession and where she is now as a farmer, Imbuka says there is no comparison. The switch was worth it, going by the perennial teachers’ strike and the low salaries that they are paid by the County governments, under the new Constitution for the ECDE and by the Teachers Service Commission in the primary and second-ary public schools.

The turning point for Imbuka came when she realized that though she loved the toddlers who were going through her hands, she hated peanuts she was being paid as monthly salary.

Imbuka is now a leading horticultural farmer in her village and a role model to her colleagues. She is specializing on growing horticultural crops such as onions, tomatoes and potatoes.

For the past five years since she quit teaching, Imbuka has not looked back in regret. As a teach-

er she used to earn a paltry KSh6,000 per month. In farming she is enjoying better returns and ex-posure to new ideas and challenges in agriculture and commerce.

Capital“I started with a capital of KSh18,000 which I

had saved for years while teaching,” Imbuka says. She explains: “I hired an eighth of an acre and started with 50 grams of onion seeds.”

The seeds take about six weeks to transplant although cost of seeds keeps on fluctuating while others are counterfeits and of low quality.

Imbuka, who is a mother of one, added that she has since expanded the acreage to two-acres which she has hired from her neighbour at a cost of KSh4,000 per year.

“I came from Western Kenya and settled here. I realised that the weather is very favourable with sustainable rains and fertile land. There was an idle land next to where I was living and I saw this as an opportunity,” Imbuka explains.

According to Imbuka, poor roads in the area are a major challenge because it frustrates when taking her produce to the market especially dur-ing rainy season.

“Sometimes we use donkey-carts to transport our farm produce to Kiawara Township along Nyeri - Nyahururu road,” explains Imbuka. She adds: “Donkey transportation makes products lose their quality and value leading to poor in-come. I wish we had better roads in this area.”

Imbuka harvests about 9,000 kilogrammes of onions every three months while she sells a ki-logramme at between KSh20 at low season and KSh80 at peak seasons.

“We are facing stiff competition from across the border in Tanzania. Some onions are being imported from Arusha, Tanzania and they deny local products the better price,” Imbuka explains.

She notes that there are unscrupulous busi-nessmen taking advantage of the poor infrastruc-

ture to exploit farmers like her in Kieni. Though she is earning good money from

farming, Imbuka’s dream is to one day start her own school in the area and run it as a manager to boost education standards in the remote the village.

Bilha Imbuka at her farm in Ngano-ini village, Nyeri County. She resigned from teaching to venture into farming and has not looked back. Picture: Joseph Mukubwa

By ROBERT NyAGAH

Despite the makeshift condition of the seating space which comprises of a simple wooden form, smartly dressed women of all ages sit as they await their turn to have their nails

decorated. This is along Kubukubu road on the back of stalls

which line the Embu Bus Park where young men in blue aprons are busy decorating women’s nails.

Welcome to Embu town where women seeking mani-cure and pedicure services are offering young men in the town self-employment opportunities as freelance street beauty services gain popularity.

When The Reject visited one of the areas where the pedicure and manicure services are offered, the young men’s concentration was so deep that even answering greetings was a disruption.

With a tray full of various nail colours in plastic bot-tles, nail filing implements, various small towels for wip-ing the nails after a clean-up and filing, each of the young men struggle to serve their clients.

GrowthEmbu businessman, Joseph Njue, says manicure and

pedicure industry in the town has been expanding over the last five years. He notes that today the industry offers innovative young men a good source of income as they offer the widely popular now freelance street nail decora-tion services.

“These young men would otherwise be wasting away without employment and the fact that they are offering these services clearly shows that women are indirectly

and informally employing them,” explains Njue. Due to the popularity of the art, scores of young men

have ventured into this informal sector after noting that it’s lucrative. Those entering the sector have been benefit-ing from basic training from pioneers of the new found business.

Embu town today hosts about 10 trained professional pedicure and manicure artisans at a time when the need for more professional services is noted as more and more women are seeking beauty away from established beauty salons.

In separate interviews, the artisans revealed that in a good month they can earn between KSh24,000 to KSh30,000 depending on the weather conditions. How-ever, the young men note that business gets low during the rainy season when majority of the women prefer to wear closed shoes.

ContractsSometimes the artists are called to decorate groups

of women preparing for weddings and in such instanc-es income ranges between KSh3,000 and KSh4,000 per day.

“Such invitations are lucrative but rare and quite demanding due to the short deadline,” says Richard Muchangi, the most experienced and pioneer of free-lance street pedicure and manicure services in Embu town.

“Although we operate from makeshift units on road sides next to various bus parks, we are able to attract scores of women seeking to have their hand and feet nails cleaned, filed and decorated,” explains Muchangi.

Richard Muchangi busy at his work place in

Embu town. Pedicure is offering huge employment

opportunities to young men. Pictures: Robert NyagahContinued on page 4


Solar project brings light and hope to

Kajiado school By FRED DEyA

A clean energy revolution is taking place in Ol Kilo-riti community in Kajiado County where a solar proj-

ect has been introduced.Situated about five kilometres off

Kitengela-Namanga highway, Osim-lai Gifted Hands Primary School is where positive impact of the project is already being felt, thanks to clean en-ergy innovation that lights eight class rooms.

Inside five classrooms made of irons sheet (mabati) and three per-manent classrooms, solar and battery powered lighting bulbs are hanged, providing enough beams for night and dawn studies for the over 200 pupils.

Managers of the school found it lu-crative to install solar lamps facilities to boost education standards which for a long time had been on the de-cline in the semi-arid area.

So far, the green energy innovation has brought smiles and hope to the 223 pupils at the school, in a region where there was poor access to basic education, especially for the girl child.

Renewable energyThe school was named after Osim-

lai Community Based Organisation, and has procured lamp bulbs, two big solar panels with capacity to gener-ate 20 Watts each, and two portable lamps and re-chargeable batteries from Green Energy Africa, a Kenya based renewable energy supplying and installation agency.

In 2009, Phillipah Kobaai, founder of the school, invested KSh300,000 from the sale of her cows to start the solar project.

“I started the preparatory school in this dry area in order to tame the

historic lack of access to education for many children who had no ac-cess to education,” says Kobaai.

She is optimistic that the lamps installed in eight classrooms will boost the school’s performance in national examinations.

Kobaai is happy with the feedback so far from her teachers and even the students. The innovation has given the pupils an easier study time at night and dawn. The primary school admits both boarding and day school-ing pupils across the country, with the majority of them being poor Maasai children.

The school was started with 49 pupils in 2009 with an irregular atten-dance due to poor facilities. Currently, the number has risen to 223 pupils who are learning under a relatively conducive environment, thanks to I can learn Foundation (pol. Fundacja Mogę się uczyć), supported by a Po-land based organisation.

“I networked with Magdalene Po-ros, President of I can Learn Founda-tion after she wrote an email to Green Energy Africa asking for green energy collaboration and supply in the dry Kajiado County,” says Kobaai.

On September 1, the deal was clinched with Green Energy Africa agreeing to install the solar power

with the Polish organization footing 25 per cent of the total cost.

Development“The Polish organization is also

supporting over 130 pupils from the same school by raising their school fees and food as well as basic needs and development,” explains Kobaai.

Originally, the school had been using small solar panels which never generated enough power to light the entire facility and this was a major blow to the boarding section. Board-ing pupils were forced to use torches that were provided during study peri-ods at night and for their meal times. However, since the installation of the

lamps, there is a remarkable positive learning attitude among the pupils.

Non-boarding pupil are allowed to visit the school at night and use the free light for studies away from their homes, many of which are not condu-cive to learning.

The school management used about KSh100,000 to purchase and install the clean energy in the school premises with the support from I can Learn Foundation.

“We decided to seek for clean en-ergy installation in this community school in order to boost and encour-age more children to join,” says Mag-dalene Poros, President I Can Learn Foundation. She explains: “We decid-ed to engage with Green Energy Af-rica to supply and install the lighting system, which they did at a quarter of their normal cost.”

EmpowermentApart from helping Osimilai School

light its facilities, Green Energy Africa has also engaged Kajiado women to access green energy through workshop

platforms. This will empower Kajiado community women in their homes and businesses.

However, even though parents in the community are impressed with the solar project in the school and have promised to take more chil-dren to the school, other factors are frustrating their efforts.

These include a high dropout rate and problem of delay to start school-ing because children are used to herd cattle and do house chores among other challenges like early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation.

However, things are turning around with the new solar project as more children feel motivated and are able start school at the recommended age.

According to Kenya’s National Bu-reau of Statistics, about 40 percent of Kajiado County residents use electricity as their main source of lighting. Howev-er, source of lighting fuel per household is so low that only one percent of resi-dents use solar as their source of light-ing with majority (about 36%) using tin lamps which depend on paraffin.

Continued from page 1and cope with the impact of a highly sexualized media, in order to reach their full potential. The girls, who attended, drawn from the ages of sev-en to 21, also learned how to take on leadership roles as well as build confidence and courage to cope with life’s challenges.

According to Sheila Ngatia, Assistant Direc-tor United Nations Development Programme, girls all over the world miss out on key opportu-nities due to various factors and because they are many people who do not believe in the abilities of girls.

“Ever since I was in primary school, I want-ed to be a lawyer, a dream I carried on to high school,” said Ngatia.

However, a mentor advised her against ap-plying for law as it was competitive but to apply for a Bachelor of Arts course which was easier to get admission. As luck would have it, the ap-plication forms were returned due to an error in coding. Ngatia grabbed and applied for law; that year she was the only girl admitted to University of Nairobi, School of Law.

“People will tell you that you need more than your academic credits to achieve your dreams,”says Ngatia. She adds: “Sometimes the discouragement is by people they are banking on for support.”

“Because of the situation that girls find them-selves in, mentors have great roles in reshaping their mindsets from a young age,” says Ngatia. She notes with regret: “There are girls who are discouraged every day by stereotypes that tell them what they can and cannot do.

In addition to this, women are underrep-resented at the leadership positions across dif-ferent careers with most of these dominated by men. Therefore by matching these girls with mentors from a wide range of backgrounds and

professions who share their successes, experi-ences and failures enables the girls to learn from a source they can relate to.

In concurrence, Officer Commanding Sta-tion in Runda, Harriet Dinah, urged the girls to dare and venture into career fields that are con-sidered for men only as their courage will moti-vate others to follow suit.

“The abilities of men and women are the same but you will face the challenges in changing tra-ditions and more will be expected from you; you

might even face violence as you go through the journey,” said Dinah. She added:“Your strength will be in speaking out against these barriers.”

Fourteen year old Asha Jamilla from SOS Children’s’ Home is one of the beneficiaries of this great initiative. She shared her experience: “I was orphaned at 10 years, after being rescued by the SOS team from the streets, I had difficul-ties in accepting my situation.”

She says: “However by interacting with oth-ers during the sessions, I have learnt that I rep-resent a generation full of potential; Therefore, I refuse to be defined by my past because I believe in myself and others girls like me.”

Mothers and daughters is mentorship initia-tive was founded to bridge gap between women empowered with information and the young girls in need. Through the initiative, many girls and women have been able to access informa-tion on opportunities they would have missed due to ignorance. The girls are drawn from chal-lenging backgrounds.

The platform also provides women with the opportunity to share knowledge and experienc-es which strengthen the girls to continue over-coming challenges that are unique to women.

Through this process, women and girls have managed to change their attitudes towards working hard to reach their utmost potential.

“Girls need women who can identify with their experiences and

deliver motivating messages to them to

ensure they reach their full potential in life,”

—Njoki Karuoya

Mentoring initiative opens opportunities for girls

“I started the preparatory school in this dry area in order to tame the

historic lack of access to education for many children who had no access to

education.” —Phillipah Kobaai.

Joseph Muindi, the Project Chairman explains a point about solar power storing battery at Osimlai Gifted Hands Primary School in Ol Kiloriti community, Kajiado County. Alternative energy has

brought many positive changes to the school and surrounding community. Picture: Fred Deya


Girls in East Pokot miss school as sanitary pads shortage bitesBy MARy MWENDWA

In the dry, dusty and hot village of Kamurio, stands Kamurio Primary School that serves many children from the neigh-

bouring villages of Barpelo, Che-sawach, Napur, Chepotindar and Chepkarerat among others.

It’s here where the future of girls in the school located in East Pokot, Baringo County, is on the line due to a severe shortage of sanitary pads.

The girls at Kamurio Primary School are victims of circumstances beyond their control. The stigma as-sociated with a girl seen with blood spots on their clothes is enough to make a girl drop out of school. Many a time they feel embarrassed, unhygienic and uncomfortable. This results in low self-esteem and delib-erate absenteeism especially during days of menstruation.

Studies indicate that many girls in Kenya miss three to five days of school every month due to lack of sanitary towels. The case at Kamu-rio Primary School speaks to that of many more girls.

During the interview, I met a tall, dark and bald headed charm-ing school girl. Scholar Chemutai, a teenage class seven pupil at Ka-murio Primary School narrates her ordeal.

“As a girl in this school, I am worried and I have no idea who will come to our rescue. We have not had access to sanitary pads for a while,” says Chemutai. She narrates: “Personally, I am forced to skip school for an average of five days every month as I hide in the house until my menstruation is over. Many of us face this challenge.”

Chemutai reveals that her par-ents, who are peasant farmers, are unable to afford a packet of sanitary towels that retails at about KSh100. The biggest hurdle is that no shop sells the commodity within Kamu-rio Village.

FGM“Sanitary towels can only be

found at Chemolingot town, which is very far from here and not easily accessible. Motor bike taxi (bodabo-

da) operators charge KSh2,000 for a one way trip and that is unrealistic for our parents,” says Chemutai.

“East Pokot region is notoriously known for early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation, girl child enrol-ment in schools remains very low and, therefore, a challenge of sanitary pads may just worsen the situation” says Lourien Kamaro, headteacher, Ka-murio Primary School. He says: “My school has been hit by a serious short-age of sanitary towels. The last supply we got was in last year when the Min-istry of Education from Chemolingot sub-County headquarters brought them.”

According to Kama the towels are distributed from class five upwards and it is now a big challenge for the school as many girls miss school dur-ing their menses.

“As a school, we are overstretched and have nothing to offer to them, this school is located in a remote village where even access to the most basic

facilities is a challenge,” observes Ka-maro.

On her part, Paulina Kapelinyang, a mother of six, two of who are teen-agers, can barely control her anguish. Throwing hands in the air in frustra-tion, she laments: “I am very unhappy about this issue of sanitary towels. Our leaders know the kind of problems we have and they are not bothered as our girls keep missing school.”

Kapelinyang goes on: “I am a poor woman in Kamurio Village. I had re-served my limited resources to see my girls get an education but now this shortage of sanitary towels is compli-cating it.” She adds: “I cannot afford to go to Chemolingot to get sanitary tow-els for my girls. It is frustrating to see them miss school and as a mother you know how I feel, helpless!’’

When contacted, Sub-County Edu-cation officer, Korombori said he need-ed an official confirmation from the headteacher about the sanitary towels shortage. He noted that bad roads pose

a challenge to accessing the region.Auditor General’s report on public

accounts as at June 2013, pointed out a serious breach on unsupported expen-diture by counties on sanitary towels. It was discovered that there were no of-ficial documents to confirm delivery of goods, which include sanitary pads to the Ministry of Education. The towels which were to be received by District Education Officers had no documents.

BudgetIn 2011, Kenyan women parlia-

mentarians and civil society organisa-tions lobbied to ensure that the annual budget had an allocation for sanitary pads. In 2011, the Ministry of Finance announced that KSh3.4 million had been set aside for sanitary pads. With the demand being higher, in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 fiscal years, the al-location was raised to KSh400 million.

The call for gender responsive bud-geting to include sanitary pads arose from the need that girls were losing

so many days of the school year due to their menses and for lack of sanitary pads. It’s estimated that girls who have no access to sanitary pads lose about 45 weeks of school year. The pressure to have government cater for sanitary pads was so that girls could stay in school without any disruptions.

According to African Population and Health Centre (APHRC) limited access to affordable and safer methods of dealing with menstruation among women and adolescent girls in Ke-nya undermines sexual reproductive health and restricts access to educa-tion.

UNESCO further reveals one in 10 African adolescents in remote areas miss school during their menses and eventually drop out due to menstrua-tion related problems.

If girls like the ones in Kamurio Pri-mary School are to continue with their schooling to completion, then the issue of their accessing sanitary pads must be handled as a matter of urgency.

Inside the sheds, the tools of trade include a small table full complete with a variety of nail polish in different colours next to the seating platforms and a low wooden platform section used as foot rest.

The men, who are in various ages will be found concentrating with admirable haste while they paint attractive miniature images on the women’s nails. Majority of the women are young and clearly fashion wise.

Urban and rural women always venture into this sheds and spend between KSh50 to KSh100 to have their nails painted especially on Friday as they prepare for weekend outings which include weddings and parties.

“This is a good source of income for this young men and the industry is expanding and for sure will become a major source of in-come and employment to young people who would otherwise be wasting away in crime and drugs,” says Jane Njeru, an Embu business lady as she waits to have her nails decorated.

Like most women, Njeru visits the freelance street nail decorators at least twice a week and pays between KSh100 and KSh200 for the ser-vices in each visit which covers cleaning and decoration of their hand and feet nails.

Muchangi, attracts the highest number of customers because of his long experience. He has served in the industry for the last five years after undergoing professional training at the Mathaithi College in Nyeri County.

Twenty seven year old Muchangi devel-oped interest in the art soon after school when he visited a number of hair and beauty salons and realized that most concentrated on mak-ing hair generally ignoring customers seeking manicure and pedicure services.

InterestMuchangi took a three month course of

but says he was in a class of 22 colleagues, an indication that interest in the art as a source of income was growing.

“I went for training after realising that there was potential of being self-employed in this area,” says Muchangi who has within the last five years trained three young men for free who like him today are earning their own in-come.

At first, Muchangi operated as a freelance manicurist offering services to various women at their places of work. However, he later re-alized that this at times disrupted customers work or businesses hence the decision to seek a permanent site where it is the customers who would seek him out.

Muchangi learned various skills on how to beautify nails and identify different types of nail polish and their colours. Although he is quite experienced in choosing colours, he confesses that some well-informed customers prefer to select nail polish and the colours of their choice.

“Although we come up with various de-signs on our own created chart, our customers

have the final word on nail polish and colour,” explains Muchangi adding that in a good day, he and colleagues make at least KSh800 each.

The nail polish they use is bought in Nairo-bi in from wholesale outlets and costs between KSh100 and KSh200 a bottle.

“Embu has no female pedicure and mani-cure artist although of late inquiries for train-ing from young school leavers have been on the increase,” says Muchangi, adding he does not know why customers prefer to be served by men instead of women. He notes: “Perhaps it is lack of trust, but I am not sure there are few female pedicure artists locally.”

Muchangi says they are planning to come together and register an organization which will enable them to pursue their rights for a better working site.

As an organisation, they will seek services from the Embu County government to secure a better site to avoid the setbacks brought about by rain and dust.

Continued from page 2

Nail decoration hottest business for young men in Embu

Members of Afripad participate in a match to create awareness on the need to have affordable or free sanitary pads for school going girls during this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day. Many schoolgirls miss classes days due to lack of pads. Picture: Courtesy


How child prostitution thrives at the Coast By HILTON MWABILI

Cases of young girls being lured into the sex trade at the Coast remains worrying.

Some parents have been accused of being part of the racket in the tourism indus-try that is a major contributor to the region’s economy.

Such is the level of child prostitution there where some women pimp their own children for sex to earn a living.

This is the ordeal that fourteen year old Jane*, underwent in the hands of her mother who is supposed to give her proper direction on life.

Her case is similar to that of Nduta in the outskirts of Mtwapa, Kilifi County.

According to Patrick Muzungu, head teacher at Sahajan Special School, two years ago Jane travelled with her mother all the way from Murang’a County to Mombasa, after the mother deceived her into believing that she was being taken to a special school.

However, when they arrived in Mtwapa, Jane’s mother took her to a clandestine lodge where she booked a room and abandoned the then 12-year-old. She would then bring in men who would pay her some cash and visit the minor in the room to defile her in turns.

BetrayalJane* is physically challenged, her body mus-

cles are weak, she cannot walk by herself and she also has challenges in speech. However, she has witnessed her mother betray and destroy her.

According to Muzungu, the woman would let the men know about her wicked business by advertising it through word of mouth across the small town and its environs.

Information concerning the minor’s ordeal started to leak after groups of men, predomi-nantly drug addicts (commonly referred to as mateja) were spotted frequenting the lodge and queuing at the door to the room where the girl

was. “The information we received is that the

woman has been working in one of the local pubs and probably she was familiar with the prostitution trends of the town,” says Muzun-gu. He adds: “She knew where to get the men who would give her easy money and she hap-pened to go for mateja.”

After the information leaked to the lodge’s management, the matter was reported to the police and recorded under OB number 53/7/9/2011. Jane* was rescued from the guest house and was rushed to Coast Provincial General Hospital (CPGH). She was in a criti-cal condition as she had sustained ruptures in her private parts.

“I was called by police in Mtwapa Police Sta-tion and informed of the incident. I remember when we arrived at the Coast Provincial Gen-eral Hospital, a gynaecologist who handled her wept after seeing her condition,” says Muzun-gu. He adds: “It was shocking and we were told the nurses were unable to handle the case.”

Special schoolMuzungu says: I was asked to give assistance

because I am in a special school. The school management then agreed to receive the minor.”

Screening carried out at Kilifi District Hos-pital later established that Jane’s muscles were damaged and she had developed Rectal Vagi-nal Fistula (RVF).

She was booked for further examination at the Surgical Out Patient Clinic later. Jane* now suffers from fistula, a condition where she cannot hold urine or stool. Besides mov-ing on a wheelchair, the head teacher says, the minor requires dozens of diapers every day.

“We spend about KSh500 on diapers dai-ly for Jane alone because she uses adult size which is very expensive. She also needs a full time caretaker,” Muzungu notes.

Jane’s case is just a tip of an iceberg. The rot of child prostitution in Coast is extensive. Apart from Mtwapa which is also known as “the sin city” where prostitution thrives, cases of child prostitution are prevalent in Malindi and Mom-basa as well as Ukunda in South Coast.

A recent report by UNICEF indicates that more than 30,000 girls and boys aged between 12 and 18 have been lured into the sex trade. These teenagers are taken by tourists to beach hotels and private villas to be sexually exploited.

PedophilesIt’s not rare to witness cases of under-

age girls walking out of night clubs holding hands with elderly foreigners.

In Voi town and other remote parts of Tai-ta-Taveta County, child prostitution could be worse as most of the cases are never reported.

Mghamboyi area is a remote and this is where hundreds of underage girls and boys have surrendered their innocence to child prostitution.

It was reported that an elderly woman in one of the villages had converted her house into a brothel during the day booked by men.

However, no official reports have reached the relevant authorities concerning the issue because of the code of silence by the residents.

On booking into one of the guest houses in Voi, this writer was told “If you are looking for someone to keep you company until morning please do not shy away from saying”.

Such is the dark reality of how the child prostitution trade is going on in Coast region.

Above: Alice Bendera,(left) and Veronica Rehema, (right) together with the Maendeleo ya Wanawake Kilifi county chairlady, Witness Tsuma, in Kilifi town during this year’s

International Day for the Girl Child. Picture: Juma Kisese

Jane* seated on a wheel chair accompanied by well wishers. She was sexually abused by men after her mother sold her out in child prostitution. Picture: Hilton Mwabili

Varsity students hawk chicken to raise school fees

By JUMA KASESE

As Kilifi County residents converged at Matano Manne grounds to mark the International Day of the Girl Child on Oct 11th, two girls moved the

crowd when they started hawking chicken. It was not just selling chicken to raise money,

they were desperate and were hawking to raise funds for their university fees.

Alice Bendera, 20 from Mereni, and Veron-ica Rehema, 19 from Dzikunze in Ganze Sub-County both scored good marks in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) ex-aminations in 2014 and were called to university. However, abject poverty in their families could not permit them to join the university.

Bendera was called to join Rongo University in Western Kenya but had to transfer to Pwani University for failing to meet the deadline for registration.

“After the time for registration elapsed I plead-ed with the university to transfer me to Pwani University in Coast region,” explains Bendera. She adds: “I was transferred but I still could not join Pwani University immediately. I went from office to office to seek for assistance which was not forthcoming.”

Bendera managed to get only KSh20,000 from the Ganze Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and joined Pwani University where she is doing a Bachelor of Education, Mathematics and Physics option. However, she

still needs to have money that will cater for her upkeep.

“I reported late and I do not have a place to stay since I missed the hostels,” says Bendera. She explains: “I depend on friends and I am afraid I will not be able to catch up with my colleagues.”

Bendera explains: “I decided to come up with the chicken business so that I can sell them to get money for my upkeep as I ponder how I will pay for fees for the next semester.”

Throughout her high school in Matuga Girls’ where she scored a B+ of 67 points, Bendera was sponsored by the World Vision Organisation.

She comes from a poor family of 11 children and her parents are peasant farmers in the semi-arid division.

“I see a bright future because I have struggled to make a change in my family but I do not know how I will sail through my studies without fees,” she said.

Rehema, on the other hand, sat for her KCSE at Kenya High School and scored a B of 63 points and was admitted to join University of Eldoret, but she is yet to join the college.

Rehema narrates how her mother was chased away from some offices in Kilifi where she had gone to seek for assistance.

“I went to Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organ-isation offices and they wrote me a recommen-dation letter to seek assistance from organiza-tions. They also directed us to visit the education office and apply for bursaries,” says Rehema. She explains: “We met a lady there who could not

listen to us saying she has seen many cases and even if we cry she will do nothing. We tried in other offices but in vain.”

The third born in a family of four, Rehema was raised by her mother.

Members of the public decided to fund-raise for them, as the County government official said they would also chip in to pay for the fees.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake Kilifi County chairlady, Witness Tsuma, said when she met the girls she contacted leaders but very few ex-pressed interest.

During the event where the Kilifi Gover-nor’s spouse Liz Kingi, was the chief guest, Kilifi

North MP, Gideon Mung’aro, sent two cheques of KSh20,000 for each of the girls.

“Mung’aro has sent the cheques and these girls need to go to school and stay in school,” said Tsuma. She added: “The county scholarship fund should be used to help such girls.”

Kilifi ward scholarship fund committee chairlady, Mbeyu Mwanyanje, said the County would ensure that the girls are assisted through the fund and the Governor.

The two girls are some of the lucky girls in Ganze Constituency who have made it to the university in a constituency that is notorious for early pregnancies and marriages.


Secondary schools on the spot over rise in teenage pregnancy

By OMONDI GWENGI

Looking outside her grandmother’s grass-thatched hut, 16-year-old Edith Akinyi* wipes tears off her eyes as she curses.

Orphaned at three years of age, Akinyi who has been living with her paternal grandmother in Sanda Village is now a mother of two.

The grandmother had high plans for her and expected her to finish school, get a job and help with her other siblings.

The old woman’s expectation was however shattered when her granddaughter got pregnant and dropped out of school in Form Two.

“I could not believe it when I heard that my granddaughter, whom I was struggling to pay her fees, had been impregnated by one of her teachers,” Akinyi’s grandmother told Reject.

The teacher is said to have promised to mar-ry her. However, the promise returned to haunt Akinyi four months later after she confirmed her pregnancy and the teacher was transferred.

RegretToday, as she shoulders the responsibilities of

being a single parent to her two children, Akinyi cannot help but regret the day she accepted that relationship.

Grace Anyango’s* story is almost an echo of what happened to Akinyi after a teacher who al-legedly impregnated her refused to support her financially.

Says Anyango: “After giving birth, I went to

the father of my child, who is my former teach-er and he refused to give us any support.”

Akinyi and Anyango are among a growing number of young girls who have been impreg-nated by teachers at in Siaya County. This is according to a report over the escalating cases of girls dropping out of the school due to preg-nancy. One such school that has been cited as being notorious with teacher impregnating school girls is Jusa Mixed Secondary School in East Yimbo, Siaya County.

InterventionThe situation is so bad that the community

and education stakeholders have called on the school administration, children’s department and provincial administration to intervene and deal with the teachers who are violating the girls’ right to education.

Speaking to The Reject, a teacher who sought anonymity disclosed that randy colleagues have now turned to Form Four female candidates, who are now boarding in the school.

“These teachers have been sneaking out with the girls at night and come back in the morning,” claimed the teacher.

He further disclosed that some of the stu-dents have been caught with the teachers in a compromising situation. This sorry state has also seen male students sleeping with the girls.

“The moral rot is threatening the academic performance of this school and it is high time the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Ser-vice Commission (TSC) intervened,” said the

teacher.Investigations by The Reject revealed that last

year, at least three girls sat for their KCSE exami-nations while pregnant.

Some students have had to drop out of the school after they were allegedly impregnated by some teachers who are still teaching in the day school that has more than 200 students.

Parents who spoke on condition of anonym-ity stated that there have been cases of girls drop-ping out of school every year after allegedly be-ing impregnated by their teachers.

“It is disheartening to see those who should be helping our girls being the ones violating their rights,” said one parent.

As the moral rot takes centre stage in the school, the Principal, George Okello, denied the allegations, saying that his office had not re-ceived any complaint.

PromiseHe told The Reject on phone: “I have not

received any complaint from any parent or stu-dent, and when I do, I will conduct investiga-tions.”

Bondo Sub-County Education Officer, Mary Oichoe, also claimed that the matter had not reached her office but promised to act.

The area Deputy County Commissioner, Samson Diero Akatch has asked parents and provincial administration to help end defile-

ment and early pregnancies among school girls.

He noted that although there has been an increase in the vice, many incidences go unre-ported or suspects are let to go scot-free because parents are compromised to keep quiet.

Charges“Suspects should be arrested and arraigned

in court so that it serves as a lesson to others,” said Akatch. He noted: “At least more than 20 people have been arrested and charged in Bondo Law Courts for defiling minors in the past three months.”

Siaya County First Lady, Rosella Rasanga has also decried the high rate of teenage pregnancies and early marriages among schoolgirls in the county.

Rasanga said the current trend where a num-ber of girls were abandoning their education to get married was posing a serious concern to education stakeholders in the region.

“As stakeholders, we are keen to see that ev-ery girl who starts primary school completes her education. This is, however, not always the case as a number of them drop out to get married,” Rasanga noted.

The Governor’s spouse said: “Teenage drop-out due to pregnancy and early marriage is at 26 percent in the county. This indicates that girls aged 15-18 are already mothers.”

A teacher addresses pupils at Kanyibok Primary School in Bondo Constituency. The school is among those affected by high teenage pregnancy cases. Picture: Omondi Gwengi


Women in Kilifi regard rape as shameful and fail to report

By yusuf Amin

Ganze Sub-county in Kilifi is well known for the increasing number of defilement, incest and sodomy cases. However, now it has been revealed

that women might be going through rape cases and their cases are not getting attention.

This comes after human rights organisations concentrated more of defilement cases forgetting that women were also facing sexual violence.

According to police in Ganze, many women experience rape but fear reporting for investiga-tions to be carried out.

The police note that most of the rape takes place in the remote areas when women are walk-ing home late after their daily businesses.

ShameAccording to Alexander Makau, Officer

Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Ganze and Joshue ole Leina, OCPD Kilifi, in the recent past police have recorded five cases of rape in a month that took place in different areas of Ganze like Palakumi and Bamba among other areas.

Makau noted that women fear reporting rape claiming it’s a shame to the community.

“Women have fear for reporting rape cases to the police for investigation and this makes it hard to do an investigation and come up with concrete evidence,” Makau noted during a stakeholders forum on gender cases.

Police in Ganze have launched investigations on the five cases of rape so as to gain public con-fidence and encourage women to report more cases.

On the other hand Leina said that police will cooperate with civil society organisations ad-vocating for women rights so that those involved can be arrested on time.

Ganze Deputy County Commissioner Wil-son ole Saaya said forums to educate women on how they can report rape cases will be conducted soon.

According to Ole Saaya women leaders should intervene and educate the community on how it can tackle the problem.

“Women leaders should join hands with the police so as to arrest those involved in rape cases so they can be taken to court,” stressed Ole Saaya.

Kilifi county Maendeleo ya Wanawake Orga-nization chairlady Witness Tsuma said that men should be blamed for violating women rights.

SafetyAccording to Tsuma, men should make sure

that their wives are safe when they go about their daily duties in various parts of Ganze.

She noted: “Women who experience rape should feel free to report or involve human rights organisations and other non-governmental organ-isations that advocate for women rights.”

Tsuma urged organizations advocating for women’s rights to go to the grassroots and hold forums with women which will educate them on how they can file cases.

“It’s a bit tricky for the women going through rape cases, since they fear being embarrassed when they report that they have been raped, noted Tsuma.

She also called on the police to be sincere in their investigations so that victims and survivors of rape can get justice.

Tsuma blamed the police for shoddy investi-gation that have led to the release of the perpetra-tors.

Nominated member of Kilifi County Assem-bly Christine Fondo said women leaders will as-sist those women who went through rape cases with counselling.

Fondo said there is need to bring them back to

the community so that they can avoid making wrong decisions.

She further advised women to avoid too much

palm wine drinking to stop men with ill motives from taking advantage and raping them.

“Many of the women are raped in mnazi maangwes (traditional beer bars) where men buy them mnazi (traditional beer),” Fondo said.

She added: “Women should avoid tak-ing palm wine brew with men since men take advantage of that.”

She noted that this may increase HIV infection if those concerned don’t take a concrete ac-tion.

Some of the Women who attended a sensitisation

forum on how they can bestreport rape cases in Kilifi County.

Below: Kilifi county police boss Joshua Ole Leina addresses the media. He vowed to deal

firmly with gender based violencecases in Ganze in Kilifi County Pictures: Yusuf Amin

Police report on

rape in Kenya

Defilement re-mained the most prevalent crime in 2014 even as the

overall crimes in the country recorded a decrease of three per cent.

The grim statistics are contained in a report released by the police which also re-vealed that the level of crime dropped to 69,736 crimes in 2014 as compared to 71,832 that were recorded in 2013.

There was a drastic increase in offences against morality which include rape, incest, defilement, sodomy, bigamy and abduction.

The then acting Inspec-tor General of Police Samuel Arachi said rape cases stood at 893 in 2014 as compared to 953 in 2013 and 786 in 2012, while there were 3,685 cases of defilement in 2014 as com-pared to the 3,286 in 2013 and 3,387 in 2012, which made it the most prevalent crime. Incest cases shot to 240 cases last year as com-pared to the 226 recorded in 2013 and 284 in 2012 while sodomy stood at 106 cases last year as compared to the 108 in 2013 and 110 in 2012.

“Overall, there was an increase in cases of offences against morality and some of these incidents can be con-trolled through education,” said Arachi.

According to the report, the most prevalent crime counties were Nairobi at 6,732 incidents, Nakuru at 4,525 cases, Kiambu at 4,449 cases, Mombasa at 2,946 cases and Murang’a at 2,501 cases.

The places that registered the least crimes were in Isiolo at 219 cases, Mandera at 252 cases, Lamu at 316 cases and Marsabit at 370 cases.

Crime incidents in Nyanza increased by 22 per cent, North Eastern by 18 per cent, Central by nine per cent and Rift Valley by three per cent while decreases were recorded in Eastern at 32 per cent, Nairobi 24 per cent, Western 12 per cent and Coast six per cent.

In 2014, there were 1,793 murder incidents as compared to 1,924 in 2013 and 1,774 in 2012 while manslaughter stood at 47 cases in 2014, 49 in 2013 and 52 in 2012.

Arachi said cases of concealing birth stood at 90 last year, 88 in 2013 and 91 in 2012 while procuring abor-tion reduced to 38 in 2014 from 43 of 2013 while there were 24 in 2012.


Village boy causing waves with rudimentary radio station

By CAROLyNE NGETICH

A muddy five kilometre drive from Silibwet town leads to Kapng’etuny Village, the newly crowned home of

County’s only radio station.Invent Radio, which has been op-

erational for the past seven months was started as a project by 25-year-old Nathan Kirui.

The FM radio station is causing waves in the region. It also serves as the County’s only invented radio sta-tion covering a distance of five kilo-metres.

Unlike most of his peers who lacked school fees to join college, Kirui concentrated on developing his dream radio station which has become the talk of the County.

TouristsKirui’s two- bedroomed wooden

house currently looks like a tourist destination with people from all walks of life thronging the compound to witness and even get a chance to talk on a live radio.

Although he had never been to any radio station, studied in any college or even gone beyond Bomet County on a school trip, the Form Four graduate attributes his inven-

tion to physics practical and math-ematics he learned from a local day school he attended.

However, Kirui did not perform well in his KCPE but he managed to join a day school where he nurtured his dream.

“I always liked playing with dam-aged radios since I was a young boy, but when I joined high school, I re-alised I had a keen interest in elec-tronics. Most of my free time was spent either in the physics labora-tory doing practicals or being some-where doing mathematics,” explains Kirui.

However, Kirui said although the school never participated in inter-schools science congresses, he could sometimes sneak out with his friends to nearby national schools to check out what big schools had to present.

GenesisAt one time in 2009 when he

was in Form Three, Kirui decided to make a radio station so that he could present it during the science con-gress, but it needed a lot of time and thinking and so he put the idea aside.

“Although I had put it aside for a while, I could work on it at home in the evenings and during the week-

end, where I had all the raw materials including unused cables, wires, dry cells, unused radios and firewood for welding”, Kirui said.

However Kirui embarked on his project after sitting for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations in 2010.

Although he failed 12 times be-fore successfully coming up with his Invent Radio station, he always used a book to draw so that he could eas-ily trace and correct his mistakes.

“I always put down every step on paper. At some instances, everything could burn up completely leaving me with no choice but to start from scratch and my drawings were a great help,” Kirui recalls.

Due to his complicated project in the village where he could not even access enough power, Kirui opted to use firewood and dry cells which in turn received criticism from those around him.

“I was no longer social. I always spent time calculating complicated mathematics in my mother’s kitchen where I could access fire to fuse some things. Others thought I was running mad but I kept on doing it,” explains

Kirui.It took eight months of intensive

work for Kirui’s first project to work. Although it only covered 30 metres, he was relieved that his project has finally worked.

Pride“It just needed a small upgrad-

ing and manual calculations to fit in to the system so that it could cover a wider area,” he says with pride.

His second successful trial covered 30 metres while his final trial, which he currently operates, covers five ki-lometre radius and uses rechargeable batteries.

However, his greatest challenge still was determining the frequen-cy of his radio station. He had to manually determine the unoccupied frequencies while noting them down so as not to interfere with other radio stations.

After getting the frequency, Kirui had to set his station to fit in to the unoccupied frequency before setting up a booster manually using applied knowledge from physics. He also made his own arresters to resist light-ning.

Although Kirui has not com-mercialised his radio station, it has greatly benefitted the surrounding villages in making announcements, advertisements like weddings, fun-draisers and funerals as well as en-tertainment, children as well as reli-gious programmes.

Though he has become a County celebrity, Kirui still dreams of joining a college one day to pursue Electronic Engineering course so as to expand on his skills to invent more useful things.

“With more skills from college I believe I can still invent a TV station,” he says.

Nathan Kirui in the studio at his radio station which he invented using basic High School skills. The station is gaining popularity in Kapng’etuny Village,Silibwet town. Picture: Caroline Ngetich

“With more skills from college I believe I can

still invent a TV station.”

— Nathan Kuria


Macadamia farmers torn between real estate and the cropBy WAIKWA MAINA

Macadamia farmers in Nyeri County are not happy with their crop.

Some of the farmers have threatened to uproot their crop and venture into real estate business.

This is a trend they have bor-rowed from coffee growers living within Nyeri County Township. The resolution has been motivated by scarcity of residential and commer-cial houses, as well as poor returns from cherry beans.

In the past year, macadamia farming has declined drastically. The four kilometre road between Giakanja market and Nyeri town is an example. Previously it was dotted with beautifully tended macadamia farms, but these are fast disappear-ing.

“Agricultural ministries at na-tional and county governments have failed to protect us from exploitative buyers; they do not pay much atten-tion to the crop as they do to cof-fee and tea,” said Mwangi Irungu, a farmer at Kiamwathi village. He noted: “In fact, but even with much attention, both coffee and tea grow-ers still earn peanuts compared to the costs of production and a whole year of waiting to earn their dues.”

UprootingIrungu initially had more than 50

macadamia trees, but he has uprooted most of them retaining less than ten trees which he is thinking of uproot-ing to create a path for his tenants in the mansions he has been building in his half acre land.

The situation is similar in all neighbouring farms, where farmers are replacing macadamia plantations with buildings.

Most farmers from this area up-rooted coffee bushes to replace them with macadamia which had better market after the collapse of coffee in-dustry.

Macadamia prices have stabilised but cannot be compared to real es-tate, where there is good money. Most people do not like living in towns that have over crowed estates,” says Wan-jiku Gikandi who also uprooted mac-adamia, plants from a quarter acre land, she inherited from her father in Kiamwathi. She explains: “Since this is a developing area, the houses are also cheaper compared to other parts within the township.”

Rental houses in this area are going for between KSh6,000 and KSh8,000 depending on access from the main road, compared to other areas within the township where rent for same roomed houses is going for KSh15,000 to KSh40,000, depending on the location.

RentA bed-sitter at Kiamwathi and

neighbouring areas up to Giakan-ja Market is going for between KSh3,000 and Sh4,000, while the same size of room is charged be-tween KSh5,000 and KSh7,000 in other areas.

According to Stephen Wachira, coordinator Africa Tropical Farmers Network (ATFN), the move to up-root macadamia crop is a blessing in disguise to farmers in the rural areas.

“This will eventually cause a short-age of nuts, and going by the rule of demand and supply, few farmers who

stick to macadamia will earn better prices,” says Wachira whose organisa-tion promotes organic farming and marketing for small-scale farmers.

However, Wachira notes, the government must also streamline macadamia farming. “We need to see farmers supported to boost their production,’ he observes.

Wachira notes: “It is a fact that reviving coffee still remains a major challenge which may never be ad-dressed going by the coffee history. However, it is only prudent that mac-adamia gets equal attention.”

Wachira’s optimism about maca-damia farming is supported by the large number of buying-companies pitching camp in small towns within the macadamia growing areas.

Among them is Jungle Nuts, which has opened buying centres in smaller towns within Mt Kenya region including Nyeri, Meru, Kir-inyaga, Murang’a and Embu among other areas.

“We expect the prices to improve from KSh115 paid by Jungle Nut last year. They started with KSh60 per ki-logram, which improved to KSh115, in addition to KSh15 per kilo they paid as bonus,” says Joseph Karanja, a farmer next to Giakanja Boys High School. He explains: “The KSh60 was an improvement from KSh30 paid by other buyers in 2012-2013 produc-tion year. The payments made farm-ers uproot or abandon their trees.

Competition by the buyers will sta-bilise the incomes.”

ChallengesTo further address market chal-

lenges facing small-scale farmers, Wachira says a lasting solution will only be found when farmers unite and form common interest groups.

Karanja cites macadamia farmers in Taita Taveta County who are reap-ing huge returns after forming an as-sociation to safeguard their interests.

“The farmers were able to sign a contract with buyers guaranteeing them of minimum prices after they formed the Taita Macadamia Farm-ers Association,” says Wachira.

“The price rose from between KSh20 and KSh30 to KSh70 paid last year after entering an agreement with

Tencents African Company. Wachira notes: “The move also helped them get a Fair Trader Certification.”

Echoing Wachira’s sentiments, Karanja says farmers must protect

their crops and prices and avoid sell-ing their macadamia through bro-kers at throw away prices.

“Unlike vegetables, macada-mia has long shelf life thus farmers should not be duped into selling their produce at throwaway prices,” says Karanja. He observes: “Greedy farm-ers spoil for others and also encourage theft of the nuts from the trees.”

According to Wachira macada-mia nuts from Kenya are popular in the world market due to the coun-try’s favourable climate which gives them better taste and size.

He regrets that though Kenya is the fifth largest exporter of maca-damia nuts, farmers are yet to fully benefit from the crop.

Wachira attributes this failure to poor regulation of macadamia ex-port trade.

Construction workers in Giakanja, Nyeri town rest under a flowering macadamia tree. The land was until mid this year planted

with macadamia. Below: Macademia nuts ready for consumption. Pictures: Waikwa Maina and Courtesy

“Unlike vegetables, macadamia has long shelf life thus farmers should not

be duped into selling their produce at throwaway prices. Greedy farmers spoil for others and also encourage

theft of the nuts from the trees.” —Joseph Karanja


By WAIKWA MAINA

After taking an early retirement from teaching, Julius Maina has found solace in a miracle fruit tree, the pomegranate, a kin to the famous

Moringa Oleifera tree. At his dry Kambwe home in Murang’a

County, the fruits production is 250 fruits per tree per acre, each fruit selling at KSh40, trans-lating to KSh10,000 per tree per year.

Maina has perfected the art of reaping max-imum returns from the tree, making a juice concoction he sells at KSh1,000 per litre as me-dicinal drug.

“If you want to know how much I earn, just call my bank manager for the answer. The calls I am receiving and text messages I am answer-ing and responding to can also give you a bet-ter picture of how much I earn from the fruits,” says Maina who is a former teacher.

ProfitEach litre of the medicinal juice takes

an average of three juice fruits, earning him KSh83,000 per year per tree.

“The tree is in high demand due to its me-dicinal value. I have customers from all over East Africa who call on me asking for either the seedlings, seeds or the juice,” says Maina. He explains: “A seedling sells at KSh50 but we plan to increase the price due to logistics involved in preparing the seedling which takes between three to five years to mature for transplanting.”

A former primary school head-teacher, Maina has a long list of customers waiting to be supplied with the seedlings. However, he is more committed to manufacturing the medici-nal juice, almost neglecting those intending to plant the tree.

“I have equally a long queue waiting for the juice, I don’t have enough time for the seed-lings. I also want to increase my trees to about 100, and I am in a dilemma on who to serve first,” says Maina. He explains: “I am training some young men on seedlings propagation to meet the demand. They will all be working at the farm.”

CustomersMost of Maina’s customers contact him after

reading about the tree from his website, or are referred to him by former clients.

Maina was busy answering telephone calls and reading text messages from his old and new clients who were asking for the trees, seeds, seedlings or fruits throughout the tour of his farm and interview.

He first read about the tree on the internet and how a big number of influential persons all over the world had used it for medicinal pur-poses.

He then heard about it during a World Bank health forum he attended, it was then that the former teacher developed more interest in it.

“I decided to plant the trees but getting the seedlings was a problem. I even went to city market in search of its fruits but it was all in vain until 2011 when I found the seedlings and bought eleven of them at KSh50 each,” says Maina. He notes: “Some of them dried up forc-ing me to replace them.”

In addition to the three to five years seedling propagation, it takes about three years for the tree to develop mature fruits.

Maina resigned as a head teacher to study and practice herbal medicine. He is the Manag-ing Director Medplin Health Solutions.

“The fruits are very good in cardiovascular ailment and cancer-related ailments, it has very powerful anti-oxidant contents, potent anti-cancer and immune supporting effects, lower-ing cholesterol and cardiac risks factor as lower

blood pressure among others,” explains Maina.The former head teacher is also the secretary

of Murang’a County Herbalists Association. The pomegranate tree’s origin is in Persia

(Iran) and it does well in moderate climates. It can produce up to 600 fruits per year under ir-rigation in harsh weather conditions.

Maina says recommended spacing while planting is four by four metres, in a hole mea-suring two by two meters wide and two meters deep.

Production“The cost of production is minimal as it

does not require fertilisers which affect its me-dicinal and nutritional value,” explains Maina. He adds: “However, they are attacked by worms and birds due to the fruit’s sweetness.”

Farmers are advised to spray with organic pesticides so as not to affect the nutritional and medicinal valleys of the fruit.

Though the pomegranate fruits can also be used to make red wine through natural fermen-tation, its juice is also used to fight alcoholism as it fights off alcohol craving desire.

“I am partnering with a Germany inves-

tor interested in both medicinal products and wine. He is surveying on prospects of introduc-ing the trees in Nigeria among other countries,” Maina explains. He notes: “That is why I am training young men on seedlings propagation to meet the demand, we will contract farmers to grow and sell the fruits to us later on.”

Maina attributes the fruit’s shortage to lack of knowledge by farmers about the tree.

He has decided to boost the trees’ produc-tion by investing in a solar drier where seeds are dried in readiness for seedling propaga-tion.

“I am unable to meet the demand for seed-lings, fruits and the medicinal juice. The seed-lings can be developed from trees cuttings, but this is going to affect fruit production,” says Maina. He explains: “That’s why I have intro-duced the solar drier to dry then propagate the seeds.”

Inside the solar drier, the heat between 38 to 70 degrees Celsius is recommended for the seeds drying for propagation purposes.

Maina is happy that the fruits and its juice have made Medplin Health Solutions become a popular brand locally and regionally.

Former teacher turns to tree farming and smiles to the bank

“I am unable to meet the demand for seedlings, fruits and the medicinal juice. The seedlings

can be developed from trees cuttings, but this is going to affect fruit production.”

— Julius Maina

Julius Maina holding pomegranate fruits on his farm. Below: Maina explaining

how the medicinal juice works during the interview. Pictures: Waikwa Maina


Executive Director: Arthur OkwembaEditor: Jane GodiaSub-Editors: Carolyne Oyugi, Joyce Chimbi and Odhiambo OrlaleDesigner: Noel Lumbama

Contributors: Waikwa Maina, Carolyne Ng’etich, Yusuf Amin, Omondi Gwengi,Hilton Mwabili ,Juma Kisese,Mary Mwendwa, Fred Deya,Joseph Mukubwa, Antonia Musonga.

Write to: [email protected]

The paper is supported by:

www.mdcafrica.org

BOOK REVIEW

Water is Life Women’s Human Rights in National and Water Governance in Southern and Eastern AfricaPublisher: Weaver Press

Editors: Anne Hellum, Patricia Kameri-Mbote and Barbara van Koppen

By Odhiambo Orlale

Readers looking for a well-written and researched book on women, water and the law in Africa will not be disappointed with Water is Life. The 620-page book is written by

a group of 21 renowned local and international lawyers, sociologists, political scientists and anthropologists using a simple language to share their findings in four African countries with the world. The four countries studied in the 16 chapters are South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Kenya. Out of the 16 chapters, four are dedicated to case studies from Kenya and are penned by the Dean of the School of Law, University of Nairobi, Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote, and four compatriots. The book is aptly titled: Water is Life – Women’s human rights in national and local water governance in Southern and Eastern Africa, and is edited by Prof Kameri-Mbote, the Dean of the School of Law at the University of Nairobi, Prof Anne Hellum and Barbra Kopen.

Content Kenyan readers will find the book even more interesting and relevant thanks to the four chapters focusing on local pertinent issues. These are: Human Rights, Gender and Water in Kenya – Law, Prospects and Challenges (by Prof Mbote and Francis Kariuki); Not So Rosy – Farm Worker’s Rights to Water in the Lake Naivasha Basin (by Prof Mbote and Edna Odhiambo); Watered Down – Gender and Human Right To Water and Reasonable Sanitation in Mathare, Nairobi (by Celestine Nyamu Musembi); and Gender Dimensions of Customary Water Resource Governance – Marakwet Case Study (by Elizabeth Gachenga).

In the book, published by Weaver Press, the writers have approached water and sanitation as an African gender and human rights issue and cited empirical case studies from the four countries. They have explored how women cope in contexts where they lack secure rights, and participation in water governance institu-tions, formal and informal.

The relationship between gender, human rights and water governance is examined through the lens of national and local case studies from selected local case studies from selected rural, peri-urban and urban areas.

Sampling The four African countries were selected because they represent both similarities and variations regarding colonial political and legal history, the degree of government commitment through incorporation of human rights

obligations, the economic conditions, the scale of donor influence, the degree of democracy and the strength of the civil society and women’s organisations. The authors note that despite the increasing legal recognition of the right to water and sanitation, States have failed to live up to the that obligation in practice. Case in point is most Southern and eastern African countries are off track from meeting the United Nations water-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with just 61 per cent coverage. Access to safe water in Kenya is estimated at 59 per cent while the Malawi and South Africa stands at 85 per cent. In Zimbabwe, between 1990 and 2008, access to urban water supply decreased from 97 per cent to 60 per cent, while 75 per cent of hand pumps became non functional. In Africa alone, the study says, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to fetch and collect water. Women, in particularly, carry two-thirds of the burden of drinking water collection, leaving less time for other socio-economic activities, according to UNICEF report in 2012.

Access The local case studies from rural and peri-urban and urban areas showed how different women are accessing water for multiple uses and participating in water governance on the basis of plurality of norms and institutions ranging from community-based customary water governance systems to local government institutions, humanitarian agencies, and non governmental organisations. An d because very few cases concerning women’s access, use and control of water are handled by the State courts, the authors in this book explored how problems concerning distribution and sharing of water are solved at the level of the local community and most importantly in the ‘trouble-less cases’ of every day life. In the Kenyan context, the authors took note of the Kenya Water Act 2002, which made it an offence to construct or employ – without a permit – any works for a purpose for which a permit is required. Furthermore, the law excludes large segments of the population from water rights by establishing that only land owners can acquire permits.

The Kenyan study also explored how human rights to water is adopted and resisted in a post-conflict country where land and water have been privatised and reforms that require redistribution are highly contested. Kenya is a signatory to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), The Maputo

Protocol (also referred to as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa) and the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), but abstained from voting for the UN Resolution 64/299 (Human right to water and sanitation).

Options The plus for the Kenyan Government so far is that it has mainstreamed MGDs in the country’s Vision 2030, an economic blueprint launched in 2008, which seeks to make Kenya a middle income economy by the year 2030.The 2010 Constitution, which is said to be one of the most progressive on the continent, includes the right to water and sanitation in the Bill of Rights.

According to the authors: “In all the above options, women and girls should be fully recognised as users of water for multiple purposes, and as producers who both ensure household food security and market produce for rewarding prices.” The launch of the book later this month in Nairobi, will coincide with the on going international and local debate on Climate Change, the end of the UN MDGs and the on-going El Nino rains in some parts of the country. All in all, the authors have done justice to the topic under review and it will add value to debate on Climate Change, use of scarce natural resources like water, and the link between the precious liquid, gender and the law.

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