A 10-year-old tumor patient stuck in India on Sunday, April 19, appealed to Kenyans and the government to evacuate him from the country.
Lewis Chege, who has been receiving treatment in the country since February 26, 2020 in New Delhi, India, fears that he and his father will be thrown out of the hotel they are residing, due to accumulated bills.
"My name is Lewis Chege from Kenya and I came to India to have surgery because I have a brain tumor but now I am healed. I have also been doing radiotherapy and all my sessions are over.
"I appeal to you for help and if I get to Kenya safely, I will be sincerely grateful. I just want to meet my family back in Kenya who have really missed me. I pray for your help," Chege stated in a video shared with Kenyans.co.ke by Leon Lidigu, an independent journalist in India.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the boy's father, Simon Leiyan, stated that Chege was responding well to treatment but feared that they might be sent out on the streets.
He told our newsdesk that it was better for the government to evacuate his son and leave him in the country.
"We are only worried if no help comes the soonest, we may be thrown out of the hotel, hungry and with a cancer patient who is a minor requiring all the care available.
"He tells me he fears being a street boy in a foreign land and we had better not have come. Although he doesn't really understand the situation at hand, he sees the struggle we go through," he stated.
Leiyan and his son have been staying in a hotel where they pay Ksh3,750 daily and still have to buy food.
"I am a father of two and my wife stayed behind to take care of our toddler.
“She raises money from family and friends, then sends to us if she gets anything because sometimes she doesn’t get at all," Chege stated.
Recently, India extended its 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
During a press conference on Tuesday, April 14, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office along Harambee Avenue, Nairobi, Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau informed that more than 64 Kenyans had been caught up in the lockdown in the country.
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He added that most of them had already run out of money because they were not expecting to be in the country for such a long time.
"We hope that we are going to find an amicable solution that will work for everybody," he stated.
