The right Spirit: Jacqueline and her husband Robert Kiilu (DJ Kenyan) are hosting homeless families kicked out by landlords in Embakasi, Nairobi, for failure to pay rent. [Saada Hassan, Standard]
Pangs of Coronavirus; their bite is extra-terrible to men and women who live from hand to mouth and youths who rely on their daily hustle to put food on the table.
Same applies to single mothers who rely on meagre wages to feed their toddlers and support their households.
Thirty kilometres from the Nairobi central district sits Ruai. A small growing town that accommodates the rich and poor. It is a new day for Robert Kiilu alias Dj Kenyan to ensure that his visitors are out and about selling their products so that they can afford to pay their rent.
This role was taken up not long ago.
SEE ALSO: Miraa, muguka worth Sh11m torched in Kilifi over fears of Covid-19 spreadEvery month-end is a cat and mouse game between landlords and tenants. At Welkim area in Ruai some landlords sought to evict their tenants for the failure of paying their monthly rent leaving Robert with no choice but to accommodate some of these people in his house.
He is blessed with an understanding, dotting wife Jacqueline Kanyiri and together they are raising a toddler in their 1 bedroom house.
One evening as he was walking towards home, he noticed a young troubled woman sitting outside one of the now-empty shops with a baby on her hands.
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That was not the only day. Days to follow he would meet her at the same spot. She seemed tired, thoughtful and sad as tears welled up her eyes.
Upon enquiry, he discovered that the young woman had been chased out of her house and the landlord had locked her out until the bills were cleared.
SEE ALSO: Bills soar for those in quarantine as they pen emotional letter to CS Kagwe“This lady washes clothes for people at times to sustain her daily meal. After talking to her, I realised that she was not alone, some other women who work with us in the area had also faced the same challenge and were now on the streets with nowhere to lay their heads at night,” said Kiilu
It was a risky affair but his soul would give him no rest had he left the woman to sleep on the street that day. So he talked to his wife.
“My wife and I had done prior shopping when the curfew order was put in place, we knew that the stock would last us for quite some time. I asked my wife to allow us to host some people to alleviate their suffering during this time,” recalls Kiilu.
The wife agreed to share the house with the woman and welcomed other two more guests who had undergone the same plight.
“At first, it was a scary affair, but these women are people I know, they have previously worked for me in helping out with the cleaning of clothes. Seeing them suffering made me want to help them,” said Kiilu’s wife.
SEE ALSO: Atheists want Cardinal Njue, other Catholic clerics arrested for breaching Covid-19 rulesKiilu knew that they would not survive only on the food that was in his house and hosting unfamiliar faces wouldn’t last long since naturally, it would stretch some lines.
“I had to do something and do it fast. So I thought of buying sanitisers and face masks so that I could sell them in the streets together with the women.”
As at now he had taken in two more women who had toddlers with them. His living room had to serve the purpose of a bedroom and a lounge room to these new guests.
Armed with Sh10,000 from his savings he bought the items from a wholesale retailer at Sh70 each for the sanitisers.
“When you bring people to your house you have to find a way of supporting and providing for them before hurting the other party. I bought some sanitisers from the central business district and shared equally among the five women so that they could start selling in the streets,” says Kiilu.
SEE ALSO: Doctor warns against wearing gloves at supermarkets for protection of coronavirusAccording to Jacqueline, they have hosted the women for about seven days now and through their struggles they have learnt to find joys in the little things.
With the comfort of knowing they have somewhere to place their heads at night, the women embarked on this journey to sell the items as their life depended on it, and it did.
The number of people in his household was growing rapidly since he allowed a few helpless needy women to join in. They were now ten women who depended on him to lay their heads and bite something when the day came to an end.
Each person was equipped with 10 bottles of sanitiser and masks to sell in a day.
“The plan simple, we all go to the field to sell the products and what we get at the end of the day we pay one house so that one woman can leave and accommodate one person among those who were now camping at his house,” says Kiilu.
It was hurriedly planned but it worked. Ruai is inhabited by men and women of class but the huge chunk of the population lives in small and less costly houses.
The houses of these women cost about Sh2,500 to Sh 4,000 monthly but their landlords would hear none of it to try and let this month’s rent pass or give them time to clear the bill.
“In two days we had paid the rent for three women and they had left with two women and children leaving behind five. Upon ascertaining that the rent was paid I left them with sanitisers to continue with the business since they could no longer rely on me,” said Kiilu.
The road has not been easy for Kiilu and his wife. He is a gospel artist and lives by this quote “To whom much is given much is expected.”
“I don’t have much and I know all the possible dangers that could happen when you have unknown people in your house but what I can do is share what I have, help where I can and pray”.
Today, his stock is running out and he has to make the trip to the CBD to get the products. The five remaining women are in the field spread across different parts of Ruai hoping to return home with something.
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Related Topics
Coronavirus-KenyaGenerosityHomeless
