Changing place, changing position

Abstract

Omondi, a Luo boy living in western Kenya, lost his mother in July 1998. At the time of his mother’s death he was 15 years old and attending fifth grade at a local primary school, but he dropped out immediately afterwards. When we visited him, he was living with his 67-year-old father, who had a severe drinking problem. His eldest brother, who was 26 years old, lived in a house adjacent to a local shopping centre with the other siblings, three boys who were 17, 11 and 6 years old respectively. They had also dropped out of school, as there was no one to pay their fees. Later, the 17-year-old brother went to go and stay with a cousin in Nairobi. However, the two remaining young brothers stayed with Omondi’s eldest brother. Nobody in the family would look after them, because Omondi’s parents had had a strained relationship with this family, and at one stage Omondi’s father accused members of the extended family of being responsible for Omondi’s mother’s death through witchcraft. Omondi started to look for work opportunities within the locality in order to feed himself and his father, who was of no help whatsoever. Eventually, he joined other orphaned children within the area to form a saga, a group of boys who work collectively. As he continued to work for pay, Omondi carefully spent his money partly on buying foodstuffs and other basic needs, partly on purchasing what he needed to return to school. After a while, close members of Omondi’s patrilineal kin became concerned about his way of life, as it was not a traditional practice for such a young boy to be left to fend for himself when other adult relatives were around. A younger brother of his