Baringo parents confine mentally ill son for 12 years to avoid stigma

22 year old Kibitany Rotich (seated) and his mother Eunice Tungo standing outside the hut where Rotich has been hidden for the past 12 years in Kaptoin villge, Kipsaraman ,Baringo County. [PHOTO: KIPSANG JOSEPH/STANDARD]

BARINGO COUNTY: In the bed he has been confined to for 12 tormenting years, 22-year-old Kibitany Rotich reluctantly raises his hand to ward off a swarm of flies making a bee-line into the fresh wounds inflicted by jiggers on his toes.

The dead silence that welcomes us into the mud-walled rickety hut at Kaptoin Village in Kipsaraman, Baringo North district in Baringo County, in which Rotich has been confined, paints a picture of suffering, pain and neglect.