"Do not expect blood from a fly" (Kikuyu proverb)Kirimiby Mathew Haumann
Kirimi is the mother of Hassan, Shahu and the twins. She is about thirty-five years old and does not look like a typical black African: she has some Somali blood in her. And her husband, with whom she came to Nairobi years ago, is Somali. This husband put her in the street with her two children, Hassan and Shahu. It may be that she herself left him; I have heard only her side of the story. For some time she roamed the streets with her two children and she become a street beggar. It was on the streets that she learned to be coarse and brazen: by nature she is kind and gentle. There on the streets she hit the bottle and there on the streets she became pregnant again. She certainly didn't regard this as a blessing. Hassan and Shahu caused her trouble enough as it was. That was when she was stranded here, in this village, with the other refuse of society. She gave birth to twins. Kirimi tried to care for them as well as she could, but that wasn't very well at all. Again she went back to the streets to beg and the children were badly neglected. It was at this time that I came to know Kirimi, by then a ruined woman. But at the same time there was something special about her: she was a warm-hearted person. The neighbours often used to look after the children, but last year Shahu started to go on the streets, started to follow the path of small crime. Hassan became a scared little boy; he didn't know how to handle a drunken mother. Their hut was infested with jiggers. When Kirimi was home she just sat outside her hut staring blankly into the distance. On other days she would wander half drunkenly through the village, quarrelling with everybody, not taking any notice of her children. "Her head is not good any more," people commented. It was at this time that we started to look for a home for Hassan. Kirimi didn't mind at all; she was sick; she had lots of stomach complaints; perhaps she had had a belly full of al this misery. One can stomach it for some time, but not all the time. A week later she had a miscarriage. Kirimi ended up in a hospital run by Italian sisters .Physically she recovered fairly quickly, but she remained very depressed, especially when people started talking about her going home. She was up and about whilst other patients had to stay in bed. Kirimi began helping them, running errands and bringing bedpans. It was a wise nun who encouraged her. In the meantime the neighbours looked after Sahu and the twins. We discussed matters with the people who had taken Hassan into their home, and all three children were reluctantly admitted. Kirimi frequently asked after the twins. Kirimi had been discharged from the hospital for quite some time now but she didn't leave. She stayed and helped the sisters. Kirimi was good for the patients for wherever she was there was laughter. Laughter is a good medicine. The sisters gave her a small room, plenty to eat and a little pocket money. She helped with the laundry and did errands for the patients. Kirimi is a Muslim by birth but she only went to the mosque to beg. But here, in this hospital, she became very pious and her room was filled with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints. A beggar, she begged the sisters for medallions and rosaries. she didn't need all these herself but she gave them to visitors whom she knew needed them very badly, people like me. She also managed to save something from her pocket-money which she gave for her children. Life was going well for Kirimi. Only once did things go wrong in all those months. Five months ago she returned to Nairobi to visit her old friends in the slums. Kirimi arrived dressed like a lady; Kirimi had money nowadays. Kirimi laughed and didn't look at all miserable as she used to do. She bought a bottle of chang'aa for her neighbour who had looked after her children, she even joined her in drinking it; why shouldn't she enjoy herself once in a while? They finished the bottle and what happened after that Kirimi doesn't remember; she doesn't even remember where she stayed that night. Next day she arrived at the hospital dirty, ragged, sick and confused. For a few days she didn't work. Then we told her that she would get her children back if she wanted that, but that she must show that she could care for them properly. Kirimi wanted this very much indeed. She worked hard and became a ray of sunshine again for the patients. A few months later Kirimi began to have stomach complaints again. The doctor who examined her asked whether or not she might be pregnant. She nearly beat him up ... she pregnant; how could that possibly be true? Didn't she live like a nun? She didn't want to hear about it. However, things slowly began to change. Kirimi thought that the patients were becoming very demanding. Kirimi became quarrelsome and she wanted to leave. Diana, who knows Kirimi very well, went together with the village leader to visit her. They talked with her for a long time. Kirimi decided to stay and she started to work again. But yesterday Kirimi returned to the slums; she looks fairly clean. Her hut is still there and Kirimi is going to clean it with the water which she finds far too expensive. She greets me somewhat sulkily. Yes, she has run away from that hospital, but it is not her fault; it is all the fault of that new sister. Kirimi had asked for medicine to treat her stomach ache and vomiting and then this sister too had said that she was pregnant. Kirimi is on the verge of tears as she tells me that this is impossible. She doesn't want to be offended any longer by those people in the hospital; that's why she has run away. If the sisters will not respect her she would rather be in the slums than in her nice little room in the hospital. I don't know what to say. Many people have tried to help this family and we had the feeling that we were getting somewhere. None of us remembered that one night out, five months ago. The doctor is certain; Kirimi is five months' pregnant.
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