A Family In Machakos Living In A Thicket After Failure To Pay Rent

A father and son are now feeling the unfairness of poverty as they currently live in a thicket at a farm in Machakos after they were kicked out of their house over failure to pay their rent.

According to sources, these two Kenyan citizens identified as Benjamin Kilonzo and his form two student son has been living in the make-shift shelter for the last 3 months.

Benjamin Kilonzo explains that he has been living with his son ever since his wife left him when the boy was only 2-years-old.

Mr. Kilonzo adds that for the survival of his son and him, he had been doing menial jobs: casual labor and supplying firewood to hotels and vibandas before the Outbreak of COVID-19 that turned his life upside-down.

The outbreak of the new COVID-19 struck and made the closure of several hotels inevitable including those that Mr. Kilonzo was seeking employment, therefore at the end of it all he realized he was back to being jobless.

Depressed Benjamin realized he could no longer cater to the wellbeing of his family and he attempted to take him to their rural home in Kangundo so that he could suffer alone, after realizing what life had in stock for him.

Mr. Kilonzo’s brothers however turned him away from the idea and put him on a bus back to Machakos and by the end of it all, Kilonzo and his son were left with no options but to seek shelter in a stranger’s farm.

The farm owner Catherine Mutuku who was touring her farm later was surprised to find two unknown people sheltering in her farm, she said for a moment she assumed that these two were mentally-ill until she talked to them.

Mr. Kilonzo spends most of the cold night awake like a watchman guarding his only son and only relaxes during the day, and to make things even worse, these two do not change clothes since all their belongings were locked at their former house.

Mr. Kilonzo’s former landlord passed away two weeks ago, with their pleas to recover their property falling on deaf ears until the ‘family mourns sufficiently’ and currently, they depend on well-wishers for food for survival.

So many families have been placed in the most difficult situations ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 that grabbed from many their jobs and purposes, some have committed suicide and to others, the struggle is real.

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By Nsunjo Erica