December 22 last year remains a day Philister Waithera, 31, will never forget. While relaxing in her newly rented house in Mabanda, Thika, with her three children, she got a call from a client to supply some detergents. “I had just separated from my husband and had started the detergent business,” she said. With that call, she knew she would make some extra coins to at least give her children a deserving Christmas, which was just three days away.
They had just had lunch and Philister did not find it hard to leave the children for an hour to make some cash. “After all, I had done it before and found them safe.” She tied her youngest child on her back, leaving behind her two boys: Mark, five, and Manasseh, three.
Like a caring mother would do, Philister gave instructions to the five-year-old to remain in the house until she returns.
As fate would have it, her single-roomed house caught fire as soon as she left, finding her children asleep. The fire, which was caused by an electric fault, was said to have started from the ceiling, which was made of nylon bags, then caught the clothes hanged just above where the children were sleeping.
The burning clothes then dropped on the children, burning their heads and backs. Mark tried to shield his younger brother, and got burnt more in the process.
Luckily, neighbours came to their rescue, pulling them from the jaws of death, but not before they sustained severe burns.
ALARMING CALL
On alighting from a matatu in Thika, Philister received a call from someone who sounded shaken, and she asked her where she was. On saying she was in Thika, the caller told her to urgently go to St Mulumba Hospital. “By this time, my children had been taken to Kirwara Hospital, where they received first aid from the nurses since the doctors were on strike. They were then referred to St Mulumba Hospital.”
The 15-minute drive to Mulumba, she says, is the longest ride she has ever had. “I could feel something was totally out of place,” she says.
On arriving at the hospital, the first person she saw was her landlord, who broke the news to her before leading her to the ambulance that carried the children. “I looked at them and I broke down. They looked horrible. I could not believe they were my children, whom I had left healthy less than an hour earlier. They were totally burned. I thought I had lost them. They were so bad, I still have that image stuck in my head.”
The children were admitted, but Philister had another hurdle to deal with before settling in to the ward to care of them. She could not stay in the hospital with her six-month-old baby girl. “I was confused but trust me, we still have good people out there. A Good Samaritan I met on the corridors of the hospital offered to take my baby with her until I could get my family to come for her,” she says.
Being an orphan and one of those affected by the 2007-08 PEV, her family lived far from her. “When my mum died, my auntie took me and my siblings in, and we lived in Nakuru’s Majani Mingi before we were displaced in 2007. They later moved to Subukia, where they are until now.”
The Good Samaritan stayed with the baby for three days, after which her auntie came for her.
Philister and her children were put in a room, which they have called home since that incident. It is here that we find her for the interview.
The room is spacious, with two well-made beds draped in white bedsheets written ‘St Matia Mulumba Mission Hospital’. Two blue plastic seats stand in one corner, and a drawer, holding the few clothes well-wishers have donated, stands on another. The room is self-contained, with inbuilt toilet and a bathroom. “The hospital was so kind to offer us this room. We have been in the confines of these four walls for the last 10 months and counting,” she says.
Philister has never returned to the house that burned her children and does not plan to go. “I have never gone there. I mean what would I go for? I lost everything in the fire and almost lost my children. I have no plans of returning to that area,” she says, adding that she doesn’t have the time even to go outside the hospital since she cannot leave the children.
“There is a volunteer who has been going out of her way and she has on several occasions come and given me money to go and buy something for my children as she babysits. Grace is such a darling, my children love her so much.” She says she had forgotten how the outside world looks like and even had her phone stolen the first time she went to Thika town after about six months without leaving the hospital.
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Mark, now six, sustained 30 per cent mixed burns, with Manasseh, now three, sustaining 20 per cent mixed burns. The burns, according to a hospital report, had an inhalation component, which were treated and managed at the time without ICU, on the account of the doctors’ strike at the time of admission.
Mark, who got more burns and was occasionally in pain during our interview, has undergone tarsorrhaphy, a surgical procedure to correct the eye lid to enable him close his eyes. “For the longest time after admission, Mark never used to close his eyes. He even slept with them wide open, which was a bit scary. He had lost the lid, which helps in opening and closing the eyes,” explains the mother.
Manasseh, who is jumpy and very talkative, has also had two surgeries and has responded well to the treatment. The two, however, still require additional surgeries, which the doctors refer to as contructure release and skin grafting, and also aggressive extensive physiotherapy. Midway during the interview, Mark asks to play a game on her mother’s phone, and since his hands are bandaged and cannot function well, he has learnt how to use his feet to do it. The mother adjusts his bed and Mark comfortably picks the phone with his feet and plays with ease using his toes. “Children adjust really fast. I was amazed when I saw Mark doing things with his feet. He sometimes uses his mouth to pick things he needs,” she says.
She however notes that her children, and especially Mark, have developed low self-esteem. “Mark looks at himself in the mirror and starts crying. This breaks my heart,” she said, adding that she is hopeful a volunteer who once visited them will make good her promise to help the children undergo plastic surgery.
NEED FOR PLASTIC SURGERY
Benedict Mwita, the sister in-charge of the hospital, said the children have recovered well and there is “life in them”. However, something needs to be done for their physical appearance. “Going by how they look, they need plastic surgery,” she said.
Benedict congratulated the medical team that has been handling the children since they were admitted. “Mark and Manesseh will remain the St Mulumba pride, showing what we can do with little facility,” she said, adding that the hospital took them in despite the fact that they were ICU cases and the hospital does not have one.
The sister says well-wishers have already contributed and paid close to a million shillings to the hospital, but there is still a huge bill for the two.
While their mother is happy that her children got a new lease of life, she is worried about where to get the more than Sh2 million accumulated and counting.
She hopes to leave the hospital one day and start a new life. “While I really blamed and hated myself for leaving behind my children, some people made it even worse by claiming I burned them. It was very painful hearing people accuse me of such,” Philister says.
She thanks her church and the hospital for standing with her and taking her through counselling as she slowly came to acceptance.
Her advice to any woman out there struggling to make ends meet is never to leave their children alone in the house.
“You would rather struggle with them as you hustle or sacrifice some money for a daycare. It is sad I took the lesson the hard way,” she said.
She says she misses her daughter, whom she has not seen since May, and can’t wait to have her back in her life.
“I hope she will understand why I had to let other people stay with her,” she concludes.