By Ramadhan Rajab

As the ‘Mercy Train’ snakes its way to the final lap of delivering food to the hungry, accounts from the beneficiaries are humbling.

On Friday, the train left Nairobi for Kisumu. Our first stop was at Longonot in Naivasha, to a reception of

anxious and exhausted villagers.

Suswa Residents at the food distribution point on Friday. Photo: Evans Habil/Standard

"We have been saved from hunger," Mr John Kanjaa,79, tells The Standard on Sunday upon arrival.

He is lying on the ground to a rest. Through a translator, the old man says he left his house in the wee hours of the morning and walked for hours.

He arrived at the food distribution point at One O’clock.

"I left my house in Kijabe, in the morning at seven when I heard the training was coming. I got here hungry and tired," he says.

He says he has been depending on family and well wishers to feed him. Though hunger seems to have

robbed him of his energy, he prays the rains are sufficient to grow food.

"I don’t want to beg for food again," says Kanjaa.

Mary Mbugua, 76, interrupts our talk with Karanja," Mtoto wangu ambia wale wametuleta msaada huu ahsante sana. Njaa ilikuwa inatu ua, (My son, tell whoever donated this food we are grateful. We were dying of hunger").

She, too, like Kanjaa wants to feed herself.

Mary’s plea to the Government is: "Give us seeds and fertiliser. We don’t want the rains to go to waste."

She says the future of food security depends on when the Government gratewill fence off the Longonot National Park.

Mary says animals stray from the park and destroy their crop.

After 20 minutes of offloading the relief food, the train snakes through the mountainous Longonot and

comes to a halt at Suswa.

Here, there are long queues of people standing in the sun patiently waiting for what could be their supper.

"This is a reprieve for my people. We are thankful, for this compassionate Tuungane Tuokoe Maisha initiative," Naivasha DO Timothy Nderitu, says.

The DO says though no one died of hunger in the district, many need food aid.

The train captain picks the token carrier – authority to proceed – and hoots, we all jump into our wagons.

After ten minutes we stop at Kariandusi to cheers from waiting residents.

They say they have been waiting for the train since dawn.

Josephat Kuria, 10, is among the crowd. He says his parents abandoned him in December.

His torn shoes and clothes indicate he has seen worse days. Kuria talks less and when he does, is to tell of his life in the last five months.

He says his parents left him and his brother at Karagita, Naivasha.

" Walituacha eti wanaenda kutafuta

chakula, na hawa kurudi tena,

(They said they were going to look for food but they never came back".)

After a month his brother left for Narok and never came back.

Kuria partly lives with a neighbour and on the streets.

The ‘Mercy Train’ leaves for Kariandusi at 4pm and stops at Mbaruk amid cheers from sack-waving villagers; old and young.

To illustrate their desperation, they have arrived on bicycles, handcarts and wheelbarrows each hoping to get a share for today and perhaps days to

come.

Leaning on her walking stick, Margaret Wanjiku, 92, says she has gone for three days without food.

She says she was too weak to walk but the thought of food gave her some energy.

"When my son told me the Standard/KTN train was coming, I said I had to come," she says through her

son Njuguna, 58.

"This a miracle and we are grate ful, I know today she will have food and she won’t die," Njuguna says with his eyes fixed on the cargo being offloaded.

His plea to the Government is for better water, agriculture, and land policies so that the country can cultivate enough food.

"Our leaders should come out. They hold the key to the future of this country in terms of food security. We need them to make laws to help us.

We do not want to keep begging for food," he says.

The next stop is Mbaruk. The lash green terrain could be misleading, but residents say they cannot grow enough food.

"It is lack of seeds that has caused this problem," says a resident waving a sack. This season they have only planted beans because there are no maize seeds and most of them cannot afford.

"This is a waste. Next year we shall still need your help because the problems will be the same," Jane Wairimu says.

The last stopover was Kisumu where the ‘Mercy Train’s’ mission to feed the hungry reached the final

lap.