Problems of the local people
Financial opportunities of our outpost and people here in Kenya are too small to resolve this problem. That is why we decided to search for people of good will who are willing to support our mission.
20% inhabitants of the region of Kithatu are seniors, 45% are children and 35 are middle-aged. They live mainly from land (a small lot by the house worked using hoe) and have a minimal chance of finding paid employment. Poverty forces people to accept any work, to earn a few cents. Often they engage in producing own alcohol, which drives them to alcoholism, and that is our additional problem with which we have to wrestle.
Some manage to rent, from the richer, an arable lot 7 to 10 km. away to which they have to walk, as there is no public transportation. There are no asphalt roads, not even any hard bitten tracks. Roads during rainy season are not passable. Conditions for farmers lately are very bad. They harvested hardly any beans - the crop simply dried up. Harvests of beans and corns, the basic foods, are insufficient to feed larger (7 - 9 Children) families. For example; pay for a day's work is 50 - 75 ksh (kenya shillings), which corresponds to $1 - $1.5 USD, where soap costs 20 ksh (1/5 USD). Poverty affects everybody, especially children. Presently, family is fortunate, if it has one meal a day! This situation leads to ailments which are evident in their bulging stomachs.
Medical and social problems like alcoholism, AIDS, malnutrition, parasitic diseases, rain season diseases (mainly typhoid fever and malaria) are caused by poverty of the local public, climate (low rain falls) and lack of drinking water from deep wells. Often we get people with advanced infections, signs of anemia, particularly in children. Twice a year from mid October to mid January and then from mid March to the end of May we have epidemics of typhoid fever and malaria. Drinking water comes from surface waters. The nearest deep well water is several kilometers away and is situated by the Mission hospital. Poverty of people is the main cause of rapid spread of illnesses. Chest ex-ray, for example cost five American dollars, so they don't go because they cannot afford it. Recent discovery that bacteria are resistant to antibiotics and that anti malaria medications are ineffective, aggravates the situation greatly.
(Translation: Tadeusz Pęcak)
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