Vulnerable groups bear the brunt of the pandemic with little help

It is mid-morning on Wednesday and we are at the Kenya Red Cross Society grounds in Thika, Kiambu County.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, food donation organised by the Rotary clubs of Thika and Thika West, with support from the Bank of Africa, is going on. The target: vulnerable families, the blind and those living with HIV and others.

At the main gate, a group of people who are not on the list of beneficiaries is politely turned away by the guard. The desolation on their faces as they walk away is a stark reminder of the impact of Covid-19.

Those on the list are a small fraction of Kenyans whose economic lives have been disrupted by the pandemic.

Elizabeth Wambui, 48, is visually impaired. She lives in Kiandutu (which means a place of jiggers), one of the biggest slums in Thika. She says her life has been upended by the pandemic.

“Before Covid-19, I was transcribing print to Braille. I was earning and managing to pay my Sh2,000 rent comfortably. Then, the government ordered schools to be closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus … I have now been unable to pay my rent for two months,” says the mother of two who lost her husband in 2016 to diabetes.

For Michael Kanai, who has low vision, the script is almost the same. Before Covid-19, he used to sell sweets and onions in Kiandutu.

He laments that his small enterprise has since gone under after the price of the commodities he was selling went up, making them unaffordable for him.

“I have done pastry and baking. If I could get someone to help me with an oven and capital, I can start a baking business here in Kiandutu. I don’t want handouts, I want to be independent,” he tells us.

Joseph Kahinga Waweru, 48, is also visually impaired. He had a small business that earned him about Sh450 per day, but these days, he says, making Sh250 is a challenge.

He has two children and says paying monthly rent of Sh1,500 for his one-room house is a challenge.

“I have rent arrears, but what worries me now is what to feed my two children. Things are not okay,” he says.

The three say they have never received any money from the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme meant to help vulnerable households.

Last month, Ruiru MP Simon King’ara wrote to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, seeking a statement from the Committee on Labour on the measures the government has taken to ensure the elderly, orphans and people with disabilities are incorporated in the programme.

The legislator said that since 2018, the government had not updated its records to incorporate new beneficiaries, exposing many to further economic hardship.

It is not only the visually impaired who have been impacted by Covid-19. The Kenya Network of Women with Aids (Kenwa), with offices at the heart of Kiandutu, tells of people with HIV who are in dire need of medicines.

Last year, the Nation highlighted the plight of HIV patients as the outreach facility faced eviction over unpaid rent. Now, the situation has worsened.

Ms Josephine Wanjiru, who is in-charge of Kenwa in Kiambu, says: “Since Covid-19 was first reported in Kenya, the government forgot that other ailments exist. You visit the hospital for ARV (antiretroviral) drugs and the nurse tells you they have not been supplied. People are dying in the slums for luck of HIV drugs, and they will continue to die if the government does not act fast”.

Benjamin Githae of Rotary District 9212 said that the food distribution mainly targeted the blind, those engaged in prostitution and people living with HIV.

Ms Rita Marete, the project director at the Rotary Club of Thika, said: “We noticed that many families’ economic lives have been disrupted. Our core aim is to provide food hampers and offer personal protective equipment to health workers. We appeal to well-wishers who may want to partner with us to reach more families to get in touch”.

As Covid-19 continues to disrupt businesses and institutions, the vulnerable continue to bear the brunt.