Gifty

GIFTY

His real names is Moses Bahati. This baby boy is now aged two and the youngest of the 300 children at the Omwabini children’s home. Bahati is a Swahili word which means a Gift. He was named Gifty after his advent into the Omwabini family. Born of an epileptic and a mentally challenged mother with nowhere to call home, Gifty was rescued when he was just two days old in thickets of Mt Elgon forest by a good Samaritan, a woman resident of Mt Elgon village.  No one knows Gifty’s father as the mother wonders from one place to another and sleep anywhere in the corridors of the Mt Elgon village market.

The Good Samaritan lady understood the epileptic and insane woman could not take care of Gifty and wanted to save his life. Gifty’s saviour was a young married woman with two children and her husband is a peasant farmer. Before Gifty was brought into their family the couple had been leading a modest but happy life. This was not to be in the following 18 months. The husbands love towards his wife diminished by day and soon he became alcoholic and came back home late often times. He hated Gifty so much and could not provide for Gifty’s food, medication or clothing. The man later stopped providing for his own family and was mad with his wife for bringing unnecessary burden in the family. The woman worked for other people to raise some income to support both Gifty and her two children. The 18 months with Gifty in their home was like a decade according to the woman’s narration to Omwabini.

The last two months of Gifty’s stay in their home was like hell on earth. The woman’s husband threatened to divorce her, ostracize her and Gifty from their home and marry another wife. He already had become promiscuous prior to issuing of these threats and the woman did not take him for granted this time round. For the sake of her two children and her marriage, she opted to take Gifty to the children’s department office who in turn requested Omwabini to find space, and home for Gifty. We welcomed him with the love of Christ. He was malnourished and could not walk. He was clothed, fed, treated and loved by both our care takers and other children at the orphanage. Now he can run, talk, smile and is healthy. Now he has a place he can call home, a people he can call brother, sister, mother and uncle. He is a darling to all and an inspiration to Omwabini family. He attends the Omwabini day care/baby class program.