My parents’ faith will cost me my feet or my life

By Paul Gitau

The little boy stares at the ceiling then at his rotting feet, which lie lifeless as though abandoned by their owner.

He does not know the hour, but he knows this is the day doctors at Malindi District Hospital are coming to end his pain. Well, sort of.

Amani Karisa is to have his feet cut off to save his life. If doctors don’t amputate above the ankle right away, gangrene caused by a jigger infestation will keep spreading.

Soon it would take his legs and then his life.

Amani Karisa, 12, at Malindi District Hospital where he will have his feet amputated due to a severe jigger infection. [PHOTOS: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

Karisa is only 12 and, therefore, has little say over his health care.

His parents, who have begun jail terms at Mtangani Prison, refused to seek medical help because their faith does not permit it. Who made this rule? Karisa’s father, the head of the Imani Moja Church.

And so for two years, as they prayed for a miracle, Karisa has been lying in bed most of the day, unable to go to school.

Early Treatment

The jiggers that had immobilised him could have been prevented with closed shoes. Or treated early when the parasitic fleas had just burrowed into his skin. But they were not. Karisa lies desperate on the

hospital bed, writhing in great pain. He says he wishes the world would come to an end. He is shocked to learn his parents are in jail.

Area chief Bartholomew Ngumbao and Administration Police officers rescued the boy from their Kijiwetanga home last week.

Mr Ngumbao said they received a tip off from neighbours that the boy had dropped out of school after he was infested with jiggers and has been bedridden for more than a year.

When the administrators visited the homestead, they found the infection was so severe, the boy could not stand up or walk. He was taken to the Malindi District Hospital where he was admitted for treatment.

Karisa’s mother Dhahabu, caused drama at the DC’s office as she tried to prevent her child from getting treated.

Against Our Faith

"Kila mtu ana imani yake, hata nyinyi. Mimi imani yangu hairuhusu kumpeleka hospital hata mkanilazimisha," she said. "Na kama mtampeleka nyinyi kama serikali, mtampeleka kwa imani yenu, sio kwa imani yangu ama yake (We all have our beliefs. My faith does not allow me to take him to hospital. If your officers insist on taking him, that will go against what he and I believe)." Doctors had a rough time convincing Amani to take medicine. The boy kept saying that if he did, he would suffer untold consequences.

"We had to force him to take medicine," a nurse at ward where he is admitted said.

Dhahabu claimed she got ‘tired’ of medicine after losing several children to childhood illnesses.

She says things worked out after she sought God’s intervention and joined the Imani Moja Church.

"Since then I, my husband and all my five children have never gone to hospital," she claimed. "When anyone fell ill, we prayed and God answered our prayers."

The boy’s father, ‘Bishop’ Joseph Karisa Gona, said healing only comes from God and no one could change his belief. The two were arrested and charged at the Malindi Law Courts on Friday last week with cruelty and child neglect.

‘Bishop’ Gona, who appeared before Malindi Resident Magistrate Mrs Caroline Ocharo, pleaded not guilty and stood his ground saying nothing will convince him to change his beliefs.

He was charged that between September last year and August 10, at Msabaha sub-location, Malindi District, he neglected his parental responsibility by failing to take his son for medical attention.

The magistrate jailed him for two years saying his beliefs were totally unacceptable in today’s society and described the act as inhuman.

"Healing comes from God and death is natural. I believe the child would recover by God’s grace," Karisa said in court. The bishop’s wife was sentenced to serve one year in jail or pay Sh40,000. She had pleaded with the court for mercy and declared that she had abandoned her faith as it was misleading. The two are now serving time the Malindi Mtangani Prison. Malindi District Medical Of-ficer of Health Morris Buni said the jiggers have completely damaged the boy’s toes.

Dr Buni said they administered antibiotics but there was no improvement.

Rotten Bones

"We have taken him for an Xray to establish the extent of the damage," he said.

The DMOH said the toes and bones were rotten and the feet must be amputated to save him.

"We are planning to amputate his two feet to save the other parts from infection, he said. Buni noted jigger menace in the district was high, saying many parents shied away from medication thereby complicating the situation.

He appealed to the public to stop retrogressive beliefs of not seeking medical attention.

 

Read all about: Amani Karisa jiggers Mtangani Prison Imani Moja Church

 

 

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