Woman jailed for child negligence seeks help to find her 2-year-old

From November last year, Faith Chesang, a grocery seller from Turbo in Uasin Gishu County, has been in remand at the women’s prison for allegedly neglecting her two-year-old daughter.

The 23-year-old faced charges of infringing child rights to healthcare, an offence she denied until recently when she was acquitted.

Her husband, who was found guilty is serving five years in the Eldoret Main Prison.

Her release from prison, however, marks the start of a painful quest to find the child who was the  cause of her four-month detention.

The child sustained life-threatening burns last October and was admitted at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) for two months under Chesang’s care.

But immediately she was discharged, Chesang was arrested and the infant was taken to a rescue centre.

She had left the infant with her father, only to find that the child had burns.

“My husband locked me in the house for six days when I asked him to allow me to take the child to hospital. During the sixth day, I successfully persuaded him, and he allowed me to get out of the house; that’s when I told my neighbours about the incident, and my husband was immediately arrested and charged,” Chesang said.

She added, “I then rushed the child to hospital where she was treated for two months.”

Chesang was among over 20 incarcerated women rehabilitated by Clean Start Africa in collaboration with Kenya Prisons Service in preparation for her exit from the correctional facility.

“I have learnt how to live with neighbours and the society, but my biggest problem is getting my daughter back.

“I’ve been thinking about nothing but my little daughter. I have been acquitted of the offence, but accessing my daughter is the next chapter of my struggle,” she said.

“I wish someone would help me to locate my child who was placed under the care of a child rescue centre and bring her back to me. It will be more stressful to return back to society without my little daughter. What will I tell people who know me, especially my relatives and friends?” she said.

Clean Start Africa founder Teresa Njoroge, a former inmate at Langata Women’s Prison, said reintegrating incarcerated women back to families and societies was crucial.

She called for non-custodial sentences for mothers and children who are found guilty of petty offences.

“The Kenya Prisons Service are doing well in rehabilitating convicts in partnerships with organisations such as Clean Start Africa, but why is it difficult for other agencies such as the police to give them certificates of good conduct so that they continue rebuilding their lives? Let us give people who live in prison with a good record and don’t commit other offences after serving their sentences certificates of good conduct,” the founder said.

Ms Njoroge further said that many imprisoned women were yearning for better lives when they left the guarded gates of correctional facilities.

“We thank the Kenya Prisons Service for opening its doors for us to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of incarcerated women. The women want to succeed after serving their sentences,” she said.

Head of Eldoret Women’s Prison, Senior Superintendent of Prisons Patricia Simiyu, said the training supplements with the correctional facility were undertaken in rehabilitating prisoners.

According to Simiyu, women inmates are prepared to handle stress, trauma and financial management.

“Many women have left the prison with a high level of confidence, and we thank partners for their support. A number of our officers also enrolled in the training, and it has been beneficial to them as much as the inmates,” she added.

Her sentiments were expressed by Marion Chepchirchir, a murder remandee at the same facility who said who said through reintegration training and support, she has recorded 15 songs after discovering her singing talent at the correctional facility.

She has been in the prison since 2022 and hopes to release the songs in the future if she secures freedom.

“I have learnt to manage stress. Through the training, I have reformed, and we continue to seek the forgiveness of the people we wronged and children who looked up to us as role models,” Chepchirchir said on Friday when they were offered certificates for participating in the reintegration training.