written by Kenyanito Dudi, IDAK Founder and Director
During a recent visit to the Obotch area of Nyalenda in a sprawling informal settlement of Kisumu City, we met with “Dinah”, a determined single mother raising her two-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter under difficult circumstances. Dinah lives in a small corrugated iron sheet “mabati” house within a slum area; where infrastructure and essential resources are limited. Initially, she was reluctant to participate in another interview, preferring to communicate through someone she trusts. After a moment of shared prayer, however, she opened up about her current struggles and her hopes for a more stable and safe life for her son and herself.
Dinah’s seven-year-old first born daughter was recently sexually assaulted by her neighbor in this sprawling slums of Kisumu. The culprit who preyed on this minor “Annetta” had been living next to them and to make matters worse was the distant maternal uncle of Dinah. We encountered Dinah when she was very distraught, feeling hopeless, rejected and without a bearing. IDAK helped in collecting her broken pieces together and offered some psychosocial support. This meant that Annetta had to be temporarily relocated to her village to stay with Norah’s distant relatives as the investigations of her recent sexual assault being investigated. Sadly, the culprit ran away.
Safety Concerns: IDAK made sure that Dinah’s relocates from that insecure part of the slum, where road networks are sparse and safety is a pressing concern. As a single mother, she is vulnerable to potential security threats. We facilitated her relocation to near “safer” part of the slums largely to help them deal with the physical trauma. IDAK paid her monthly house rent for two months and provided fishing nets through seed capital on a business she was keen at doing with aim of making some sales for her upkeep and self-reliance.
Emotional and Physical Recovery: Dinah and her daughter were and are still processing the effects of a traumatic incident that left them both vulnerable. Together with her daughter they have been in need of emotional support to work through this challenging period. IDAK paired them with some support system to help them get back to their emotional wellbeing, build their resilience and cheer them to pick up and keep going.
Economic Start Up: IDAK took Dinah through a short training on the basic book keeping and how to do a micro-business in the slums of selling Ice (ice pops), sweets, lollypops, biscuits, mini-shop under an umbrella at the gate of a busy Primary school where there are potential customers. Currently she is able to get some small amount cash to help put something on the table for her two children. She might get a profit of Ksh. 150 (1 GBP) to Ksh. 200.00 per day which is still a wanting sales depending on the weather but she has tried to diversify some things like M-pesa (Mobile money Transfer) as a sub-agent which makes her to get more customers, though it is will require more cash/capital to run the business, it is likely to widen her commission especially if she has a steady float. “I am so grateful for the advice, counselling, networking and seed capital given to me by IDAK to set up this business which has turned our lives and make our dreams come back again…. We had reached the end of the road, but God…I look forward to increasing my business by getting more capital specially to boost the cash float which will in effect help in building our commission and get some food for the children, pay rent and Annetas school fees” She added.
