by Charity Simaldi

My name is Chanity Simaldi and I would like to share my story.  The sudden divorce of my parents left me wondering what objective to take in order to unite them.  This painful divorce began when my father was admitted to work in Kisii as a policeman.  As a policeman, his attitude towards his family began to change and he parted ways with God.  At first he gave a warm welcome to our firsborth and everything was peacefull.  Everything remained peaceful until he got involved with bad company and began to share their approach to life.

This was what happened.  Actually, the Greek’s were not insane to say that bad company ruins good morals.  My father was once fond of visiting us every Friday after his normal duties, but now he began coming home only once a month.  It was not until he came home a few times roaring drunk that we realized he had beome a drunkard.  This worried us for my mother was jobless and could not afford to buy our basic needs.

Since the Maasai traditions are at times strict, my father decided to marry a second wife.  My mother got this surprise one evening when he came home with a group of men and amongst them was a lady.  Curious, I asked who she was.  My questions awakend my mother’s spirit when she found the lady was a second wife.  She fell into a fresh flood of tears and as time went by, become more depressed.

She had to think twice of the idea she she didn’t know my father’s intentions.  We were living in a mud house, a small hut where we kept three goats.  I went to a nearby public school and by standard grade three I realized our life was not easy.  We had to toil and work and live in a hand-to-mouth situation.

When my father earned enough money he built us a better house and gave us some money.  OUt of jealousy, my step-mother burned the money, complaining is was unfair.  She was beaten and chase away and my father remined with my mother peacefully for a short time.  But it wasn’t long when he decided to change his mind.  By this time, our first born encouraged us to work hard.  She was very smart and screamed No, when father forced her to be circumsised.  This was what she hated most and tried to stand up for her rights.  By then I had five siblins and glory to God, our father decided to educate us all.  Really, life combines to make a collission of events both good and bad.

It was when he began abusing drugs that things changed again.  We aired our grievances to him and he gave a cold should and deaf ear.  My dream of becoming a lawyer was still embedded in my memory and I could not surrender.  The other village men came once more to ruin a man, who had decided for a moment to stand on his own principles.  They searched for a thrid wife.  My mother couldn’t tolerate that.  Now father changed.  He came home and would start quarreling at any moment and commanded my mother to lie down and receive a beating.  She had no other alternative but to obet the DDO (Daily Drinking Officer.)

Life was becoming more and more difficult.  He would arrive home and order drugs and cigarretes.  My mother not only trusted in God, but encouraged us to live by the “WORD.”  My younger siblings were not pleased and sat near their father in fear, for he become even more fierce.

After he had married another wife he was never seen at home.  If he came it was with the intention of taking away the few cows my mother had.  My mother was always shocked beyond words.  She left God to act on her behalf.  It was then that my mother got involved with politics.  She aimed at helping her community.  This hurt my father who became more and more fierce.  He planned to kill my mother and when she found out his aims she did not interfere with him any more.

By this time the other lady gave birth to another bouncing firstborn and my father was now commanding my mother to move from our home.  After a long quarrel, my mother decided she had to leave and care for her own children.  It was when my father was amused and came hom to threaten to kill my mother that she got in the habit of sleeping in the bushes.

All the things my mother did gave her a chance to be herself.  She was elected as a concillor.  After that my father became bitter and threatened to kill her for real.  He mocked her and called her a prostitute.  His aim was to destroy the life my mother had made for herself.  At times, he woudl order everybody, including our three year old brother to move from his compound.

Life is a matter of decisions and more so in this life it is a blessing to let someone dream about yu, but more blessing when you dream of yourself.  We were used to escaping and sleeping in the bushes, even duuring the rainy season.

It was then my mother decided to go back to her home.  She has thoroughly beaten, but escaped with only minor injuries.  We now live back in her home village.  WE went with our mother, but life has been hard to tackly.  “Lord”, change our family, your child is crying.