Rising cost of living hits mothers in Mathare hard

She neatly plucked the leaves from the stalk and put them in a basin, leaving behind the slimy leaves that had soaked in water.

“Life is very tough! Surviving is exhausting,” Joan Apiyo said taking a long pause, her fingers, not stopping.

“I went to visit a friend and she gave me these vegetables which will sustain us today. Tomorrow, will sort itself out”.

44-year-old Apiyo and her husband Alex Ochieng’, 47, moved to Mabatini area in Mathare, Nairobi after they were locked out of their house early this year.

“Here rent is Sh1,800, but we are still struggling to pay. Very often, we are faced with the dilemma of whether to pay rent or get a meal,” she said, ushering us to a jerrican that doubled up a seat.

The house was the first in a row of four corrugated iron-sheet structures that faced each other. Inside, was a single-seater chair, a bed, and a cooking area, with the items overlapping their designated positions.

“When it rains, it leaks so we move the bed near the kitchen where there are fewer holes on the roof,” Ochieng’ explained pointing at the rusty rooftop that was punctuated with tiny holes.

SH100 NOW TOO LITTLE

Some few years back, the couple lived together with their five children and though they admit that even then life was tough, they cannot compare it to recent times.

“When I get Sh100 today, I do not know what to do with it because, it cannot buy you a complete meal,” Ochieng’ said.

The cost of living in Kenya hit a record high this year pushing the already struggling citizens beyond capability.

The annual inflation rate in Kenya rose to 7.9 per cent in June of 2022, breaching the upper limit of the Central Bank of Kenya’s target range of 2.5 per cent -7.5 per cent for the first time since August 2017.

This led to an exponential rise in the price of fuel, food, and basic commodities, leading to the birth of kadogo economy which sustains women in informal settlements who do not have a consistent source of income.

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Apiyo’s family fits squarely in the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, that detailed the increased number of people living below a dollar a day after Kenya has recorded the highest cost of living since 2017.

To eke a living, Apiyo goes to Eastleigh to pack outside people’s apartments with the hope that she will be called in to do some house chores.

“You get between Sh200 and 500 for laundry and Sh50 to wash utensils. In recent times, those jobs are very rare to come by,” she said.

Today, however, Apiyo fully relies on her husband who finds casual jobs at construction sites. She is expecting their sixth child and explained that the hard work is impossible on an empty pregnant stomach.

“Back then I would go to a construction site and do manual jobs like offloading cement into a truck or waiting for whatever role the foreman assigned me,” she noted.

She continued, “If I do that it is my unborn baby who will bear the brunt. Babies do not knock. Where you are suffering that is when they show up”.

Apiyo has resigned her unborn child to fate. After all, she does not know where two of her five children are. One is sponsored for vocational training.

The other two, she said live with their grandparents in Busia Cunty where they go around scavenging for charcoal that had fallen off during loading for transportation and sell it to put a meal on the table.

For more than a year, Apiyo has never set her eyes on her two children or heard from them. She had dropped them off at her mother’s home in Busia where they struggled to make ends meet.

“I heard that the elder child, now 24, left with a younger one to go to Uganda in search of food. To date, I have never heard from them,” she said.

Her husband while regretting not being able to live together with all their children hopes they are safe and that fate will bring them back one day.

“We do not have money to move around looking for them, so we just sit and wait,” he said, “I hope they are safe, though I wonder what kind of life they are living”.

He added, “Children need guidance from their parents. They need to be celebrated and motivated by their parents, but poverty took that away from us”.

WALLOWING IN POVERTY

Handymen at the construction site are paid between Sh450 and 60 per day. The job, however, is not guaranteed and Ochieng’ often has to leave at the break of dawn hoping to be accepted.

According to his estimated budget, Ochieng’ said to sustain his family comfortably, he needs at least Sh700 a day.

“For breakfast, I need around Sh150 to buy at least a quarter kilo of sugar, milk, mandazi, water, and kerosene,”

He added, “For lunch and dinner, I need at least Sh280 to buy Unga, salad, Omena, tomatoes and onions, and Kerosene”.

“I had a business some years back. I would buy clothes from Gikomba and take them home where I hawked for a higher price. The business however eventually failed as it was not sustainable.

Ochieng’ believes his previous marriage got him into poverty but the high cost of living has kept him there, dragging him into murkier waters.

“Even when I adjust my budget to the minimum and work harder, it results in nothing,” he said.

He compared the spending power of Sh100 accorded him five years ago to today stating that, with the high cost of living, it is not only impossible to save but extremely strenuous to afford a meal.

“Back then, Unga was Sh50, vegetable for Sh20 was enough for a meal and there was cooking oil for Sh20. You could budget with Sh100,” he said.

If he had a house in his village, he would have moved his family there because he has a garden where he can farm for a living.

Strathmore University Business School’s Economic Symposium held in July 2022 to deliberate on the Kenyan economy to be better prepared to navigate the external shocks caused by a global economic slowdown, snarled post-COVID-19 supply chains, rapidly rising production costs, and the prospect of global food insecurity caused by a war in Ukraine.

“The world as a whole is facing substantial inflationary headwinds. Global inflation is forecast to reach 7.9 per cent in 2022, more than doubling the 2001-2019 global annual average of 3.8 per cent. At best, the economic future appears cloudy with the horizon darkening even more with the prospect of another global recession,” noted Dr. Thomas Kibua, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya.

Global inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic have all had knock-on effects on Kenya. These have been compounded by local issues such as persistent budget deficits and poor financial governance.

Lydia Andoto stays a few blocks from Apiyo’s house with her two children aged two and nine months.

Around February this year, her husband left for work but never returned. Friends and neighbours tell the wife that they meet the husband, a cart puller, around the market center.

“His friends tell me that he hides when he sees me. That he left because he could no longer continue providing for us due to the tough economy,” said Andoto.

The 29-year-old narrated how she would go with her month-old baby to do house chores in Eastleigh in order to fend for the family.

“When she turned three months, I would leave them both in a daycare where I paid Sh30 for each of them,” she said.

“The daycare owner also sells food and she would give them on credit allowing me to pay her when I got cash”.

She is a total orphan, but she hopes to get some money and go live with her brother who is left in their home in Bungoma.

“I have debts in every shop around here, and they tire of giving me food on credit. When things are so tough, I borrow a handful of Unga from the neighbour and use it to make porridge for my children,” she said.

WATER CRISIS

The Star met 65-year-old Sellah Adhiambo in her house in Mathare at around 11 am as she hurriedly washed clothes before she could leave for the market. She would not air them because she had no cash to buy water.

“I hope to get Sh20 for 20-liter jerrican of water and some cash for food. Here, nothing is free, not even a toilet,” she informed us.

The United Nations classifies Kenya as a water-scarce country since it has less than 1000 cubic metres per capita of renewable freshwater supplies.

Numerous factors, including global warming, contamination of drinking water and a lack of investment in water resources have aggravated the water crisis in Kenya.

Adhiambo stays with her two grandchildren, in a single-room iron sheets house. She shares her two-inch bed with her three-year-old grandchild while the other grandchild who is in grade seven sleeps in a two-seater chair.

She hawks clothes from Gikomba and sells vegetables in the evening to take care of her family but has not been able to pay school fees for the elder grandchild.

“In a day, I make Sh200 which all goes to unga. So most days, I buy Unga and kerosene and prepare porridge for my grandchildren,” she said.

The elder grandchild, whose parents died when he was just two years old left her under the care of her grandmother.

“Things were better and I would make enough to feed us and pay school fees for my grandchild who goes to a private school in the area,” she said, “However now she has been out of school for the entire term due to lack of school fees”.

Adhiambo revealed that living in the slums, they had to pay for everything including toilets and bathrooms.

“We buy 20 litre jerrican of water at Sh15. To use the toilet, we pay Sh10 and between 15 and 20 to use the bathroom,” she said.

BACK TO VILLAGE

Millicent Ludiya, 40, who does house chores in Eastleigh, was forced to send her two children to the village just before the elections as she could no longer take care of them.

Most days, she only eats one meal: githeri bought at Sh30, a sachet of two tablespoons of sugar at Sh20, and kerosene for Sh30 which she uses to make tea.

“When I make Sh200, I send at least Sh100 to the village to take care of my children. I work for them, so even when I sleep hungry, I don’t care as long as they are taken care of,” she said.

Ludiya goes to wash utensils in restaurants if she does where she is paid Sh50.

John Kaguchia, an economist, a human rights lawyer, and MP for Mukurueini, said economic and social rights are guaranteed in article 43 of the Constitution.

“The Constitution implores the government to use its legislative policies and other measures to ensure that it is progressively achieving these constitutionally guaranteed human rights,” he said.

The new government has indicated that it will resuscitate the big four agenda which will provide adequate housing, water, and other basic human rights.

“President William Ruto during MPs induction detailed how his government will build affordable housing where he will move the slum population,” he said.

“This will help our people lead a life with dignity. The achievement will be progressive but eventually, millions of people will benefit from the plan, not just in Nairobi but beyond,” he added.

Kaguchia said as it is now, people living in informal settlements end up spending more though they earn wages below what is recommended.

“People in the slums do not just pay rent. They pay for many other basic services including sanitation. They pay for toilet, bathroom, water, and other basic amenities,” he said.

Kaguchia said the government approach to subsidizing producers instead of consumers will reduce the cost of living.

“The consumers will benefit from the transfer of the low cost of production if the manufacturers are empowered.”

This story was produced by the Star Publications in partnership with WAN-IFRA Women in News Social Impact Reporting Initiative.