A leopard stood in our path, we ran for dear life
Standard Reporters
They were sent out to count people, but enumerators who worked distant corners of Nyanza and Western provinces have been recounting tales of bizarre occurrences.
Some had to employ skill when they landed into situations that called for more than the training imparted to them for the Population and Housing Census.
From Gucha in Kisii through the Kano plains to Kisumu, Siaya and parts of Western Province, many enumerators came face to face with incidents not listed in their code booklet.
Wild animals
Some of the uninvited ‘statistics’ they had to devise ways of dealing with included wild animals, abusive and hostile respondents, night runners and barred homesteads where unknown visitors are not entertained due to traditional beliefs.
In Siaya, some enumerators were rattled by a hyena while another group came upon a leopard as they walked through a deserted bush path.
For 21-year-old Bill Clinton Onyango, it was his first time to come in close proximity with a leopard. He almost quit the exercise fearing for his life.
Onyango and a village elder who was accompanying him had to take to their heels at high speed, into the darkness, away from the animal they later believed had been following them as they moved from home to home.
\"The following morning, I approached my senior supervisor and told him I wanted to quit the exercise,\" said Onyango.
Onyango was hired as an enumerator for Nduru in Masumbi within South Alego, Siaya and on the night of August 24 set out for duty.
He said that at around 10pm, as they were negotiating a corner through a footpath, they came across the leopard which stood in their path when a spotlight lit the way. His boss later requested for armed police escort in the area.
Another group in the same neighourhood lost their stationery as they ran when they heard a hyena howl from a close distance.
Wild animals aside, another team of two ladies got a rude shock when they were chased by a spear-wielding man who found them asking his wife the amount of wealth the family had.
Chased away
The incident happened at Lula enumeration area in Anduro, within Siaya township location, where the census officials were chased away in broad-daylight from the home.
Trouble started when the man who overheard some questions from outside his house, entered and immediately demanded to know why they should ask his wife about his wealth.
\"Ere kaka unyalo penjo chiega wache muandu meka gi tho mane onego nyithinda\" (how can you ask my wife about my wealth and the cause of the death of my children), shouted the man.
He added angrily: \"Wuoguru ka pok remo ochwer ka\", (leave my house before blood spills here).
In Gucha, an enumerator, Mr Wyclife Ombati was attacked by a mentally ill respondent while in the same district another had to spend the night in the house of a villager after they received a warning that a night runner was lurking in the dark.
Though more mythical than real, night runners are regarded as witches who harass people at night using various tricks.
Ombati said: \"I had visited the home one evening unaware that the man was mentally ill. When I returned for the census count, he became violent and I had to run for dear life.\"
Polygamous homestead
In another instance, two women in a polygamous homestead differed over where the husband was to be enumerated with each saying he should be listed as the head of their household.
The question about deaths in the household was particularly not well received in the region.
\"My son, why don’t you just count those alive first and forget about the dead? How many funerals have you attended here now that you ask?\" a respondent reportedly told an enumerator in Shyinyalu, Western Province.
\"Most respondents answered irrelevantly with a deliberate intention to frustrate enumerators. Most sensitive questions were on marriage in polygamous homes, number of children and property,\" said Peter Ogolla in Migori.
Mothers were uneasy when questions about recent live births were posed to their daughters aged 12 years and above.
Lack of lighting
Then the common challenge was lack of lighting in most households. Many enumerators had to use their torches or work by light from fireplaces.
Some of the enumerators interviewed in Homa Bay and Ndhiwa said they had difficulties entering homesteads where owners barred them.
In Koru, Nyando District, a middle aged man was arrested and later charged in court for un-leasing his dogs on a group of enumerators when they approached his gate.
Reporting by Nicholas Anyuor, George Olwenya and Kenan Miruka
