Mzee Pashile Tuke, 46, has never slept well after his wife, Mama Namelok, walked out on him and her three girls two years ago.
He lives with his three daughters; Namelok (eldest), Tumpesia (middle) and Mampai (last born) in squalid conditions in an Ilparakuo village in the wilderness of Magadi ward, Kajiado County.
Problems started visiting the home of Tuke when the woman of the house, walked away on them on October 4, 2021, just after her husband left to fend for the family.
“I never quarrelled with my wife for the last 13 years we have been together. She gave me three beautiful daughters, who are the lights of my heart,” Tuke said.
Tuke, who makes a living from the menial jobs in Magadi, says he earns Sh400 a day when there is work to do.
“At most, I can work for six days in a month. Most days I just hung around the company premises in Magadi without any work,” the father of three said.
He lives with his three daughters in a house, whose walls have been eroded and from inside one can see the stars at night and wild animals outside.
The girls, who go to Ilparakuo Primary School, sleep on the cow skins on the floor of their dilapidated house and risk being stung by scorpions.
Having a meal for the four has been a miracle, which has become a burden to the neighbours.
The teachers at Ilparakuo Primary School have been raising money to buy food for the family and it now seems the burden is overweighing them.
“We are proud of those intelligent girls, who are above average in their classes. The only problem is that, for how long will we continue supporting them from our pockets,” a teacher who did not want to be named said.
The Magadi village administrator, Charles Nkoidela, said the family is in dire need of support, given the fact that the girls are growing and may soon require protection from sinister people.
“The girls are growing fast, we need to protect them because the house they live in is unable to stop human predators from harming them,” Nkoidela said.
He said that the girls should also be taken to a boarding school where their protection is guaranteed.
The poverty at home, Nkoidela said, requires money from good samaritans, adding that everyone in the village is aware that the family at times go for days without anything to eat.
“We need to put the girls in a boarding school and then we move on to build them a home. This will need money. I am appealing for support,” he said.
He said that once the girls are in boarding school, their father can fend for himself with the work he sometimes gets from the contracted companies in Magadi.
“This area is infested by hyenas and their house is transparent from inside and outside. What will stop hyenas from pulling out a sleeping child from that makeshift?” he asked the village administrator.
