As of
Tuesday, 51 Kenyans have died and 19 others are in critical
condition. Of those, 12 have lost their eyesight.
Kenyan
investigators suspect the brew, made from sugar, contained
a high concentration of methanol, to strengthen it. A few
tablespoons of pure methanol, also known as wood alcohol,
can be fatal.
Kenya's
health minister has called the alcohol poisoning a "national
tragedy," and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has ordered a crack
down on bootleggers across the country.
Doctors
and nurses in Machakos are working double shifts to keep up
with the surge of patients.
Simon
Mueke is the superintendent of the Machakos General Hospital.
"Some
of them are coming already fallen down and injured and bleeding
and [we are] arresting the bleeding… And those who are very
sick we are resuscitating them. And of course we lost a number
of them because of the effects of methanol, which are very
permanent," Mr. Mueke pointed out.
Many of
the victims said the brew, known as "changaa" or "kumi kumi,"
was brought in by a woman from Naivasha, just an hour's
drive from Nairobi.
John Kinyungo,
45, a farmer from Machakos, lost his eyesight two days ago
after drinking kumi kumi.
He says
his blindness is a punishment for his drinking, but he prays
that God will one day restore his vision.
Mr. Mueke
says John's chances of ever getting his eyesight back
are remote.
From his
bed in the eye ward of the crowded Machakos hospital, John
fights back tears as his daughter, Georgina, age 23, looks
on, worried.
It's
almost odd how eyes that can no longer see are still capable
of tears.
“I am
the loser when I go out using that thing…” he said.
When asked
by his daughter if he will quit drinking he added, “Yes,
it will be there [Yes, I will stop].”
Georgina
came down from Nairobi to be with her father. She saves her
anger for the woman who sold him the methanol-laced brew.
"I think
I'm very angry. The person who gave them the drink, she
knew. She knew what was happening," said Georgina.
The tragedy
sparked outrage across Kenya. In a town about 100 kilometers
northeast of Nairobi, an Anglican pastor led his church-goers
in ransacking five houses allegedly used for making illicit
liquor. They destroyed about 2,000 liters of it and dismantled
the distilleries.
It's
not the first time deadly brew has led to mass deaths in Kenya.
In 2000, toxic liquor killed 138 people, sparking calls for
the government to crack down on the thousands of bootleg liquor
distilleries. But that effort seems to have lost steam.
Across
East Africa, cheap bootleg brews are popular in poor neighborhoods
where unemployment is rampant, sometimes higher than 70 percent.
Often, women are able to earn extra money by brewing the illicit
liquors, enabling them to pay for school fees and clothes
for their children.
In Kenya,
the laws against brews like changaa and kumi kumi are rarely
enforced, despite occasional outcries by religious groups
that say the liquor destroys lives and increases domestic
violence.
Sister
Ruth Mwania, a nurse at the Machakos hospital, watched three
patients die in her ward, the eye ward, over the weekend.
There was nothing she or her staff could do. The effect of
the methanol-laced brew was irreversible.
Now, she
concentrates on the living. The patients went blind after
drinking the kumi kumi. But, she says, at least they walked
away with their lives.
“They
are very lucky because even if they don't see, they are
not going to die. And they can go back to their homes. Yes,
they are very lucky,” she said.
Kenyan
police are expected to inspect the bodies of the dead today.
Afterwards, their families can claim them and prepare them
for funerals, which Kenya's health minister wants the
government to pay for.
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