Jigger stigma – Part 1

The forgotten Ones’

They face kind of a death – a social death.

Jigger stigma  – Part 1

As we entered in Ndiritu’s, compound (not his real name) my attention was immediately drawn to a rather disturbing sight. A boy lay prostrate on the dusty ground next to their house. This is one of the areas known for the high infestation rate of Tunga Penetrans (locally known as jiggers or Ndutu among the Agikuyu people). The jigger flea is the smallest known flea that causes the deforming disease, tungiasis.

Another look at the boy, made me feel awful at the level of poverty in this home. He looked sickly. A cloud of flies hovered over his face and gapping mouth. His brothers played in the compound next to him. They were all limping from the sores and wounds caused infestation with jigger fleas. Their little feet were  swollen and a distressing site to behold. 

That day, the were not in school. The teacher had sent them home to extract jiggers and get some medical attention for ringworm infections on their skulls (locally known as magata). As they played, they seemed sometimes bothered by their sleeping sickly brother. Once in a while, one of them would rush and flag away the swarm of flies from his face. Then he would quickly run back to play with his mates.

The compound was littered with all kinds of trash. Maize cobs, chicken droppings and and dry leaves were all over the compound. The chicken kept on scratching the ground for food raising dust around the sleeping boy and throwing some loose soil on him. But he was obviously oblivious of all this.

Chicken  scratching the ground for food next to the sleeping boy

This was one of the families I had planned to visit for an in-depth interview on stigma associated with jiggers. Mr and Mrs Ndiritu have six children. Simon (not his real name) who lay a few yards  from us was one of them. As we came to learn later, Simon was physically and mentally challenged. He could hardly walk. According to the father, Simon used to crawl out of their house, but the intense infestation by jigger fleas on his feet, elbow and knees had totally crippled him. 

Their house was made of mounds of red soil. Chunks of the red soil had fallen off wall leaving the house in a dilapidated state. An empty  plastic tank stood near the house and the chicken structure next to it, completed the scene.

On hearing some commotion from outside, Ndiritu emerged from his house and greeted us. He recognized my guide and approached us with a broad smile. As he approached us, he shot a quick glance at his son on the dusty ground and then proceeded to where we were standing.

  

In his hands, Ndiritu held an old polythene paper. It was full of coins. As he welcomed us, he got pretty preoccupied with the coins. He counted and re-counted the coins and it was obvious that something was not adding up. As he was about to do it once more, he looked up at us and he looked disturbed.

He finally marshalled enough courage and informed us that he hoped that the coins would be enough to buy a Kilogram of maize flour. “Now I am afraid, my family is not assured of a meal this evening,” he said sadly. We had carried our gift basket, so we decide to inform him that he needed not to worry about that anymore. Upon receiving this good news, he brightened up praised the God incessantly for the providence.

Ndiritu was apparently a friendly person. I had no problem striking a rapport with him. The interview lasted for one hour. I learnt a lot from this man who was now in his mid fifties. Two of his sons were not going to school because of jigger infestation. I also came to learn that this family suffered from intense stigmatization because of jiggers. Few people from this community visited this family. People believed this family was cursed. Sadly, Ndiritu's family also believed that there was a curse upon them. 

They also believed that the jigger infestations among the family members was an evil spell cast upon them by their enemies. According to Ndiritu, the family did not have to go to hospital for treatment because curses and witch craft cannot be treated by modern  hospitals. They believed in prayers. They believe that God will came to their rescue one day. However, their faith was dwindling and they were quickly losing hope of recovering from the tungiasis. 
But something more dispiriting worried Ndiritu. Ndiritu and his family believed that severe jigger attacks could also be a premonition for a death of a family member. "This kind of infestation often signaled that someone in the family will die soon." he whispered apprehensively. 

“God I don’t want to lose any of my children, not now” he murmured mournfully as he held his chin. The expression on his face gave it away. He was really afraid of this.

The story from Ndiritu's family was simply overwhelming. Before leaving family, the social worker who had accompanied us prepared a solution of potassium permanganate and washed the feet of all the members of the family. As we bid Ndiritu's family goodbye and set off for the next respondent, the picture of the poor boy lying on the ground kept on haunting me.