CARUUR AH SOOMAALI AH, OO 14 SANO KA HOR LAGU AG TUUREY HAWEENEY KENYAN AH, 14 SANNO KADIB MAANTA WAA CARUURTEEDA, IYADA AYAYNA HOOYO U YAQAANAAN. AKHRI SHEEKADA OO ENGLISH KU QORAN OON SOO GUURINEY.
Margaret Ajiambo Wanyama is still ruing the day she became a casualty of the Somalia war. The war, which rages on to date, has sucked all her energies. And as if that is not enough, it is gobbling profits generated by her mandazi business in a way she never imagined. Wanyama, 52, recalls the incident vividly as if it were yesterday. A young woman, who had fled the Somalia conflict, approached her to look after her baby for Sh2,000 a month. She did not take her seriously but the woman arrived at her doorstep the next day with a baby and a bundle of napkins. The Somali teenage mother, whose name she cannot remember, told her she was going to Nairobi and would bring her Sh1,500. She, however, told Wanyama that if she did not get the money, she would not come back for her baby. "For a moment I thought she was joking," says Wanyama.
Margaret Ajiambo Wanyama
Today, 14 years later, the baby boy who was abandoned when he was only six months old is strong and healthy. The teenager, Joseph Obama, whose name at birth was Abdul, knows no other mother other than Wanyama "I do not remember ever seeing my mother and cannot speak a word of her language," says Obama. No help from police When Wanyama agreed to look after Obama, the news spread among desperate Somali refugees like a forest fire and before long another baby was brought to her. This time, it was a Somali mother who had fallen in love with a man she had just met. The man had proposed to her but he was not prepared to take her with her child. The woman promised me money if I agreed to take care of her child. He was only two weeks old," says Wanyama, a mother of five. The newborn, who had distinct Chinese features, was named Bruno. Before long, Bruno’s mother, Asha, brought yet another child to Wanyama. This time she brought a baby girl, Habiba Heto. But why would a woman who has no blood relations with the children agree to look after them. "I had no choice. I could not bring myself to throw these children away. When I reported the matter to the police, they just acknowledged and told me to take them back with me," she adds.
Asha had claimed that all her children had died in their cots upon reaching two weeks. Then just like Obama’s mother, Asha disappeared.
Driven by desperation after Bruno got sick, Wanyama scoured the entire Magogoni area for his mother. "I found her hiding in a toilet. I wrestled her to the ground and beat her up.
I was upset with her for neglecting the child who was now very sick," says Wanyama. Although Bruno’s mother took him to hospital, she abandoned her there and eloped with another man. The hospital knew no other relative and sent for me to go and take the child after discharge. And as fate would have it a third Somali woman brought another child. The new baby has Asian features. Rophina, formerly known as Irene Kinyanya, was born on April 1, 1999 and has been in Wanyama’s humble abode since she was barely a month old. "It is like these mothers, especially those who fled from the war, were following some unwritten command. They would promise to pay me to look after their children but I could tell they were not in a position to," says Wanyama. Some of the women and teenagers escaped from refugee camps to sample nightlife in Mombasa. She says the products of the loveless trysts between the Somali women and sailors almost always ended up at her door. Wanyama has five abandoned children and another five, who are her biological children. Despite her meagre resources, she has a heart of gold and has transformed her home into a melting point of culture. She jokes that Somalia, China and India are represented in her home. The children wear faces from far off continents and countries but cannot speak the language of their fathers or mothers. "Their names too do not reflect their background. These are special kids given to me by God and I cannot exchange them for anything," says Wanyama. Given the prevailing hardships in the country occasioned by the rising standards of living, one would expect Wanyama to be cursing her bad luck. While many young parents who are better off than Wanyama have taken advantage of free primary education, the "international mother" will hear none of it.
I have decided to take the children to Papyrus Academy, a private school. She once took Obama to a public school but lived to regret her decision. He was ridiculed because of his physical features. "I decided not to risk with the others," she adds. Every term, Wanyama parts with Sh4,000 per child for school fees. School fees costs her about Sh16,000 every month. "Although there is free primary education, the idea of these children crowding in a class with 50 others does not appeal to me," she says. The principal of Papyrus Academy in Magogoni, Kisauni, Mr Samuel Nyakwaamba, says: Wanyama is doing something noble. Bruno is capable of becoming whatever he wants to be." Wanyama, who has rented two rooms in a Swahili type house, says life is not a bed of roses. "I have two sleeping areas. One for the boys and the other for the girls," she says. She pays Sh2,000 for each room. Many are the times we have slept hungry because there is no food. I do not despair because I know God will ultimately provide for me." She says she at times borrows money from a micro-finance institution to sustain her business.
Although Wanyama had hoped to earn money from baby-sitting, she does not regret. Her rewards for the last 14 years are quite satisfactory, she says.
And how do the children feel about their mothers?
"If my mother showed up today, I would have nothing to do with her," says Obama.
The teenager hopes to become either a doctor or a banker.
" She (Wanyama) has given me the gift of life. I hope I will never disappoint her," he says.
"I want to register all these children as Kenya citizens. I have been allowed to adopt them and all I want now is to acquire their birth certificate," Wanyama says.
But she knows life ahead is full of difficulties, revealing that one mother has already tried to come back for her child.
"I will never give up on these children. They have given me hope. I may not have a lot to give to humanity but I believe I have given all I have and I hope it is the best," she adds.
And as the sages said, the smallest act is better than the greatest intention; Wanyama has demonstrated that wealth is not in material things but starts from the heart.
SHEEKADAN WAXAA DAABACAY WARGEYSKA MAALIN LAHA AH EE EAST AFRICAN STANDARD. 11/11/07.
I took this from Kismaayo.com
