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Scars of banditry: Baringo family grapples with trauma, disease
Billy Ngoyoni, 20, from the bandit-prone village of Mukutani in Baringo South, who was blinded after being diagnosed with diabetes and kidney failure, during an interview at their rented house in Marigat Inn, on the outskirts of Marigat town in Baringo South, on November 16, 2023.
Visibly ill and frail, Billy Ngoyoni, 20, is helped by his mother to get out of a dilapidated two-room tin hut to bask in the sun.
He is blind and uses a walking stick to get around, guided by his ageing mother.
It has been more than a decade since Ngoyoni, from the insecure village of Mukutani on the border of Baringo South and Tiaty sub-counties, was traumatised after seeing his father shot dead by bandits as a child.
Barely six years old, he was diagnosed with diabetes soon after the traumatic experience.
It was in 2008 when he and his father, Jackson Lekoroito, were herding cattle one afternoon when armed criminals attacked.
Before stealing their herd of more than 200 goats and dozens of cows, the attackers shot and killed his father. Although Ngoyoni, survived the attack, he has suffered the trauma of seeing his father's life ended by the attackers.
Sitting on a chair under a tree at Marigat Inn on the outskirts of Marigat town in Baringo South a week ago, he told Nation.Africa his life took a drastic turn after his father's death, as he got ill, aggravated by poverty after all their livestock, which was their main source of livelihood, was stolen by armed criminals.
Margaret Lekoroito of bandi-prone Mukutani village in Baringo South helps her 20-year-old son Billy Ngoyoni wash his hands outside their rented house at Marigat Inn on the outskirts of Marigat town in Baringo South.
In a frail voice, he recounted how he was diagnosed with trauma, diabetes and hypertension while in Standard One, which led to kidney failure three years later. Years later, he lost his eyesight.
The disease took its toll on him, forcing his mother to move from the distant border village of Mukutani to Marigat town, more than 100km away, so that he could easily access treatment at a nearby health facility.
“I was diagnosed with diabetes in Standard One, close to two years after the death of my father. Because our remote village was far from a health facility, we relocated with my mother to Marigat town to get health services with ease. However, this has not been easy for us because we were turned into paupers when all our livestock, which was our main source of livelihood, were stolen by the criminals,” said the sickly Ngoyoni in a frail voice.
"As we speak, I have to undergo dialysis twice a week at Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet, more than 40km away, where we spend Sh1,200 on transport alone in a day. Life has never been easy because, in 2019, I lost my eyesight. We have been forced to depend on well-wishers for virtually everything, from food to house rent, because my mother cannot look for menial jobs to survive due to my condition," said the distraught man.
According to him, blindness almost drove him to depression as he was forced to drop out of school, shattering his dreams of an education and becoming a doctor.
"I loved school so much. When I went blind and my kidneys failed, my education came to a screeching halt. Dropping out of school has taken a toll on me as I am now forced to stay at home as my health deteriorates every day," he explained.
Ngoyoni spends more than Sh1,000 a day on medicine, which his mother cannot afford.
"Sometimes we do not have enough food to eat, let alone medicine and other necessities. We live in a rented house and sometimes it is hard to come up with the rent. Sometimes we lack the fare to go for dialysis in Kabarnet town, which forces me to stay at home, which also affects my health. The house we live in is very cold and uninhabitable for me due to my condition," said Ngoyoni, who is the last born in a family of eight.
Margaret Lekoroito helps her son put on a jacket.
Margaret Lekoroito, Ngoyoni's mother, said she has spent thousands of shillings treating her sickly son since 2008, a problem exacerbated by poverty after they lost everything, including livestock and their home, to bandits.
She cannot engage in any meaningful work because she is forced to care for her sick son.
"I was widowed after bandits killed my husband and stole all our livestock. Since then, life has taken a drastic turn for me and my children, some of whom have had to drop out of school for lack of fees. The situation was made worse when my last-born son, who was with his father when he was killed by bandits, suffered psychological trauma and was later diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure. As we speak, the condition has led to kidney failure and total blindness," said Ms Lekoroito, fighting back tears.
"We cannot return to Mukutani village to farm or keep livestock because of the constant attacks by armed criminals. The village is also hundreds of kilometres away and far from Kabarnet Hospital where my son usually goes for dialysis. We are forced to live one day at a time as we depend on well-wishers for all our needs," she added.
The widow is now calling on well-wishers to come to the aid of her ailing son, who she says needs specialised treatment and care.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the area and thousands more have been displaced from their homes due to years of insecurity, which has led to the closure of social services including schools and hospitals.
Margaret Lekoroito and her son Billy Ngoyoni.
In the troubled border area of Mukutani, home to the Ilchamus minority and the Pokot communities, more than 15 villages, including Rine, Lendorok, Ilmeut, Lontiani, Loromoru, Akule, Lelerai, Karau, Kabikoki, Iltirach, Keperwasu, Lekiricha, Loorisio, Lorukon, Nomase, Ndorot, Ramacha and Losokoni, have been abandoned since 2005 due to incessant attacks.
Other deserted villages include Kapindasum, Soke, Arabal, Kasiela, Korkoron, Lamaiywe and Kapkechir.
The porous areas have rugged terrain, with hills and valleys that have provided bandits with hiding places from which they ambush security personnel and civilians.
Before occupying the deserted villages, the criminals vandalised boreholes, houses, schools and structures in the shopping centres, before looting and burning them completely to instil fear in the inhabitants, who considered returning.
The three towns including Ruggus, Arabal and Mukutani, are almost uninhabited, with the few remaining volatile as cases of banditry frequently are reported in the areas.
A spot check by the Nation revealed that from bandit-prone Mukutani, the nearest village where people have settled is Mosuro, some 27km away, which used to be home to dozens of villages.
