Heart-rending story of Baringo boy who lives like a bird

The 15-year-old boy shows residents of Oterit village his ‘bed’ atop a tree. He claims his father has been abusing him. [PHOTO: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD]

BARINGO: For three years — on and off — a 15-year-old in Oterit village, Baringo County, has been sleeping in a tree.

While for some it may sound like a fashionable thing to spend a night in a territory widely colonised by birds, this is not the boy’s (name withheld) idea of juvenile adventure.

He says the ‘nest’, which he made with grass and twigs, is his only refuge from his brutal father, who mistreats him and his siblings every time he gets drunk.

The boy said Wednesday that his father has mistreated him since he remarried after his mother passed away in 2005.

The teenager who, surprisingly, is in Standard Four at Oterit Primary, has been absent from school for the last two weeks.

He narrated tearfully that he had been reduced to a beggar since his mother died.

The boy wakes up from his nest early in the morning to avoid being noticed.

“Sometimes I am so hungry that I cannot go to school,” he said.

The hideout was a secret until last week, when he shared his ordeal with a local businessman. The businessman, Michael Kandie, stumbled on the boy three days ago loitering on his farm. He in turn alerted The Standard.

When asked what he was doing, the boy opened up and even took him into the bushes where he showed him the ‘nest’.

“His story touched my heart and I decided to rescue him,” said Mr Kandie.

Incredibly, the boy claims that five days ago, his sister, aged eight, was defiled by some men but efforts to have them arrested failed when his father defended the culprits.

He claims his sister, a Standard One pupil who is yet to be medically examined, was defiled as she begged for food.

“They lured her with food and defiled her. Since that day I have been very disturbed,” the boy narrated as he wept.

When The Standard confronted the father Wednesday, he confessed to being aware that his son at some point lived in a tree. But he declined to comment on his daughter’s alleged defilement, only saying she had “the responsibility of taking care of herself”.

“One day I followed him into the bushes where I found clothes and roasted maize atop the tree. Since then, I haven’t bothered with him,” said the father of seven.

The children further alleged that it was not uncommon for their drunk parents to have sex in front of them.

Assistant Chief James Lagat said he was aware of the man’s behaviour but said he didn’t know the boy lived in a tree. He added that the father gets Sh2,000 monthly from the Government to take care of the children, but said he did not know if he spent the money well.