Anne Halako (not her real name) was defiled by her stepfather in 2017 in Tana River County.
She was only 14 at the time and the news of her ordeal spread in the village like wildfire. She had raised the concerns with her mother earlier, but she dismissed her, saying she was jealous of her marriage and was only keen on scuttling it.
When she was abused, the mother tried to elope with the man to hide her, but the police were faster. He was arrested, arraigned, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, life changed for Halako and her siblings after her mother fell out with her, accusing her of breaking her marriage.
Odd jobs
She stopped supporting her, hence the girl had to do laundry for people to survive, while her elder brother helped in the best way he could. Despite the challenges, she managed to score 334 marks in the KCPE exam last year and was called to join a Mombasa-based high school.
For lack of school fees and concern for her sister, she raised money from the manual jobs and joined secondary school. “I studied for two terms, but then I did not have school fees, so I dropped out and decided to focus on raising my younger sister and supporting her with school,” she said.
According to Halako, life has been unfair to her at a tender age, and sometimes she spends the day crying and praying that help may come. Her brother joined the National Youth Service, and she has been left to look after her sister, who will sit her national exam next year.
At night, she stays awake to ensure hyenas don’t invade their house, and when it rains, she acts as a shelter for her sister in the roofless house. “I have fought rapists more than five times in this house, married men have made efforts to rape me, some of them are neighbours, I fight, for I have nobody to protect me.”
Rejected suitors
Ms Halako has become thick-skinned in the face of the tribulations, but her heart is ever praying for a new dawn. Her mother has tried in vain to marry her off to several men, and when she rejects the suitors, more trouble is served on her plate. One of the suitors framed her with arson, a case she is currently battling in court.
Efforts to get help from the local authority have not borne fruit, as she claims the mother, the area’s village head and chief always cook up stories against her. “The last time someone was here to help, my mother spoke like an angel and showed a willingness to support me, but immediately after the guest left, she assured me I would not see the gates of the school ever in my life.”
Efforts by her grandmother to help have been met with hostility from the absentee mother, who shows up to cause a fight, accusing the grandmother of poisoning her children against her.
Halako has been left in misery since then, struggling to provide for her sister and herself. “Mum comes once in three months, she has since remarried and the new husband also does not want to see us, so she is away with the husband most of the time.”
Halako’s only desire is for her and her sister to get a place where they can pursue their dreams in peace. She wants to go back to school but also wishes her sister can advance in life where she can monitor her well-being.
Clings to hope
“I want to be very far away from here, life holds nothing for us in this place, only misery, and death, but I believe there is a better life out there if only I could be a part of it,” she says.
This reporter reached out to Halako’s mother on the phone. She denied all the allegations raised by her daughter. She said her daughter was in school and had only been sent home for fees the week before. She said she was looking for the fees.
But records shared by the school indicate that the girl has been absent for more than one year.
Asked if she was providing for her children, she hung up and instead called the daughter to quarrel with her and threatened her with harsh consequences for opening up to “strangers”.
Halako’s life is a sad tale, but she tells it with a smile of hope, believing that one day, help will come. She wakes up every morning to exercise before going to look for work on the streets.
“I am my security and that of my sister, I have to stay strong, if I don’t exercise, I can’t fight our aggressors,” she says.
The man who raped her promised to revenge on his return. She notes that her mother has been trying to have him released early. With only nine years left, she fears for her life and wishes to leave the village as quickly as possible, never to return.
Tana River Children’s Officer Daniel Waiti promised to follow up on the matter. BY DAILY NATION