News / National
Joy for Shonas stranded in Kenya
10 Dec 2018 at 19:22hrs | Views
There was jubilation this week among the Shona community that has been trapped in Kenya since the 1960s after President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to look into their plight.
The community members have been stateless without any birth certificates or Identity Documentation.
"Today we sleep better after the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta promised to look at our situation and grant us citizenship according to the law." The Shona community in Kenya said in a statement.
"There is 4000 of us Shona who are stateless. We have to get people with IDs to register our cellphone lines . They withdraw money on our behalf. We just pay for the support." The community said recently narrating their ordeal.
"We Shonas have been in self-employment all our lives. Our hand skills of carpentry have artistic perfection . We train our children and neighbours. When we get IDs we will scale this.
"Our children here hold birth registration but no birth certificates. The day we will hold birth certificates, we will sing Hosanna some more.
"We are arrested for lacking national IDs. Some of us were born in remand prisons as our mothers had been arrested. Some of our fathers died in Kenyan prisons."
"We face lots of challenges in our life here. Our children can't sit exams because of lack of birth certificates . We sometime opt to have to be 'adopted ' by Kenyans already recognized as citizens.
"One of our daughters got burnt in the house but because we cannot be admitted in hospital without a national ID then she nursed her burns in the house for 3 months until a neighbour with ID couldn't take it anymore and took her to hospital as her child ."
The first batch of 100 Shona community members arrived in Kenya to spread the Gospel and established The Gospel of God Church. They then settled in Nairobi in Central parts of Kenya. The Shona missionaries used British passports to travel since Zimbabwe and Kenya were under The British colony. In 1963 when Kenya gained its Independence the missionaries stayed put although they were no longer documented since there was no provision in the constitution to document them.
The community members have been stateless without any birth certificates or Identity Documentation.
"Today we sleep better after the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta promised to look at our situation and grant us citizenship according to the law." The Shona community in Kenya said in a statement.
"There is 4000 of us Shona who are stateless. We have to get people with IDs to register our cellphone lines . They withdraw money on our behalf. We just pay for the support." The community said recently narrating their ordeal.
"We Shonas have been in self-employment all our lives. Our hand skills of carpentry have artistic perfection . We train our children and neighbours. When we get IDs we will scale this.
"We are arrested for lacking national IDs. Some of us were born in remand prisons as our mothers had been arrested. Some of our fathers died in Kenyan prisons."
We believe in humanity and we trust that Kenya will resolve our situation and allow us to live in dignity and with our true identity. pic.twitter.com/Fp6nto99ZL
— The Shona Community of Kenya (@ShonaCommunity) December 5, 2018
"We face lots of challenges in our life here. Our children can't sit exams because of lack of birth certificates . We sometime opt to have to be 'adopted ' by Kenyans already recognized as citizens.
"One of our daughters got burnt in the house but because we cannot be admitted in hospital without a national ID then she nursed her burns in the house for 3 months until a neighbour with ID couldn't take it anymore and took her to hospital as her child ."
The first batch of 100 Shona community members arrived in Kenya to spread the Gospel and established The Gospel of God Church. They then settled in Nairobi in Central parts of Kenya. The Shona missionaries used British passports to travel since Zimbabwe and Kenya were under The British colony. In 1963 when Kenya gained its Independence the missionaries stayed put although they were no longer documented since there was no provision in the constitution to document them.
Source - Byo24News
