THE STORY OF PAUL
Jabiya Paul Otieno is 28 years old and works as a security guard for one of the many private security companies in the city. He has been working for the same company since 2001 and earns a salary of 3,600 Kshs. per month. For this he works a 12-hour day, seven days a week. He is theoretically entitled to two days a month off. However, this is not a right and he may actually end up getting much less than 24 days of leave in a year.
Ever since he was employed by the security firm Paul has been the day watchman in a building not very far from the city centre. If you should have regular business in that building you cannot fail to get to know Paul. He will always meet you with a smile and will invariably be helpful and attentive to your needs.
Being one of the people with regular business in the building, there was something about Paul that intrigued me. I decided to find out more. This is what I discovered.
Paul was born in 1975 in Yala Division, Siaya District, the oldest boy in a family of six: three boys and three girls. Paul’s family shared a few acres of land with two other families. Since there were not so many opportunities for work there, the farm income being barely enough for subsistence, Paul’s father moved to Nairobi. He had been trained as a designer in leather work and found a job in that line in a small firm.
Paul being a good student, his father decided to bring him to the city for his secondary education. Paul joined Upper Hill School in 1993. He continued to do well academically and scored a B- in his Certificate of Secondary Education in 1996. With a grade like that he should have been able to continue his education but things did not work out so well. Paul applied to the Kenya Medical Training College and was called for an interview. However, as in many other colleges at the time, there was corruption in the system and Paul’s application was not successful..
In the meantime a problem had been plaguing the family. Paul’s father, who had been sickly already for some years, was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1997. He needed to be hospitalised regularly so Paul had to forego looking for further education. Money was needed to help pay for his father’s recurring medical bills and time to assist him when he was not in the hospital. Paul found a temporary job with a plastics firm in Industrial Area in 1997. When that job came to an end, he found another temporary job with East African Industries. After this, his father managed to get him apprenticed to a firm specializing in panel beating, promising to pay in instalments. However, his sickness prevented him for making good on this promise. He was retired from his job on medical grounds in 1999. Paul had to quit this training and spent much time looking after his sick father. Unfortunately, his father’s condition continued to deteriorate and he passed away in February 2000. Paul then moved home to Siaya where he made himself as useful as he could on the small farm.
However, the burden for the education of the remaining family members having now fallen on him and his mother, Paul moved back to Nairobi in 2001 and looked for any job to make some money. It is then that he started his life as a security guard.
Paul’s initial salary was minimal: only 2,450 Kenya shillings a month. After paying for rent and food, how could he possibly manage to save anything for the education of his siblings? However, Paul did manage. He spends very little on himself, he neither drinks nor smokes and budgets every penny. He saves on transport by walking the distance from Kibera, Nairobi’s largest squatter areas, to the city. (He makes little of this: there are many watchmen like him who start the journey at five o’clock in the morning or earlier, depending on their distance to work.) He does not take lunch, making do with the tea and the few slices of bread that he is given at work. Ugali (stiff maize meal porridge) and some green vegetables is his staple for evening dinner. Red meat does not agree with him so there is no expense on that. He does like chicken but this is an expense to be indulged in only rarely. By the time he arrives back home at 7.00 o’clock in the evening and has his meal, there is little time for entertainment. The only luxury he has allowed himself is a music system and watching video shows on sports. (These shows are shown for a small fee in a number of places in Kibera).
Paul’s concern was for the brother immediately following him. Two of his younger sisters had got married but his younger brother had finished primary and there had been no money to send him to secondary school. He ended up doing a bit of farming but Paul thought of better things for him: he wanted him to learn panel beating, a training he himself had had to forego. He found out that the cost of training for this skill was cheaper in Kisumu than in Nairobi so he arranged for his brother to take the training there. Still, the training fee was l5,000 shillings. Paul managed to save most of this money from his meagre salary. His brother has now nearly finished the course and is able to look after himself.
This year Paul got married so his expenses have gone up. However, there are still his youngest brother and sister to be taken care of. The youngest sister is in Standard Six, and free education having been introduced, he will not need to worry about her for the next two years. But the youngest brother has finished Standard Eight and is at home on the farm. What can Paul do for him? This is his concern now; he intends to discuss it with his mother when he goes home for Christmas
This is Paul’s story: he is making a difference in the life of his family. Is his story exceptional? It is up to you to judge. However, the question that came to my mind after hearing the story was this: Paul was busy looking after his father during his illness. After that he has tried to assist his brothers improve their lives. Who is there to assist Paul to better his own chances in life?