Fridah Okach - Mtaani Radio
The difficult conditions of life that have led to the existence of extreme hunger in the informal settlements have caused many pregnant women to remain at the crossroads. The streets that are on their last legs are Maumau, Kawangware, and Congo in Dagoretti constituency in Nairobi County.
Milka Adhiambo, a mother of four children and expectant with her fifth child, which she did not expect due to the difficult conditions of her life, causing her to sleep hungry while she is now three months pregnant is giving an outcry over her languishing position in her life. “The children I have right now, need food and clothing. I wanted to begin my family planning process but I got shocked to realize that I was expectant again until I wanted to give up on life and abort the baby because even the lastborn is very young. If you go to the clinic, you also need a lot of money and that’s why I have not gone until this time of the month.“
In the street of Kawangware, Sally Iminza who is 22 years old says, it is her seventh month of pregnancy, and she has not yet visited any hospital for check-ups. Since she got pregnant and the man responsible for the pregnancy disappeared it has been her responsibility to raise money to cater for her needs.
The difficult conditions of life that have led to the existence of extreme hunger in the informal settlements have caused many pregnant women to remain at the crossroads.
According to a Community volunteer Grace Akinyi, despite each of them having a hundred houses that they visit, there is a possibility that they will find five or more houses with pregnant mothers. Grace gets very worried when she finds out that the expectant mother has not decided to visit a clinic.
Mr. Vincent Ochieng’ a clinician at Kawangware says expectant mothers and especially those that have no source of income are facing it rough to feed themselves and several cases flood his clinic of expectant mothers who have not fed for quite some time. “We are in the informal settlement where most of the expectant mothers come to you complaining of lack of food but when we receive a mother and feel she is at risk, we look for an experienced nutritionist who will access and advise accordingly. We try to look for how they can access a simple balanced diet with the little money they have.”
According to UNICEF here in Kenya, a quarter of children under the age of five have inadequate growth, because if a child goes without food for a long time, the effects are losing the ability to be rational and having physical challenges.
