Street families are a common sight in many cities and towns in Kenya. You will find them in dark alleys rummaging for food and scrap in bins all over the place.
Nakuru City is no different and their numbers are high but the puzzling thing is the families here generally look generally healthy.
I was seated somewhere the other day when a young rascal walked in with his bottle of glue stuck up his nose. But what caught my eye were his unusually rosy cheeks. He looks like he has not missed a meal in the recent past.
On inquiring, I was told that street families are well-fed courtesy of a philanthropist, most people outside of Nakuru may or may not have heard: The Gilanis.
The Gilanis run one of the oldest supermarkets in Kenya (perhaps the oldest) in Nakuru and as far as I know, they have not opened any other supermarket.
They cannot therefore be considered filthy rich. But they are richer than many of our Kenyan billionaires.
This family makes daily arrangements for street families in Nakuru to get one square meal every evening. The alley telegraph ensures they know where and what time to go for the meal and they apparently make orderly lines.
Yet, this act of kindness has never been publicised because I believe the family would like to keep it that way. These are the kind of philanthropists we need in this country: people who will do good because they believe in it not for publicity. If only we had more of this kind of people, the world would be a better place for sure.
In Kenya, if some politician or businessman gives out a loaf of bread, they will let the whole world know about it, even if it took a whole fleet of choppers to deliver it. They will stand on their cars with megaphones and yell about their goodness of heart.
Deep in their stone-cold hearts, they do not see hungry people but some voting machines that need to be oiled every so often with sweet words and occasionally, a loaf of bread.
I look at the motorcycle riders’ sheds “proudly donated by MCA so-and-so” and feel like shedding a tear. These sheds are a sight to behold: just a cheap roof supported by four ungainly poles.
But the sheds are usually launched with a lot of fanfare, including a ribbon cutting and such razzmatazz for a structure that must have cost Sh5,000 to put up.
True philanthropists the world over have had their names engraved in history, because they believe in giving. Bill Gates for instance is the poster child of conspiracy theorists, a villainous character who has this or that murderous scheme to kill off certain people through all manner of modern witchcraft.
In my estimation though, he’s a man who wants to leave a legacy that will outlive him. He wants to change the world, whether it is eradicating malaria or improving agriculture productivity, and he has dedicated his billions to it.
The vaccine research that his Foundation funds is a game changer in a world where pharmaceutical companies would like to squeeze every penny from consumers of such products. Almost his entire wealth has been dedicated to his Foundation.
Our people here, instead of emulating the Gilanis, would (to paraphrase a famous Kenyan politician) would rather die first than see a penny of their money go to charity.
In fact, if they had a choice, they would insist they be buried with their loot.
The writer is a communications consultant
By Mutahi Mureithi