African Woman and Child Feature Service

As people count the losses brought about by the aftermath of the disputed general elections, young men in Siaya are taking advantage of the situation.

They are stalking displaced women who have traveled from Naivasha, Nakuru and other parts of Central province promising them heaven in return of sexual favours.

Those being targeted by these young men, especially the boda boda men, are widows and young girls.

“It is horrifying what people are doing in the pretext that they want to help the women and children,” laments Angelina Akeyo, a counselor at the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK), an internally displaced persons camp in Kisumu, Nyanza Province.

 

In Siaya, Akeyo claims that there are boda boda men who know that these women do not have a place to call home and are therefore offering them accommodation. But immediately they get what they are looking for, they dump these women.  

Some of the dumped women are now engaging in prostitution to fend for themselves and their children. 

“I do not know what the future holds for these people?” poses Akeyo. 

She says some of the cases they know of are women and men who know very well they are HIV positive, but seem not to care about infecting their partners. 

“We are likely to see an increase in HIV cases in this area. This is going to impact negatively on the country’s disease status and management.” 

According to Akeyo, the only way to help these desperate women, some of whom possess expertise in teaching, dress and hair making, is to give them seed money to reconstruct their lives. 

She argues that hopes of integrating these displaced women in the community are failing because everybody says their resources are stretched to the limit. Hence supporting them resume their earlier careers is important. 

In the interim, locals in Siaya are proposing the establishment of a social welfare centre where these women and young girls can be catered for. 

Meanwhile, services of counselors in Siaya and the larger Kisumu have never been in demand than they are at this moment; particularly for children who witnessed the horrifying scenes of the disputed election results. 

Stories from the internally displaced persons take the same story line as what we see in horror movies. Each family has a tale to tell. 

Children and some adults are constantly haunted and disturbed. Nightmares are becoming a common thing among those living in displaced camps within the town. 

“There are those who behave like they are being attacked by the devil, while others spend their nights awake for fear of bad dreams,” says Akeyo. 

Children are even more traumatized. Any slight movement is enough to arouse their fear and emotions. 

Although majority of these children are being counseled, there are fears that the damage might have already been done. 

The other problem is as these children leave the camps, there are no plans on how follow-up counseling will be done. Many might just succumb to their condition.