By S Nyanchwani
At last someone who cares about single mothers
Often single mothers are objects of derision. They are blamed for all the ills in society: deviant children, burning of schools, street children, traffic jams, corruption, troublesome grown up women and (insert your favourite ill.)
What is less celebrated is how single mothers struggle daily to be mum and dad for their children. It is not an easy job raising children as single parent.
There are millions of single mothers in Kenya. Save for a few feminists who are single by choice a majority of single mothers found themselves in the situation because the man who scattered the wild oats disappeared. Some are widows. A good number equally left abusive marriages or deadbeat men.
But motherhood, unlike fatherhood is a labour of love, divine and absolutely necessary for the wellbeing of children. Not to say that fatherhood is not essential but some men are moronic and ever ready to shirk their responsibilities.
Usually it is a life of misery. That is why Raila Odinga’s promise is a briliant idea. It should be embraced, more so by women from Central Kenya who are most affected. No region in Kenya has more single mothers Central Kenya. The province’s youth have been neglected by the rich and powerful leaders. No single leader from Central Kenya has ever come up with a policy to address the myriad challenges facing them.
Raila has offered the first ever political commitment to cushion single mothers. To trivialize it as cheap politics is stupid.
If you are a single mother, you know who has your best interest in his heart. The problems single mothers face cannot be addressed by simple PR and the never-forthcoming loans from the government to the youthe and women.
Single mothers are an instituitionalized family unit. They need all the help from the government. Only Raila can see to it that they can access affordable housing, access to business loans,healthcare and education.
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