Prison as a residence of choice
What you need to know:
- “Our husbands don’t sleep in the prison nor do they sleep at home. They sleep in the bush because they fear the attackers will return and kill them,” they said.
- “It’s not safe on our farm and we better stay here despite the odds. My first born is in Form Three at Mpeketoni Secondary School and I have to farm so that his studies and those of his siblings are not interrupted,” Ms Misingo, 38, said.
It is late Saturday evening and Mr Godfrey Wanjema Waruingi, 46, and his wife Mary Wambui, 34, are making their way to Hindi Prison in Lamu County to spend the night there.
The family stops at the heavily guarded gate to be screened by armed wardens and are only allowed in on producing their national identity cards.
They are accompanied by their first-born Faith Ngina, 12, and their one-year-old Margaret Nyawira, their second child.
As they walk down a dusty road leading them to a big hall that has become a common rest area, Mr Waruingi narrates how life has changed for his family since the July 5 attacks at Hindi Kibiboni area that left 12 people dead.
“It’s terrible, but what can we do. We only have two choices. Remain on our farm and risk our lives or sleep on the floor of this hall for our safety,” Mr Waruingi told the Sunday Nation.
Every day, the family covers a distance of five kilometres from their home to the prison and back early in the morning.
Their journey to the prison starts at around 3 p.m. so that they can be at the prison’s gate by 5 p.m. for the screening.
They should be out of the prison by 5 a.m. So the Waruingis and other families have to hang around Hindi trading centre for a while until sunrise.
“It’s a tedious cycle. When we get to the house, I have to prepare breakfast and then lunch-cum-supper for my family,” said Wambui, adding that the situation does not allow them to enjoy three meals a day meal like before.
The couple’s neighbour, Mr Stephen Kang’ethe, was killed in the attack two weeks ago and was laid to rest on Saturday. His injured son Samuel Kimani, 24, is recuperating at Kenyatta National Hospital.
“We are just from burying Kang’ethe at his farm, and we don’t wish to meet the same fate. For now we will stay here until security is guaranteed,” said Mr Waruingi.
The father of two moved into the area in 1990 from Kiambu and lived there briefly and then went to work in Kericho until 2007 when the 2007/08 post-election violence displaced him.
“I have six brothers and four sisters. Our parents were among the first upcountry settlers to move to Mpeketoni. Some of my brothers and I moved to live in Hindi, butmake if this situation persists, I might go elsewhere,” he said.
His daughter Ngina, a Standard Five pupil at Joy Academy, has not been to school since that attack and is not sure when classes will resume.
The school is among 14 in Lamu County that have been closed indefinitely.
Ms Margaret Samini Kazungu, 35, and her six children and Ms Lilian Nzani Ngala, 19, and her two children also make the two-hour trek to the prison every evening.
Attackers will kill them
“Our husbands don’t sleep in the prison nor do they sleep at home. They sleep in the bush because they fear the attackers will return and kill them,” they said.
Ms Norin Misingo and her three children were also busy preparing a sleeping place in one corner of the hall.
She told the Sunday Nation that conditions in the hall are unbearable and she is making plans to join her husband, a civil servant based in Kwale County.
“It’s not safe on our farm and we better stay here despite the odds. My first born is in Form Three at Mpeketoni Secondary School and I have to farm so that his studies and those of his siblings are not interrupted,” Ms Misingo, 38, said.
Her 13-year-old daughter Farin Nekeso, a Standard Eight pupil, has not attended school for the past two weeks.
Ms Nekeso is optimistic that security will be enhanced for her to resume learning.
“We hope things will calm down soon, otherwise it will be hard to catch up. Although I study on my own every day, that is not enough. I need help from my teachers,” said Ms Nekeso, a pupil at Saba Saba Academy.
These families are among 3,228 people from Hindi Kibiboni, Malamande and Rhokawho who spend their nights at the Hindi prison.
They say they are not willing to return to their homes despite the heavy deployment of security agencies.
The officer in charge of Hindi Prison Peter Pkemei told the Sunday Nation that the families have been hosted in four halls including the one that houses the Lamu mobile courts.
