In the dry and hot Garissa County where massive parcels of land lay unutilized, a factor that has been attributed to the County’s dry conditions and type of soil are a myriad of opportunities that remain untapped because of unwarranted fears of security myths.
Garissa County is not attracting many job seekers from other regions in Kenya compared to the Capital city and other major towns but those that travel there do not tarmac as long as those that flood Nairobi.
One of those that have traveled from far to seek green pastures in Garissa is 30-year-old Mumba Kazungu Ngala or simply Kazungu Kambi, a father of eight and husband of two who has travelled all the way from Mombasa to better opportunities in Garissa County.
Kazungu Kambi is a casual laborer at a construction site in Garissa town where his duties include assisting the mason in ensuring all the materials required are in the right order and within reach.
“When I first told my family I was traveling to Garissa in search of a job, my seven children and two wives gathered around breaking into sadness and then my first wife requested we pray,” Kazungu says amidst chuckles.
“I was not surprised after all there was a notion that Garissa was unsafe but I had a family to provide for and I had been told by a friend that it would be easier for me to procure a job here than in Nairobi,” Kazungu reveals.
What Pushed You to Garissa County of all the 47 Counties in Kenya?
“I have two wives and now eight children I need to feed and take care of, trust me, it is a toll order and a responsibility I enjoy fulfilling,” Kazungu tells me.
“My eighth child, Jennifer, is my last born, today is 2nd September and she is 5 days old, I am yet to travel go see her because the fare is expensive yet I have to send financial help to both her mothers,” Kazungu says.
It is easy to relate to Kazungu’s predicament and understand his joy in all this as it could be worse without a job.
Where is your home, where your family is?
“My family lives in Mombasa County, Magongo, where both my wives are fish vendors, they also farm in the four-acre land where we live,” Kazungu tells us.
Kazungu, a class eight drop out was a farmer in his four-acre land but the weather affected the yields pushing him out of his home County to seek better opportunities which got him in the marginalized Garissa County.
How well are you able to support your family?
“I have two very beautiful and understanding wives; Rehema my first wife whom together we are blessed with six children and Jacinta my second wife who we have two children, they both live on the same parcel of land and are fish vendors,” Kazungu reveals in our conversation.
“Every week, I send each one of them 1000 shillings to compliment what they earn and make from the land,” Kazungu says.
“In Magongo, one can easily farm watermelons, pineapples, and cereals which can also be sold in the market when the yields are great for better returns,” Kazungu says in his exquisite Swahili language.
Would you recommend Garissa to anyone as a job destination place?
“Garissa is beautiful, the warm weather favors me as it was easy to adapt having lived in Mombasa,” Kazungu says.
“My colleagues, at this site, have become family and I am encouraged to save, not forgetting they have even offered me a place to sleep, I pray that once we are done building here, another construction opportunity opens up for us all as these people are now family,” Kazungu concludes.
We leave him to proceed to his work as his lunch break is over and as he said,” he has a family to provide for”.