Seated against the wall of the Kenya Archives building in Nairobi, Martin Mkuria, whose legs have been mangled by polio, spends his days waiting for passers-by to throw a coin or two into his dirty plastic mug.
"At least I get enough for my meal," said Mkuria, 38, when asked how much he makes in an average day.
"I do not intend to continue with this work, my plan is to save enough money, and turn to any retail business," he added.
His takings are better than they would be in his native Tanzania, he said, adding that many of the beggars in the Kenyan capital originate from the neighboring country.
Most pedestrians walked past Mkuria without acknowledging his existence; occasionally, one parted with a coin while others let loose with a harsh word or two.
"Beggars in Nairobi must be removed. They are a burden to us while they can work to earn their living," sneered one such passer-by.
Lucy Wangui Maina, 41, who sells biscuits and cigarettes on Harambee Avenue, warned that begging can become a trap.
"You know a continuous habit becomes a disease, therefore those who have turned beggars have acquired the disease. There is a lot a disabled person can do to earn money, but not to become beggars," she said.
"Look at me, both my legs and hands are disabled and I cannot do any heavy work, but I have been working as a hawker for over five years now, despite the frequent harassment by the Nairobi City Council authorities," she added.
"I have appeared twice in court, charged with trading without a license and obstructing the street. The first time I was fined 800 shillings (about US$10) and in the second appearance I was forgiven," recalled Maina, a mother of two.
She lamented over what she considers discrimination against the disabled in Kenya.
"I completed my secondary school in 1995 and later joined a training college where I trained as a telephone operator. But I failed to get a job, I think because am a disabled person," said Maina.
Steven Sifuna, a disabled young man who makes rubber stamps on Harambee Avenue, also said that most beggars in Nairobi are from Tanzania.
"Most of those beggars in the streets in Nairobi come from Tanzania. We disabled people have many problems in getting capital to run a business, but that does not mean you have to go to the streets and start begging," he said.
He also accused the Association of Physically Disabled People in Kenya and the government of neglecting the disabled.
Kenyan beggar Yusuf Odhiambo, 36, who plies his trade outside Nairobi's Jamia Mosque, said he resorted to begging after city council officials confiscated his merchandise worth 6,000 shillings (US$80).
He said he used to sell mainly sweets and cigarettes in the streets before his property was seized because he did not have a license.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS