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The father of twin boys whose mother died due to excessive bleeding last week at a city hospital has to chew gum and scale stairs at the same time.
Robert Omondi is trying to strike a delicate balance between grief, caring for his infants and meeting his bills.
The 29-year-old man from Kadem, Migori, lost his 28-year-old wife Maurine Anyango to excessive bleeding that went on for close to two days, allegedly unattended at Mama Lucy hospital in the city where she delivered the twins.
The boys have since been admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital pediatric ward for jaundice treatment.
Omondi tells the Star that even as he is figuring out how to process his bereavement and attend to the infants, his mind is firmly focused on the future.
His wife delivered under the Linda Mama programme and hence was not charged a penny at the hospital.
But the tragedy that befell him wiped off all the relief this gesture could have had.
“At the time my wife died last Thursday, Kiambu Level Five hospital had given me a bill of Sh11,600. They told me that morgue charges would be Sh500 per day for the first five days. The five days end today (Monday). Each day after that I would be charged Sh700,” he said.
Omondi told the Star that his extended family members had settled on September 29 as the date of getting the body from the morgue for burial the following day in his rural home.
“So the morgue will charge me Sh700 daily till September 29,” he said.
Besides this, his mind is also focused on the cost of treatment for the children. But even more, stressing is how he will care for the delicate little boys.
“I’m just a vendor of smokies and chapati on the roadside at Fedha estate. My income is so meager that I cannot afford a nanny for the children as I go out to fend for them,” he said.
Omondi says he depends on donations from well-wishers to buy the diapers for the children as well and baby formula to feed them.
“Since they were born I have never rested. I have always been on the move. Well-wishers and strangers have been sending me small donations to help me buy diapers and food,” he said.
“Some even bring the diapers for which I’m very grateful. But I’m asking myself, how will it be when the dust settles down?”
As he attends to the current issues, he said, he has had to stop his business, living on the donations.
“If I can find any job to do and earn better, I can care for the children without depending on anybody,” he said.
Omondi said he studied Human Resource Management at Kenyatta University but did not finish his studies due to fee challenges.
He said the office of Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja had reached out to him to visit his house and that he is hoping for his help.
“They had asked that I send them a pin to my house. I hope I meet the governor himself because I would ask him for a job, not even money,” he said. BY THE STAR