You should be reading the newspaper everyday but on April Fool’s day you should particularly not miss a copy just so you can test your brain, see if you can tell which stories are good pranks! Well, at least I do that for the kicks …
However, In a twist of events page 8 of the Daily Nation briefs had a headline that caught my eye, “Boy held in hospital due to 10,820 bill” The story went on that the boy who had been detained in Kerugoya district hospital had missed his terminal exams (no pun intended) In addition, the hospital superintendent could not be reached for comment. Wait, I shed a tear. This wasn’t a joke. Can you understand this situation? I still can’t understand how a little boy can be detained in hospital over a 10 K bill and thus miss going to school … 12 year olds should be busy watching WWF, adoring Ben10, playing football and mchongwanos if not at school kicking ass at solving math problems!
I quickly had an idea that if I could chomoa 3k, get 4 of my friends to chomoa 2K each, we could all bail that kid out of his misery by the next day that was on a Saturday! (I love my ambition) First things first, I called the Nation hotline hoping to get any contacts that would help me get to the kid. Kudos to the quick response, within a minute the gentleman behind the phone had already given me the contacts of one George Munene John, the Kerugoya Nation correspondent who had done the story. That was effortless! (The hookup)
I called Munene who was very receptive, well explained that I ran into his story in the newspaper and felt that my friends and I could assist the kido. I wanted the number to the boy’s mother, unfortunately both his parents ran off (who does that? smh) The boy now lives with his granny who has no cell phone, so the only way I was going to help the boy was via Munene. We both agreed that he would go to the hospital over lunch time and check if the boy was still there and just confirm that the bill is still at 10,820. I mean, you don’t wanna be raising money for an already released person.. Turned out the kid was still there.
I quickly called/txt a few friends, let’s just say: April Fool’s is the last day you wanna be asking friends to send you money for a 12-year-old boy who has been detained in Kerugoya hospital! It was a good ice breaker to laugh at their responses, they hardly believed me! I think only Anto did at first! Nway if I was joking about such a thing, I would have the worst sense of humour ever! Or the best, depending on how you look at it … By 3 pm I had almost all the cash I needed, thanks to the quick response from my friends. If I didn’t get the rest of the top up by Saturday morning, I would just have topped it up myself..
I usually have weekly staff meetings at the office every Fridays at 4 pm, which I DETEST like Akon, nway that’s another blog post for another day! During the meeting, I see Munene calling me! I thought to myself, “What now?” So I sent him a txt that I would call him after the meeting, I got a reply from him saying, “The hospital panicked and released the boy just a few minutes ago …” At that moment, I really felt a whole load of burden off my heart and shoulder. Before that I wasn’t going to sleep in peace until the boy would be released from hospital. I had prior talked to my boss to get the day off on Sato so I would go see the kid! So when I told him that the boy had been released and that I want going to go after all, he said, “You really wanted to go, I think you should still go..”
That Friday night, I worked till quite late. All that while still thinking of whether I should still go see the boy or not. At night when I txt Chim about the developments telling him that I wouldn’t travel after all, he txt back, “I think you should still go” My sister Jacque also txt and said, “You should still go” Saturday morning around 7 am, got a call from best friend Bunny. She was just asking if I had already set out, and then I remembered hadn’t told her that plans had changed. It happens that sometimes in life, we are just afraid to take a leap! We always wait for that little glimpse of hope just to do something, sometimes we need more than just one sign so I told Bunny, “I have been thinking about that boy since yesterday, do you really think I should still go?” Her answer was YES! Too many signs, so I hopped out of bed and into the shower and off to Kerugoya and javing alone! I was really excited!
It however didn’t feel like I was alone, my friends kept tweeting @ me, texting and calling & nway I ideally went because of the power they bestowed upon me! (Singing: Solidaaaaarity forrrrrever LOL) Got the mat at Tea Room, hapo tu karibu na commercial. Is it only me who suffocates in mats going to shags? Wah! It was a 2 hour drive down, trust me I counted down to the last bit! Munene was out on an assignment so he gave my number to a man called Kennedy, who asked me to alight at Kutus. He was so kind to come get me too. Well, not like he had a choice I didn’t know where I was heading. That’s When Ken arrived, I established that he was the boy’s neighbor. He was also the one who got the journalist to write the story. He said that he had tried to do everything possible, he even got the chief to write a letter to the hospital and the doctors still refused to release the boy. It was until the newspaper article that made the uproar public, that the Ministry of Health called the hospital and demanded for the kid to be released. Within no time, we were both on a motorbike heading to the village to see the boy and granny. Excuse me, I was not about to start walking on the dusty village roads 
I have to say, my motorbike was pimped heh we were on another level! Ebu check that bigass radio! And it was playing 2Pac, dear mama
When I finally got to the village, I saw the granny and the boy (who was in crutches) sitting outside the thatched house, sort of like waiting for someone. Please note: Not me per say, they just had that look like they were waiting for anyone to come fix them. SAD. Granny couldn’t speak Eng or Swa so Ken played a very good interpreter. He explained to her that I was the girl who was gonna bail the grandson from hospital but since he had been released I had just come to see him, after all.. P.s that’s Ken in the pix!
I took some time to talk to the boy, who FYI has a name: Martin Munene. I was sad that he is in class 6 yet he can’t speak English. I was very happy that he was healthy and that strange enough he didn’t seem troubled. I was shocked that the hospital had detained him from as far ago as January! He had missed a whole term from school yet last term he had emerged number 2 out of a class of 46, so clearly this is sharp boy! He just needs to keep with the schooling, and a very bright future awaits him!
He had fallen from a mango tree right behind the granny’s house because mangoes are sometimes all they have to eat. The wound was severe, they had even put a piece of metal inside his leg. It was around 2.45pm God knows I was hungry for any edible thing and thirsty as hell for a coke but these people hadn’t had anything since tea in the morning. The granny also takes care of her other 4-year-old, grandson who is either disabled or had autism. I couldn’t really tell. Well, I am no doctor, but a mere social scientist (Haha always wanted to say that) However, it doesn’t take a doctor to tell that the disabled or autistic kid has been lying on the chair for 4 years and not getting the special need that he requires, I could see that he was deformed. Something needs to be done or otherwise the boy will be 14 and completely helpless, more stress for granny!
Granny told me that Martin had only one pair of school shorts and a shirt. He has never had a school sweater or shoes though he had on some slippers. SAD. When he went to the hospital after the accident, the doctor tore through his school shorts, so now that he was out he still couldn’t go to school with no uniform. Granny said that she would need 1,600/= to purchase a new pair of school uniform for Martin, complete with shoes! Thank God I didn’t shop for her like I had contemplated earlier. I would have bought them blue band, peanut butter and wet wipes: Things that are completely non existent in their world…
I had returned some of the money I got from my friends because I hadn’t known that I would still visit Kerugoya. So nway I gave granny all the money I had, to buy uniform and food to last them at least a month or so. She has a farm right behind the house but she can’t cultivate because of the drought plus there’s no water in the village. They only have a meal when she goes out for kibaruas and gets money for food. SAD.
If I can buy a necklace worth 2,680/= or have dinner worth 2,650/= it wouldn’t be going out of my way helping a kido and the granny with almost the same if not double the amount. This was a joint effort, without my friends I wouldn’t have done it, without Munene’s story, no one would have known about Martin, the 12-year-old boy. It would be heart wrenching to know about all the people out there who need help, thank God I bumped into little Martin and thought I could help.
Just remembered, on Saturday night when I got back from Kerugoya, got home showered and while heading to Wamathai/ Kudishnyao around 8 pm I saw Ken from Keruguya calling me. Thought to myself, “What now?” But he was saying thank you and wishing me goodnight. That was soooooo cute, that in Kerugoya they wish each other goodnight at 8 pm, that’s when Nairobi night awakens Just yesterday, I called Ken to ask if they had bought Martin the uniform. So happy to report that they had, he said that they even bought him socks Yaaay!
I think it’s great that Martin is now going to school. We could give granny a couple of loose thousands every month but it will just last her so long, if you know what am saying. I am looking into a long-term solution. Granny needs a water pump so she can sustain her agriculture, in addition she can sell water to the community members and at least make some cash for food and stuff. She also needs an autism organization or something of the sort to help with the other kid. I am now calling out to all my friends or any well-wisher, how do we go about this? It’s a good thing that I am now very good friends with Munene and whatever we decide on he will publish it in the newspaper. Currently searching for organizations that empower communities through projects and of course that would help with the special kid. Any tips are welcomed. I will be setting a date for a brainstorming session so y’all better have your phones on!
Special shout out to: The Daily Nation, Munene, Anto, Bunny, Chim, Wanjeri, Marcus, Robert Alai, JB, Wamathai, Bruna and Nick Ndeda! We did it, part 1
BONUS! I had quite an adventure and all but in summary, nothing beats the feeling in my heart when I left cucu and Martin smiling. It kinda felt like I made people who would otherwise not be smiling, smile
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I wish the inflation could affect a portion of your heart, so it could make you love me double. I wish you would have trouble finding me, so I would be precious. Not like a commodity but in reality you would require me like a basic need. I wish you would not retire after a long day without me. If you did, I wish you would aspire to be with me.
