Meet Peter Chege Muigai.
Peter is 36 years old. He lives alone and has been separated from his
wife who left with the kids after the election. Before the election, he
farmed and owned a shop, which earned him a little over $1,000 a year.
Logan and Matt walked half a mile with Peter to his shamba, a plot of
land. He doesn’t own the shamba nor does he know the owner. But out of
desperation, he is using the land. If the owner catches Peter plowing
and planting on his land, he will be forced to pay for it, but he has no
money to pay for it now.
It has taken him three weeks to plow the land in the picture. He has
one more week of plowing. He said that it takes about a day to plow by
hand a 30 by 60ft piece of land.Then, he breaks up the big clumps of
dirt, which takes another two weeks to completely finish. Next, he waits
for the rains to come so he can plant his beans and corn.
He
attempts to earn money by looking for casual labor, which usually
entails plowing other people’s shambas near the city of Maai Mahiu. If
he finds work, he only earns about $6 to plow land for three days.
Thankfully working like this over time, he has been able to save a
little bit of money and now owns four goats, one of which provides him
with milk to drink!
If he cannot find work in the fields, he
attempts to sell this year’s harvest of corn and beans. If he cannot
sell the harvest, he will eat the crops himself. With all this effort,
Peter only has means enough to eat one meal a day. He told them that he usually eats this before he goes to sleep at night.
This is Peter’s home.
Although it is only he who lives there, this tent does not even fully
shield him from the outside. It is hardly strong enough to withstand
daily weather conditions, let alone the harsh winds and rains that come
with the rainy season.
Peter’s story is real. This is his
daily life and this is just one of about fifty adults living a similar,
daily struggle in Camp Vision. Keep looking for updates because we will
be posting more stories soon.
