Covid-19 triples load for women with disabilities

Ms Damaris Njoki and Ms Mercy Awiti may be kilometres apart but the effects of Covid-19 pandemic have not spared them, especially because they are living with disabilities.

Ms Njoki from Nakuru County depends on crutches to move around while Ms Awiti, who delivered a baby boy end of March and hails from Kilifi County, has a hearing impairment.

As millions of Kenyans reel in socio-economic difficulties presented by the pandemic, women with disabilities have become even more vulnerable.
For years, Ms Njoki had been selling flower vases in Langa Langa estate and from a profit of Sh1,500 daily, she would sustain herself and her family. But when the pandemic hit, she was forced to close shop.

“Business got disrupted abruptly and I was forced to come back home. I sit here all day because in my condition, I cannot hawk my wares,” says the mother of two.

Currently, she says, she is behind with her rent since March and although her landlord has been kind enough not to evict her, she is worried about the accumulating debt.

“Every day I am incurring expenses as the debt grows because I am also unable to pay soft loans I got from friends,” she says.

Expensive sanitisers

With the stiff hygiene regulations brought about by Covid-19, Ms Njoki says her family uses a multi-purpose soap to wash their hands and do general cleaning in the house, since sanitisers are way too expensive.

After her electricity was disconnected early May for non-payment of bills, she keeps herself informed on Covid-19 briefings through a rechargeable radio which costs her Sh60 as recharging fee every six days.

Occasionally, she receives food donations from friends and well-wishers and is sometimes forced to share with other vulnerable persons in her locality.
“Every day, about five women who either have some form of disability or are caregivers of children with disabilities visit me asking for food. I am forced to share what I have,” she says.

She laments over lack of support from government for people living with disabilities, noting that they are likely to suffer from hunger and indefinite psychological distress.

Ms Awiti, 29, says the pandemic has not only made life difficult but denied her the pomp and celebrations that come with a new born baby.

Home delivery

“I gave birth two weeks after the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Kenya and when I was discharged, I went home and have since never received visitors to welcome my baby for the fear of contracting the virus,” she says, through a sign-language interpreter. 

At first, there was scant information on the virus and many women especially in Mombasa County’s Mtwapa, where Ms Awiti lives, kept off hospitals.
“I was between a rock and a hard place and did not know whether I should go to hospital or deliver at home. There were rumours and the fear of being contained in hospital to be tested was spreading like wild fire.

“Many women in the village risked their lives and some delivered at home,” she says, adding that when her labour pains started, she was rushed to hospital, thanks to her relatives.

Save for Mercy who gave birth in hospital, health officials have expressed concern over the reduced number of women seeking healthcare from hospitals for fear of coronavirus.

Kilifi Health CEC Dr Anisa Omar says many mothers are putting their lives and that of their children at risk by not going to hospital for delivery and treatment.

“The numbers have reduced both in private hospitals and public hospitals. Women are not coming for family planning, pre- and post-natal clinic visits which are important,” says Dr Omar who added that many birth complications have been reported as mothers preferred giving birth at home.

She urges those with emergencies to call the hospital toll-free number for an ambulance to take them to hospital.
Taking care of a new-born has not been easy for Ms Awiti as most well-wishers who supported her now say they have no money.

Worse still, she had to incur extra costs buying her baby new clothes from the shop following warnings that cheaper second hand clothes could possibly carry coronavirus.

She has missed relief food distribution thrice because she could not risk going out with her now three-month-old baby.

When Nation met her, Mercy was receiving donations from Hope Foundation who were distributing gifts and food to single mothers with hearing impairment.

For Ms Awiti, she hopes that the situation will get better to enable her work and provide for her baby.