NAIROBI, Kenya — Dorcas Wanjiru Kiarie pushes a bag of vegetables aside and opens the door to her grocery shop in Kawangware, an informal settlement in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
Her three-year-old son cries for attention, but a sweet or biscuit will calm him.
Her bigger cause of worry, however, is her firstborn daughter Susan Kiarie, 14, joining Saint Anne’s Girls’ Secondary School, and Jayden Kiarie, 10, joining Grade Four at Kawangware Primary School.
On average, Kiarie makes about two dollars profit daily, just enough to feed her family of five.
“I struggle financially with the little money I make, but the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the situation,” she told Zenger News.
“It’s hard to pay school fees, rent, and afford a meal.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the Kenyan economy hard and for many people, affording a meal, let alone school fees, is a struggle.
A November 2020 World Bank report indicates that the pandemic has pushed an estimated two million people into poverty in East Africa’s largest economy.
Fewer Kenyans can now access healthcare, and only three in ten households seek medical attention compared to the period before the pandemic, said the report.
Her husband, John Kamau Kiarie, 34, lost his job as a driver at a Mombasa-based five-star hotel when the number of tourists coming to Kenya dwindled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I used to make enough money before the pandemic, and I was sure my family would enjoy a relatively comfortable life,” he told Zenger News.
“But from last year, things hit rock bottom. I parked my van. There have been so few arrivals that many drivers like me lost jobs, income, and hope.”
Source: School Fees Cause Pain For Kenyan Parents As Covid-19 Pandemic Bites
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