By Abdullahi Jamaa
One more day and Mrs. Meali Hamisi displays a bunch of banana, a bushel of mango and few pieces of papaya on a rugged sack, just in front of an Mpesa shop on one side of Mombasa’s Abdelnasser road.
It’s a capricious Friday afternoon of 12th June 2020. Ordinarily, Bondeni, a northern extension of Old Town, is a teeming commercial-cum-residential neighbourhood where mothers like Mrs. Meali sell fruits to earn a humble living.
But today unlike other Fridays, the streets are boring, there are fewer people and less traffic to count on when it comes to selling fruits. It’s really tough for Mrs. Hamisi who pays her bills in dribs and drabs.
“I just sold few bananas so far and my time is already up” she told Smart Muslim “Things are really getting worse everyday “
The 42 year-old mother of five has been on this street for the last ten years but this is the only time when she is unable to pay her house rent for three consecutive months as economic shocks of corona pandemic overwhelms families .
“Before corona, I made daily sells of about Sh.700; at the moment it will be a hard struggle if I go home with Sh.300” she says
Every single day she commutes from her home in Likoni, if she is lucky by Matatu if not by foot. With dwindling sells she stares into a livelihood crisis. Admittedly, soon she may not make ends meet if the current situation lasts.
“There is fear of course of not making a good sell. We are living with a lot of worries; but we have a strong faith in God and we hope for the best”
Genuine struggle
Meali is not the only one seeking out a living amidst harsh conditions. The economic impact of the pandemic is far reaching and many in her line of business are groaning under the weight of protracted crisis.
68 year-old Mr. Karisa Katana leans on his old mkokoteni next to Meali also selling fruits for livelihood. His story as a father of eight is one that highlights a genuine struggle for survival amid a relentless disease that has hit hard the local economy.
“You are seeing it for yourself” Katana said while carefully enunciation his Kiswahili “It means working harder to make less. We are feeling the impact of corona”
Katana resumed work three days ago after losing his business during the recent lockdown of Old Town. Barely able to push his cart, he wades with it when he can and rests on the pavements when his energy saps.
“Just this week I borrowed sh. 2,000 to resume my work because during the lockdown I lost it all. I am starting afresh again”
As an ageing man he is more vulnerable to corona virus but there is nothing to sit home for. It’s a hard choice for a man like him, one that summaries the worrisome situation of the overwhelming majority of poor Kenyans.
The economy of the port city was already falling before corona. Many of it’s over 1.2M people are victims of massive job cuts resulted by the introduction of SGR, a project that has turned Mombasa’s economy upside down.
Wrong time
For the local residents, the pandemic came the wrong time exacerbating a fragile economic environment where every business is already up against a brick wall. If corona lasts longer, the lives of Meali and Katana will certainly take a rough course.
And with counties planning a raft of containment measures, the crisis may transform into a livelihood catastrophe, occasioning extreme levels of hunger and starvation. It will be a choice of which way to jump for the poor majority.
“We are in the same condition. Everybody is affected by this ongoing crisis. We pray that it will not last longer” Beatrice Kassim, a security guard in Bondeni hopes
Meali, Katana and Beatrice did not receive any form of aid from the ongoing national and county efforts to cushion famished families against the ensuing crisis. If there is one thing that they hope for, then it is a timely support.
“I have not yet received any form of aid. It is story that I hear from the market that the government is offering support” Meali observed.
However, Mombasa governor Mr. Hasan Joho has been apparently the most effective county boss in the country as far as the fight against corona is concerned.
His administration has initially set aside Sh200 million Emergency Household Relief and Nutrition Support Project as part of the Mombasa Economic Stimulus Programme.
“We have an ambitious budget of Sh700 million led by the county government of Mombasa to provide nutrition support for 227,404 vulnerable households” Mr. Joho said as quoted by the Daily Nation recently
With corona cases surging in the country there is still a great deal of uncertainty about the impacts of COVID-19 and governments’ possible mitigations efforts. It all depends on how smart authorities will be.
The danger of families falling deeper into extreme levels of poverty is looming large. As Meali and others hope for immediate intervention now their reliance is only on a wing and a prayer.
“We are praying to God” Meali finally said
