SURVIVING BY THE SAND

 Robert Kodingo and Samwel born Maina

Brian Otieno, a 15 year old orphan, wades into the water of lake victoria, his hands oars away as he advances toward a dinghy. Carelessly docked, it is relatively big and heavy for his lean body but he manages to pull the half of it out of the hyacinth-plagued shore into the water. A total orphan, he never learnt this from his dad who was a fisherman as he died while he was very young. He tells us that he got the skill as a result of frequent exposure of the lake. He steadly hops inside the yacht holding onto its sides giving you the impression of the small boat capsizing but his light body is no match for the weighty hard wood. He then authoritatively invites us in to take us through the waters of Korando in Lake Victoria. We hesitate for a moment but one ,an from the next boat shouts, ‘do not take his tininess for weakness. He is strong to take you through.” We hop in.

The lack of oars for steering the boat has improvised the use of a pole thrice his height. He uses it with ease despite the toll of its weight on his arms. Brian knows the lake, maybe too well to ignore the dangers associated with it.

His parents died while still a baby leaving him with no one but his younger brother under the care of their ailing grandmother. His case is just but a tip of the ice berg.

 Activities along the lake are associated with fish harvesting, but for this young boy and others here in Korando village, fish has become scarce as a result of the hyacinth menace in the lake opting them to venture into a more dangerous work of sand harvesting from the lake. Isolated graves are awkwardly isolated here many of whom died as a result of HIV/AIDS, a disease that has swept away some families leaving the compound unoccupied. The need for sand has prompted many to even attack the dead in their graves digging to the extent of leaving a thin line between the sand and the coffin. “some compounds here are unoccupied, no one is there, we therefore go fetch sand there because no one will sue us.” One of the villagers told us. Brian, who wants to become a mechanic in future tells us that he does not want to venture into drugs because that would mean that he will become careless and hence contract HIV, a disease he says that has swept most of his neighbors. “I do not want to leave my brother and grandmother alone, they all depend on me, so I have to very careful not to fall into any immoral behavior which might bring trouble to my life,” he tells us. We are left shocked that as young as he is, he knows a lot about this life.

 “My brother and I live with grandma, am only paid around fifty shillings by the end of the day,” he says. An amount too little for the work he does he hopes to buy food, pay tuition fees for himself and the brother, buy books, and spare some for their grandmother.The bother is the conditions that Brian and others like him here work under. They have no life jackets, but that is farfetched, since to afford them even for those they work for is difficult.There are many dangers associated with aquatic life, some that pose health risks. The only garment over Brian’s skin is old torn underwear, labeled ‘arsenal’ and grayish because it has lost colour due to the dirtiness of the hyacinth ridden water, his friends are no better.

Samuel Juma, a doctor in practice in Kisumu says that swimming in a large water body like Lake Victoria harbours a lot of toxins and young children as Brian risk succumbing to waterborne diseases.

“Pathogens in the water could cause bacterial and protozoan diarrhea, hepatitis A and typhoid fever beside simple infections like skin rashes or allergies,” He said.

He is sure of such cases since for many lakes, even Victoria, is the drainage of rivers and most chemicals settle in it.

 “When a river is used for discharging waste by some factories, toxic chemicals are most likely to be present in the lake,” he said.

However, there are other dangers within the large water body that has claimed lives including turbidity; the young orphans are exposed to hippo attacks once in a while. Andrew Otieno, chairman of Ngege self help group along the beach says it rarely occurs but it happens.

“You have to pray a hippo does not come charging while you are loaded with sand. Whenever we experience such a problem either we lose a vessel or a life and at times even both,” he said.

He disclosed that almost half of the group’s members ‘harvesting’ sand in the lake are teenagers, old enough to be in secondary and primary schools.

From Brian’s point of view, he rarely attends classes in a week and when school closes for holiday, it’s a big relief.  He can focus on accumulating enough money for next term.

His hopes of becoming an engineer is well written from the beam on his face when he utters his future dreams,

“It is not my desire to do this because I do not want to live and die in poverty,” he said. He even reveals to us that he once had white sponsors who later disappeared after finishing their holiday tour. In Korando village, Kisumu, your energy is what bring you food to the table. “ we pay according to the trips made,every trip of sand in the boat is equivalent to one tone which equals fifty shillings,” says Andrew. However, for children like Brian, such poses a challenge as they are unable to make more than one trip as the work itself is tedious and diving in the middle of the lake to go scoop sand is not as easy as it may appear.