Kisii County Women Representative Mrs Mary Otara has rolled out an anti-jigger campaign in Bonchari Sub-County in a bid to eradicate the menace among homesteads and schools in Kisii County.
Otara advised those infected with jiggers to ignore stigma and instead seek treatment for the problem.
Speaking on Monday when she led an anti-jigger campaign in Etureti and Bogitaa primary schools, Otara challenged leaders to support her in the campaign saying that jiggers were a hindrance and sabotage to education in the area.
Otara also called on residents to support her instead of criticising her to enable her help pupils and other residents who hail from poor backgrounds.
“Some people are fighting me in social media in my efforts to fight jiggers in our county. We cannot end poverty nor reduce the gap between the rich and the poor if we don’t fight the predicament to the latter. Wherever you see jiggers, it’s a clear indicator of abject poverty. For that matter, I call on leaders and residents to join hands so that we can salvage our people who are suffering from jigger infection,” said Otara.
The women rep said hundreds of children had dropped out of school as a result of stigma associated with jiggers and also inability to walk to school.
“My office in partnership with Ahadi Trust Kenya will spearhead the anti-jigger campaign. I don’t have a kitty for the project but because am a fervent Christian, am using a portion of my salary to help address social challenges in my county,” said Otara.
The women rep donated shoes to more than 200 pupils and 100 adults and treated the infected persons. She called on well-wishers to support the campaign but warned locals against dependence on donors only.
“We have the capacity to eradicate the disease and let us therefore not be reluctant and wait for foreigners to give us assistance which mostly comes late when the damage has already been done," she said.
However, the women rep said the main campaign for the entire county will be officially launched in September this year when she is expecting to get her sh. 63 million share from the Affirmative Action Development Fund that she notes will help address social challenges in Kisii County.
On the other hand, she has called on women and youths to form groups to benefit from the ‘Table Banking’ concept that is aimed at financing the marginalized groups to initiate projects for their economical empowerment.
“My appeal to women and the youth is to form groups and register them with the ministry of social services so that they can get funds to help them start business and other projects. We are also financially supporting persons living with disability to enable them identify income generating activities,” advised Mrs. Otara.
The Kisii County Table Banking concept manager, James Orina, said the registered groups are taken through capacity building to ensure that the funds they are given are used well.
“We train groups that have been certified for knowledge so that they can use well the funds we give them. We monitor the usage of the funds to ensure they are investing in livelihood projects that can generate income for them. The funds we give the registered groups are from Uwezo kitty and Kiva Zip which is for online loans,” manager Orina clarified.