Feature: Kenyan families eagerly await reunion
Joyline Adhiambo’s face lightened up as she carefully wrapped a few gifts she intends to give her child once they reunite with the anticipated lifting of lockdown next week.
The mother of one has not held her child in three months since a presidential declaration on cessation of movements from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi to other rural counties, which put about 122 km between her and her daughter.
Adhiambo, a 38-year-old financial advisor was accustomed to shuttling from Nairobi, where her office is stationed, to her ancestral village until April 6 when she was found herself locked by a directive aimed at taming the spread of COVID-19.
“I was in my office in Upperhill, Nairobi when I saw the televised announcement by the president banning movement in and out of Nairobi. I became concerned given that my daughter is only three years old and in constant need of my presence,” said Adhiambo.
She joins a list of Kenyans who have been inadvertently split from their families, children and spouses by containment measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
“I have been counting the number of days leading up to the lapse of the containment measures. I long to see my daughter and spend time with her,” said Adhiambo.READ MORE
