A journalist attached to NTV has warmed the hearts of her fellow scribes after rescuing a 1-year-old baby she found quivering by the roadside during curfew hours.
The journalist, NTV Camera woman Winny Chepkemoi, confided to Kenyans.co.ke on Monday, June 21, that she was on her way home when she came across a drunk mother and her child by the roadside.
She explained that she was heartbroken by the incident which occurred on the night of Sunday, June 20, especially after learning that the mother was drunk and the child emaciated.
"I was in Kericho checking on curfew issues because the area is a hotspot of Covid-19. While I was heading back home at around 10:20 p.m., I saw a lady (by the roadside) and I thought she was drunk.
"I saw a kid standing beside the woman and when I turned back, I saw the baby shaking from night cold. I talked to the mother and she was completely drunk, she could not even tell where she was coming from. She told me to take the baby with me," she explained.
She further noted that she called police officers to help the woman sober up at the police station as she got permission to attend to the child at her house.
"I called the police and explained to them. We took the baby to the police station and then I went with her (the baby) to my house. I had to ask permission from the police to take the baby to my house.
"The baby was hungry and emaciated and looked like he had gone through hell. I could sleep the whole night. I changed her and gave her some food and milk. I think the kid has been suffering for real. She is about one year and a few months," she added.
The journalist also revealed that in her career at Majengo area in Kericho, she has noticed that the alcohol problem was slowly getting out of hand.
She often spots women carrying children on their backs hitting drinking dens as early as 8 a.m. in the morning.
Chepkemoi noted that despite the brazen abuse of drugs, authorities in the area were yet to take any discernible action to end the vice.
"What I know about this area, Majengo, is that most women are drunkards. Even now, I can see them drinking alcohol with their children on their backs.
"It is something which has been going on. The women go take alcohol in the morning and do not even care if their children have eaten or not," she concluded.
Drug abuse and insecurity have been on the rise in the past year since Covid-19 hit the country and disrupted the economy leading to the loss of more than 5 million jobs.
