70-year-old ventures into stone-crushing to earn living

 70-year-old Philister Juma at her site in Kadianga village in Nyakach, Kisumu County where she crushes stones to earn a living. [PHOTO: COLLINS ODUOR/ STANDARD]

Kisumu, Kenya: Every morning Philister Juma makes way to her usual working place; a place she has called office for many years. Her job, hitting and breaking the hard rocks along Papa Onditi-Sondu road, is not an easy one for a woman her age.

At 70 years, not many may engage in energy draining activities or wake up as early as Ms Juma does, and worst still, physically crush ballast.

Her old age and slow pace paints a picture of exhaustion and loss of hope in life, which she previously cherished. But it is her determination that keeps her at par with other villagers working on the mine.

Every time she sees young and energetic men and women pass by her work place, she curses her days as a mother and wishes God would have given her only late son more years to live so that he could take care of her especially after her husband passed on.

The business of crushing rocks to make ballast is feared and loathed in the same measure by many, including the young and energetic men of Kabong'o village in Kadiang'a.

Juma has, however, mastered the art and has held on to the business after it dawned on her that she had no more next of kin to depend on.

the business less than a decade ago after her only son died, leaving her wallowing in grief and quagmire, few years after she lost her husband.

She had seen people reap big from the business but felt the wrath of exhaustion in the same measure. At first, she never imagined she could manage to lift a piece of rock, which is excavated along the hills of Nyabondo plateau, but with time, she has managed to keep up to the challenges.

She remembers vividly how she spent two nights without a meal at one time. She had no one to provide for her and this made her think outside the box in order to keep food on her table.

She previously engaged in domestic duties within the village, which earned her few coins. Her old age has, however, worked against her with most 'employers' being discriminative against her for fear of being unable to perform.

Health challenges

When The Standard caught up with Juma at her work place in Nyakach sub-county, she breathed a sigh of relief thinking God had sent an angel to save her from the agony of breaking stones.

She was, however, disappointed as we explained we had gone to listen to her story on why she had chosen to venture into the risky job, especially at her age.

"I do not enjoy being here but life has forced me. I have no other avenue of keeping food on my table, neither do I have a husband or a son to fend for my needs and this is the only job I can do without any qualification," said the old lady.

 

She said it takes her two weeks to crash ballast, which fills a lorry. The journey to fill the lorry which costs barely Sh2,500 is, however, tiresome and needs some amount of investment.

Juma pays the quarry owner between Sh200 to Sh500 to be allowed to extract a lorry of ballast. She also pays young men between Sh300 to Sh600 to help her dig out the huge rocks and get them out from the quarry to the roadside where she crashes them.

This leaves her with almost half the cost of her ballast for her labour, but she does not regret as she has something to eat at the end of the day. She also supplements the earning with some little harvesting she gets from her small garden. The harvest is, however, unpredictable given that the harsh Nyakach weather, which barely supports crop maturity.

The job, however, has numerous health challenges, especially to the old like Juma. Her back constantly aches due to long hours she spends sitting as she works. The scorching sun and various injuries she sustains while at work makes her life more difficult.