Children of the Crying Stone

Kit Mikayi means the rock of the first woman in Luo. Legend has it that an old chap named Ngeso so loved the rock formation that he would spend his whole day lazing under the stones. Everyday he would wake up in the morning and head straight for there and force his wife to bring his breakfast and lunch while he pondered about the meaning of life. Whenever someone asked about him, his wife would say he has gone to Kit Mikayi - his first wife.

Kit Mikayi is said to always be crying now (water trickles from between the rocks) and is considered sacred, having the powers to cure many diseases as well as help mothers who are having problems breastfeeding.

It is tragic that western Kenya has the second largest body of fresh water on its borders yet is one of the poorest places in the country with one of the highest populations of HIV infected people. The saddest thing about this scourge is that it has wiped out huge sections of the working population leaving scores of young children and elderly people unable to fend for themselves. The area around Kit Mikayi is sadly representative of this.

Thus, Ladies in Action (LIA) decided to come up and provide basic support for places like this often go forgotten and in times like this, will be even more neglected. However, as from now LIA will put all its focus on addressing the thousands of returning Luos who have been displaced from their homes up-country. One friend said that there are at least 4 buses arriving daily with displaced people. Assistance will be required for their immediate needs such as a decent meal and a medical check up after which transport will have to be organised to help them get to their traditional homesteads. There has been an amazing response from local residents of Kisumu to assist with the displaced people and Ladies in Action will join with various civil movements to help settling as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

We have collected just over £6,500 in total through this blog and about half has been spent. The rest will be used to focus on this issue now. We can’t begin to thank you enough for playing a critical role in getting our country back together.