• As the dark sets in, most of them seek shelter under bridges, along pavements and city markets to get a goodnight’s sleep.
• Sadly, this has brought them trouble with security officers who have tightened patrols around the city to enforce the curfew.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
As the clock ticks to 5 pm, every bus termini in the Nairobi central business district is filled with queues of people rushing to get home before the 7 pm curfew.
However, for another section of Nairobians, the onset of the curfew symbolises a night of uncertainty, fear and lack of sleep.
These are the street families and homeless persons who do not have a permanent roof over their heads but depend on the streets as their homes.
As the dark sets in, most of them seek shelter under bridges, along pavements and city markets to get a goodnight’s sleep.
Sadly, this has brought them trouble with security officers who have tightened patrols around the city to enforce the curfew that was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta as part of preventive measures against Covid-19.
“On Wednesday, they found us at the skating park along Aga Khan Walk. They told us to come to Uhuru Park and sleep there. When we got there, we found another group of police who caned us and told us to go away from there,” Sammy Kimanthi narrates of his experience during the curfew.
Alex, 16, was with a group of friends at Muthurwa market where they had sought some sleep inside a food stall when he was awoken at 11 pm.
“It was almost like I was dreaming. I could hear someone telling me to stand up and sit up. Soon he just started whipping me,” he narrates of his experience on Monday.
To escape the painful lashes from the police’s whips, some of them have resorted to unorthodox means of survival.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
“The only way you can get away from the police is by climbing on top of trees before the curfew times begin. There you can sit until 1 am when they are not usually patrolling as much,” Alex says.
Moses Kamau a.k.a Kamanyau has however had a different experience from other street urchins since the curfew came into force last Friday.
“When they find you loitering in the streets, that’s when they whip you. But when they find you sleeping peacefully, they won’t bother you. That’s what I’ve seen with them, “he says.
Nowadays, they can go for up to two days without food as opposed to pre-curfew days when opportunities to eat were plenty.
“Ever since the curfew, the hotels close early and now we cannot get food like before when they would give us leftover food, “Anthony, 17, says.
This is the same case for James Njeri, a 16-year old Nyeri native who usually sleeps at a video hall in the Grogon area in Ngara.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
“On the first day when the authorities came to arrest kibandas (food eateries) that were still in operation, they poured out some of their food. For some of us who were lucky, we salvaged what we could and found something to eat. Since then, the story has been different,” James says.
The curfew has also cut off the stream of income that some of the street children and youth have been receiving.
Kamanyau, who used to collect used bottles and take to Kariobangi light industries in exchange of cash, bemoans how the curfew has cost him an income-generating venture that could help him buy necessities to sustain him on the streets.
“I used to collect at least two or three sacks of bottles per day and earn even up to Sh800 per day. However, since most wines and spirits are not in business, nowadays even finding a full sack is difficult,” Kamanyau, who came to Nairobi from Naivasha in 2004, says.
For James, he used to collect and dispose of garbage from various businesses and apartments in the CBD.
“Since the change in the city brought by the curfew, there are no more opportunities. It has been a week since these businesses called us to go and pick garbage,” James, who dropped out of school in form one, says.
Ironically, the police are among some of the well-wishers who have chipped in with essential items to help them cope with hard times.
“Police from Central (police station) were at Uhuru Park recently for instance. They gave us bread and milk and queen cakes,” Sammy says as he gulps down a packet of milk.
Even as the government, through the Ministry of Health, continues to institute stringent measures to cut off the local-to-local transmission of Covid-19, street families seem aloof from these preventive measures.
“Corona mostly affects the rich people, it cannot attack us the poor ones. God is with us and so life just continues for all of us,” Sammy, whose hands are covered in dirt, says.
As part of efforts to enhance hygienic practices among Nairobians, taps have been installed at various public places in the city.
However, the street families say that the taps are not working and they cannot access soap with which to wash their hands.
Clinton James, the director of Social Action Network Africa – a community-based organisation that works with street families – such perceptions of Covid-19 among street urchins highlight the need for more sensitisation.
“These street children are used to being exposed to all kinds of diseases due to the life they live. That is why they do not understand the gravity of the situation insofar as this outbreak is concerned,” Clinton, himself a former street child, says.
The curfew imposed by the outbreak of Covid-19 has ushered in tough times for most Kenyans.
For street families, the going just got tougher as the curfew only makes them more vulnerable to the harsh vagaries of life on the streets.
Hopefully, there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel or times; that at the end of the outbreak, more stakeholders will be enlightened on the plight of the homeless in Kenya.