A woman whose two children were over the weekend reported to have been hospitalised after eating chameleons in Molo, Nakuru, is now pleading for financial aid to feed her family.
Joyce Chepng’etich, in an interview with a local daily, said the family had gone for days without food.
On the fateful day, the single mother of nine said she had gone out to look for manual jobs to feed the family when their elder brother prepared a potato and chameleon soup for them.
“When I left in the morning, my children were fine. I instructed the eldest to look after the rest as I went looking for food, because we had nothing in the house,” Chepng'etich told Nation.
“I did not find the casual job I had anticipated and so I had to look for an alternative."
When she returned home in the evening she found the two brothers on the floor writhing in pain.
Chameleon soup
Chepng'etich said she was dumbfounded when she found two chameleon heads on the floor as she attended to the children in deep pain.
The eldest son told her he had prepared chameleon soup for them after they spent the whole day crying because of hunger.
“He said he had to feed them the chameleons because they had been crying the whole day, complaining of hunger," the mother said.
With the help of neighbours, the woman rushed the minors to a private clinic in Molo before they were later transferred to Molo-sub County Hospital for specialised medical attention.
Medical officials at the hospital said the minors aged two and four years were treated for food poisoning and are in stable condition.
Chepng'etich pleaded for financial assistance to take care of her family saying she doesn't have food.
"I plead with anyone to help me. I do not have food. The little I earn from the jobs I do daily is not enough to sustain us. I earn Ksh200, which I use for food and other things, but it's not enough for us," Chepng’etich said.
Neighbours said the woman is needy and called any well-wishers to support the single mother to fend for her young family even as it emerged that none of the children attends school due to financial constraints.
"This woman is struggling to feed her children. She leaves the house very early and returns in the evening just to look for food for them,” Janet Keter said.
“As neighbours, we have been helping where we can, but now we are appealing to well-wishers to help her. She is going through a lot."
Economic hardships
Chepng'etich's story paints a picture of the untold suffering many Kenyan families are going through amid the economic crisis that has worsened with the ongoing drought in more than 22 counties.
Residents of Mbeere in Embu County last month appealed to the government to expedite the process of distributing relief food in the region saying they are on the verge of starvation.
According to the locals, most of the families are surviving on wild fruits which are scarce.
The residents said they have not harvested any food in the last three seasons due to prolonged drought.
"We are surviving on wild fruits which are not even enough. With the rain challenges, there are hardly enough here. One has to walk for a long distance to the forest to look for the fruits," Stephen Ngari, a resident of Kiambere said.
Kiambere Ward Representative Lenny Mwaniki said relief food is the only remedy for the hunger situation in the county.
"Wild fruits which locals depend on when the situation is dire are nowhere to be seen let the government come and help the people," Mwaniki said.
