For the first time in three weeks, a 17-year-old girl in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu, spends the night at home after being released from detention for her mother's crime.
The young person helping her mother make a change in Eldama Ravine was detained, charged, and put in jail.
Chepkorir (not her real name) has a definite cause to be happy today. She had spent the previous 21 days behind bars, and a well-compassion wisher led her to release.
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Chepkorir's pursuit of fees was the beginning of her problems. The Form Four student claims that when police officers attacked her on that fateful day, she was helping her mother make money by manufacturing traditional alcohol, or chang'aa.
"...ilikuwa wakanibeba Saturday ndio walikuja. Anikula Iten nikaenda kortini, tukaletwa Monday nikafunguliwa. Judge hakuniamini nikajaribu kuongelesha. She explains, "Nilikuwa nasaidia mama juu hiyo ndio ilikuwa school tuition yangu.
When facing charges in court, according to Chepkorir, she felt overpowered and lost. She didn't put up a fight. The young girl was left to deal with the effects of her family's poverty alone in the dock after her mother left the crime scene.
Before abandoning her in the women's prison, her father paid her a single visit. She claims she will never forget that encounter.
"...hapo sasa vile nilisikia mbaya... Every day and every night, nilikuwa nalianga tu, she continues.
Thanks to well-wishers who paid the Ksh. 30,000 punishment that her time in jail finally ended. The young lad was to serve a six-month jail sentence instead of spending that fine; after serving three months, she was free.
She is among hundreds of children serving time in Eldoret, and the magistrate of the Eldoret law court has expressed worry about the issue and asked that juveniles who break the law be subject to alternative conflict resolution.
Despite their abandonment of her when she was in need, Chepkorir is now focusing on making up for the time she has missed in her schooling, pursuing her dream of becoming an engineer, and pulling her family out of poverty.
