One year on, a defiled child, left with fistula and penniless
A mother with her three-year-old daughter, whose reproductive organs were surgically removed due to severe damage caused by defilement. Photographed in a village in Busia on August 1, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Mama Joy waits for justice after her three-year-old daughter was defiled by a neighbour, leaving the child with severe injuries requiring ongoing medical care.
- She struggles to earn enough money for her daughter's expensive medication while waiting for the court case to conclude.
Every morning, Mama Joy* wakes up with a heavy heart in their rural village in Busia County, her mind weighed down by unending worries. She longs for the day when her daughter’s pain will finally be over, when justice will be served, and healing can begin.
She clings to hope, counting down the days until the case against the man who cruelly defiled her three-year-old in 2024 reaches its end.
“I pray for justice,” she whispers. “I want my daughter to be healed and to live a normal life again.”
Beneath the whisper runs a current of deep, aching despair.
“I’m stuck here, yet there are no good-paying jobs to give my daughter the life she deserves,” she says.
“I can’t leave until this case is over and my child is safe. I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. The stress is overwhelming.”
Her daughter’s innocence was shattered when a man, who had recently moved into their neighbourhood after being displaced by floods on a nearby island, brutalised her. The horrific attack left her with fistula scars.
Agonising wait
The man was arrested, and Mama Joy and her daughter have testified at the Port Law Courts in Busia County. Yet, the pain persists, waiting for justice to be fully served. Their next court date in July will bring an expert’s testimony, but each day feels like an agonising wait.
“I just want this nightmare to end,” Mama Joy says. “I want that man to be jailed for life.”
Her life has been turned upside down. She longs to seek better opportunities in Nairobi, hoping to find a job that can support her daughter’s medical needs, and give her a chance at a normal childhood. But for now, she wakes up every day to do farm work or laundry, earning as little as Sh140 to keep their small world going.
She needs Sh400 every two days to buy specialised medicine, vital for easing her daughter’s painful bowel movements. During school days, she spends Sh40 daily on rice, worried that her daughter might eat something that worsens her condition.
“When I approach the hotels around here, they tell me business is slow and they can't take on anyone else,” she laments.
She hopes that one day, a Good Samaritan will support her with capital to start a fast-food or cereal business, something that would allow her to earn a living while staying close to care for her child.