- In two weeks, she has been able to raise and disburse Sh467,837.
- So far she has fed 198 families and still many others are pleading for her help. She receives 40 to 50 requests a day.
Image: COURTESY
Wangari Maathai said, "It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference."
For social justice campaigner Jerotich Seii, her little thing is raising money on social media to help poor families affected by the coronavirus disruption.
On March 24 a father of two sent her a text message asking for Sh150 to buy a packet of flour to feed his family. He had been terminated from his job where he worked as a casual worker.
Without revealing the name, Seii posted the message to her 61,000 Twitter followers. She asked for their help to create a safety net to support those most affected by the directives to limit movement and crowding.
Seii, who has worked with relief mobilising agencies, told the Star that she followed her social media post with an op-ed in a local daily. Then the responses came.
In two weeks, she has been able to raise and disburse Sh467,837.
Twitter users responded to the appeal and Seii says she has received donations ranging from Sh5 to Sh30,000 from Kenyans in the country and in the diaspora.
The desperate father referred others to her and so far she has fed 198 families and still many others are pleading for her help. She receives 40 to 50 requests a day.
“Families in need send messages to my inbox [and] the criteria [for determining eligibility for help] is need,” she said.
Seii said she “does not lecture anybody or ask why they are asking for money”, when trying to establish genuine cases.
“Most voluntarily tell me their stories of loss of income since the beginning of Covid-19. I operate on a first-come-first-served basis since I am not a community leader, MCA, social services worker or such like. But I have had two decades of work in various emergency settings and I understand vulnerability criteria very well,” she explained.
Most of the families she’s reached so far are in the Nairobi Metropolitan area (90 per cent) while others are from Kwale, Mombasa, Vihiga, Kakamega, Migori, Kisii, Kuria, Nyeri, Kiambu.
“Many send DMs when their children have been hungry for two or three days. When landlords are about to throw them out. When they have run out of money for medicine [in the case of diabetics, for instance], and so on. And these are only early days of Covid-19! It is so very real and sad,” she added.
Seii said she transfers Sh2,000 on average to each household and Sh4,000 to desperate cases.
“Very rarely, [I send] Sh8,000. It would be wonderful to reach even more families but this is 100 per cent dependent on the means and generosity of #KOT,” she said.
Seii said everybody seems to have been affected by the virus.
"[It is a] cross-section of heads of households: Engineers and other graduates; Mama Fua, Mama Mboga, waiters, bouncers, bartenders, athletes (rugby/football), teachers, farmers, elderly, chronically ill, pregnant, lactating, mkokoteni pushers, matatu drivers, touts, traders (mitumba), house helps, cleaners, electricians, tailors, plumbers. Everybody is in trouble," she said.
The activist posts the contributions she receives, the number of people she has transferred the money to, the cost of transactions and the balance, for accountability.
"I am absolutely pro bono and provide detailed accounting back to #KOT every few days," she said.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya