Sarah Nakhanu: My violent husband caused the death of my two children
Ms Sarah Nakhanu, 43, endured her husband’s beatings and escaped death narrowly. Her two children, however, were not lucky as they died following the beatings by their father.
This is her sad account of how she escaped from the jaws of death.
“I am a mother of 10 - seven boys and three girls. I live in Kiamunyi on the outskirts of Nakuru Town with my children where we are hosted by a Good Samaritan.
I ran away from my matrimonial home in Bungoma in 2016 because I could not tolerate my violent husband. The last time I was there, I attended the burial of my two children who died after they were beaten by their father.
They all died in 2009. My son, who was 15 years old while my daughter was 13-years-old.
Internal bleeding
My son died after his father hit him on the head with a club. He suffered internal bleeding and died in hospital, while my daughter was hit on the abdomen with a blunt object. I wanted to conduct a post-mortem but I had no money.
I have never understood why my husband killed the two children. I pleaded with him to stop being violent but he didn't care. He even threatened to kill the entire family.
After burying my children, I decided to run away from my home.
My husband did not provide for the family.
During one of those vicious attacks, he almost broke my left arm and right leg. My hands still ache, and I do heavy tasks.
Every time he returned home, he unleashed terror on the entire family throughout the night. He could beat everybody with a club. Our homestead was turned into a war zone.
Two of my daughters dropped from school due to early pregnancies. I blamed my husband's violence for my daughters’ pregnancies. They fled home whenever he turned wild.
I tried to seek help from human rights activists in Bungoma with little success. His relatives were not ready to listen to me. They sided with my husband. I was labelled a bad woman. I have no one to push my case. My brothers are not strong enough to face my in-laws and the local administration.
I once reported the case to the local chief who referred me to village elders.
I felt everyone was against me and my children. I had no one to help me come out of this dangerous relationship and that is when I decided to flee to Nakuru Town.
Really sad story
Triggered by Sarah's story, the Voice for Women and Girls' Rights-Kenya organisation termed it a "really sad one and it raises key issues on how we handle GBV as a community."
"Authorities in most instances see GBV as a domestic problem best solved by the parties in conflict but they never quite consider the plight of the victim. When a chief refers a domestic violence case to village elders, are they really taking responsibility?" the organisation's project manager Sammy Muraya posed.
He said: "It's quite astounding to hear that there were human rights organisations that asked her for money to help her yet that is exactly what they have been set up to do, human rights work! She has spoken about two of her children being killed by the husband, why was this never investigated? Did she ever report to the police and if they did, why did the burial go ahead without the culprit being brought to book?"
