21-year-old desperate mother sells one-month-old son after father impregnated her

When someone’s asks what your value is, most of us are guilty of looking at the question in terms of monetary worth. We have heard of cases on several occasions about people who sell their own children. It never bothered me before that someone would sell their own child until recently when I began to understand what the true meaning of value is. We are wired to survive at all costs and by all means but the question is at what price? Imagine if the moment you were born you were sold at sh.30,000? It’s absurd that someone would put a price on an innocent child. But I won’t be the judge of that. Sexual violence is not an easy event to stomach much less when it results to pregnancy. The damning weight of that situation is what has seen many young girls being forced to sell their own children in order to survive financially.

Jane Muriuki a resident in Nakuru had all her dreams crushed when she was impregnated by her biological father. She had just turned 21 years old when her life took a turn at the beginning of 2017.

She lived in a small house with her mother and father as her elder brother worked to ensure that all their needs were met. Jane at the time had already completed her secondary education (She began school late) and was waiting to enroll in a college as soon as they had raised enough money. Meanwhile, she stayed at home helping around the house.

One day in Mid-January when she was all alone in the house her father came in and forced himself on her. She tried to resist but she received heavy blows. When she told her mother, she was told that she should stop imagining things and not talk ill of her own father. It became a norm for her father to force himself on her and have sexual intercourse with her. He never even put on a condom. Jane was depressed as her mother continuously ignored and would even hit her and tell her that she is an adult whenever she told her what her father was doing.

Jane’s father Molested and raped her for two months. Later in February Jane became ill and went to the hospital where she was confirmed pregnant. Aside from being pregnant, she was also infected with HIV.

When her mother realized that Jane was pregnant she kicked her out of their home. Her father who was responsible did not even want to hear anything about Jane. It was her brother who helped her out by renting her a place and giving her money to support herself

When she gave birth, Jane felt so much anger and despair seeing as she had hoped to go to school and not become a parent much less giving birth to a son sired by her own father. She was in pain because her father destroyed her life and her mother abandoned her. One month after she gave birth, she brought the baby to the hospital. Her baby weighed 1.68Kg. Jane seemed unconcerned with her child’s well-being. When she was asked by the nurse, she said she didn’t care about feeding the child and was contemplating on selling the child.

It was obvious she was detached from her child because even when he cried at the hospital, Jane never bothered to comfort him. Jane said she wanted to sell her baby so that she can at least have money to start a business to support herself. When told about taking the child to an orphanage, Jane said that they should pay her to leave the child there. She went ahead and said, that she is willing to give the child to the government so long as they pay her.

This is just one of the many cases where a woman is at a point of despair and would rather sell her own child to survive. My problem is with the people behind it. The men and women who take advantage and molest children or young men and women. What is being done about it? Some people ignore the plight of their own children when they report they are being sexually abused by a close relative. Maybe it’s because they are afraid of that truth. Well, it’s about time we stop hiding behind a perfect culture and home and break the silence against Gender-Based Violence.