A Galloway woman on a solo humanitarian mission to Kenya’s fourth largest city will return to Scotland early next week.
Ann Todd is currently working with local people eking out a living around a dump site in a neighbourhood of Nakuru.
She is meeting up with some of the families and individuals helped by fundraising efforts in Galloway during the Covid pandemic.
Travel bans meant Ann has not been able to get back to Nakura for two years.
But over that time she sold hundreds of items handmade in Nakura or by herself at the Barholm Arts and Crafts Cooperative in Creetown and car boot sales to boost Project Nakura coffers.
She flew into Nairobi last Tuesday before travelling on to Nakura to discover life had got even harder for many.
Ann, from Wigtown, said: “I see changes already, many of the roadside stalls lie empty and abandoned.
“Covid has hit hard and people are struggling for money as work, a lot of it tourist-related, has dried up. The structure of the dump site is changing here.
“Fences have been erected to keep people out but the families still live in shelters built from anything they can find to put a roof over their heads.
“All the time they are inhaling the putrid smoke that wafts across the whole area from the waste that is burning on the dump site on a daily basis. It is a wonder anyone survives here.”
Ann called on many people whose lives have been made a little easier by donations from Galloway.
Her gifts also included three copies of the previous week’s Galloway News featuring some of Nakura’s people.
People visited included 21-year-old Samuel, who sustained a broken leg in a motorcycle accident in 2019.
“He is still awaiting corrective surgery and we have been able to support him by covering the cost of hospital and clinic visits,” Ann said.
Nehemiah, meanwhile, is paralysed down his left side after suffering a stroke four years ago.
Ann said: “He sits alone in his compound reading whilst his wife scavenges on the dump site.
“He requires physiotherapy to improve his mobility.
“Yunis, a fruit seller, works from her wheelchair selling bananas.
“We recently bought a new wheelchair for her as her old one was in a dilapidated condition.”
“We also visited Emmanuel, 16 and Precious, 11, a brother and sister who both suffer severely from cerebral palsy.
“Emmanuel loves school but is only able to attend every alternate day.
“His spine can’t support him well and he suffers great tiredness and strain.
“Precious was involved in a motorcycle accident last August and has been unable to attend school at all since.
“She is barely able to sit up now and her mother, Lillian, carries the children when they need to be moved around.”
Ann called in to see Hope, who also suffers cerebral palsy but has been helped to walk more easily after receiving splints and at the dump site met Wambui who has been treated for breast cancer – but can’t afford to pay for follow up checkups.
Ann also visited the FLIP Workshop where young girls and women who have been abused and violated receive a meal daily whilst attending the craft training workshop.”
She added: “If ever you are having a bad day and complaining when something hasn’t gone to plan please take a little time to think of those whose days are a constant struggle, who receive no support from benefits or others, and who never complain about their lot.”
