Love For the Internally Displaced Persons
By Rtn Elizabeth Ndungu
Rotary Club of Nakuru in partnership with Gilani’s supermarket recently donated food and bedding to assist vulnerable Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) at Athinai IDP Camp, Rongai Subcounty of Nakuru County. The intervention on 16th September 2021, saw the two partners visit the camp and donate food, mosquito nets, blankets, and mattresses to the community.
Athinai camp is not a political camp but people who were employed to work in a sisal farm in the area. This farm was auctioned and all workers were laid off. Some of them became squatters after they too were chased out of the said farm. These people called this farm their “home” and most of them were born and grew up there. Having nowhere to live the squatters moved out first and settled in the market place and since they were a big number, the market closed down so as to accommodate this large number of squatters.
After a needs assessment visit by Rotarians led by club president Joab Okello , it was found out that the camp has been in existence for the last 3 years with approximately 70 families living in dilapidated shacks built close to each other and made of polythene. It has very old men and women who depend entirely on donations. The few strong ones go to look for casual jobs in the nearby Marigat Centre. The majority of the children spend their day in the camp as they are unable to go to school. There is a dire need for water and sanitation interventions, as well as the need for medical attention for children and the elderly. Most of all they live in deplorable conditions in a mosquito-invested area. Most of them had no beds, mattresses, blankets nor mosquito nets. Worst of all, there is the scarcity of food as well.
Okello called for the need for collaboration among well-wishers to uplift the lives of these vulnerable families. “We cannot do it alone. We call on well-wishers to step in and through partnership, we can do more”, he concluded.
The visit by Rotary Club of Nakuru in partnership with Gilanis Supermarket gave the locals some hope in line with Rotary theme ‘Serve to change lives’ and “ONE LOVE’’
