His love for alcohol was unmatched. In fact, he sold his land in Eldama Ravine just to get money to buy chang’aa.
And after years of drinking, 70-year-old Kiplagat arap Tek of Tumon village today has nothing. He also ended up with a condition that disabled him.
As if that were not enough, his wife and children deserted him, unable to put up with is behaviour anymore. Now doctors say he must undergo surgery to walk again, his condition worsened by jigger infestation.
Tears roll down his cheeks as he narrates his story. Tek says his troubles started in 2012 when he lost his ability to walk. Doctors could not restore him. He was later informed only surgery could help him. He could afford food, let alone money to pay hospital bills.
“I had been warmed against drinking but I didn’t listen. Now I have been reduced to a pauper. I move around by crawling. It’s horrible,” says Tek.
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PLASTIC CUP
“Doctors say I have a disease that can kill me anytime. I sold my land and now I have nothing. I urinate on myself and do everything while seated. There is no one to help me,” Tek says from his dilapidated mud house.
His only possessions are a plastic cup, a crushed kettle and a dirty sufuria abandoned next to the fire place.
However, brewing and selling illicit brews is the order of the day in nearly all villages in Poror sub-county. It is not unusual to find an entire family engaged in selling chang’aa. Locals blame it on unemployment and poverty. Illiteracy levels are also high in the region.
Villagers are said to hunt liquor the way a lion hunts its prey. They move from one village to another in search of chang’aa.
Police have not made the situation any better. They have been accused of allowing brewers to carry out their trade after receiving bribes, sometimes in form of liquor.
Those interviewed said poverty has driven them into drinking, It is the only way they drown their sorrows, even if momentarily.
Tek’s problem is not unique to him. For five years, Tabarno Kimoei would be drunk 24 hours a day. She would start her day with alcohol and end it in a similar fashion.
One day, she broke her hip joint after falling on a rock while drunk. She was on her way home after having one too many.
“I had so many problems and I was so stressed because my husband and children were jobless. This even caused me ulcers. I would hide in alcohol, it helped me forget my problems,” says the elderly Kimoei.
Two weeks ago, Miriam Kobilo, 59, was wheeled home after doctors at Eldama Ravine County Hospital declared her liver was no more.
A Good Samaritan, Rev Lawrence Bomet, stumbled on her under a tree. She could not talk or walk. He took her to hospital.
He sister-in-law Anna Salkong says Kobilo has been sick for some time now. “She lost her sight and her body was swollen as a result of drinking,” said Salkong who was traced to a drinking den.
A glass of chang’aa goes for between Sh50 and Sh100. By sunrise, most chang’aa dens are open and with plenty of customers.
Patrick Baskwony, regrets the trouble she caused her mother when he used to drink. “She had to carry me to the house all by her self whenever I collapsed on the way.”
Lembus Council of Elders chairman Joseph Leboo blames consumption of chang’aa on local police. “We need an overhaul of police,” he says.
County Commissioner Peter Okwanyo has warned local administrators against colluding with brewers. “You don’t expect me to talk about the matter again. If you don’t end chang’aa business, then consider yourself jobless,” he said.
