Ahadi Trust to set up first jigger museum in Kenya

Dr Stanley Kamau, CEO of Ahadi Kenya holding jiggers and sodom apple seeds that were used to treat jigger victims in the past. [PHOTO/STANDARD]

On the island of Mauritius once lived a large, flightless bird known as the dodo. With no natural predators, the bird thrived until Dutch sailors led an expedition to the island in 1598, bringing with them ‘alien’ species such as rats, pigs and other domestic animals.

Soon, the bird’s eggs and chicks became staple food for the new arrivals, while habitat destruction decimated its population. By 1680, the last dodo had died.

Today, only a head and leg of the famous creature remain at Oxford University museum.

Kenyan scientists led by Dr Stanley Kamau, the man behind the anti-jigger campaign in the country, looks forward to the day the tiny, blood sucking parasites will go the dodo way.

But to ensure future generations learn about the extinct pests, Kamau has embarked on a project to build a museum in Murang’a town where more than just a head, or leg will be preserved.

Already, the Ahadi Kenya CEO has laid the groundwork for the museum by collecting samples that will form its nucleus. If all goes to plan, the museum will open its doors to the public in March 2017, exactly ten years since the anti-jigger campaign was started.

 HEALTH RESEARCH

On a recent visit to his office along Kabarnet Road, Kamau opened one of the cabinets and held out two plastic containers whose contents would make the faint-hearted ones recoil.

Preserved in the containers were tens of dead jiggers that had been removed from victims. Dead fleas are in another container.

“I do not want to talk about jiggers for more than ten years. I intend to open a museum that will among other things, showcase these jiggers and the soil in which they thrived. The museum will help health researchers from around the globe learn about the problem,” says Kamau.

He continues: “I chose to construct the museum in Murang’a since this is where the campaign started. It will be a constant reminder of the trials that we went through as we sought to fight a problem that seemed insurmountable.”

In addition, Kamau cites the recent formulation of a jigger policy that lays the framework for official Government intervention as another key factor in establishing the museum.

 GLOOMY LIFESTYLE

He says the National Policy Guidelines on Prevention and Control of Jigger Infestations puts the jigger issue squarely in the hands of Government.

“We started our campaigns without a policy, literature or research on the subject. Victims can now go to any public hospital and be treated for jiggers, just like any other ailment,” says Kamau.

And it is not only the fossilised creatures that will be kept at the museum. To remind future generations of the lifestyles once led by former jigger victims, Kamau intends to build a typical, mud-walled homestead, complete with the paraphernalia formerly used to remove jiggers.

“These will include traditional herbs as well as the seeds of the bitter Sodom apple (ndongu) and safety pins that villagers used to extract the jiggers. We will also portray the gloomy lifestyle of people infested by jiggers,” says Kamau.

The recipient of a Head of State commendation says this project will herald his retirement from the jigger world, and turn his attention to serving Kenyans in ‘another capacity’.