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Kenya's New Millionaires Find Wives and Woe
By Marc Lacey; New York Times

DOL DOL, Kenya, March 21 — Money is the cause of much marital discord, and that is certainly the case at the Saikongs's place, a humble, hilltop hut made of mud and dung where Jeremiah and Minkison Saikong live with their six children.

The couple bickered angrily in front of a visitor the other day, and money was at the root. He is irresponsible, Mrs. Saikong said of her husband. She is stingy, Mr. Saikong said of his wife, finally storming off.

Though their surroundings are simple enough, they do not fight about too little money, but about more than they ever imagined.

Mr. Saikong was transformed a few months ago from a pauper to a millionaire, in Kenyan shillings at least. He was one of 233 residents of Dol Dol and the surrounding scorched plains of northern Kenya to share a $7.4 million legal settlement.

The payout stemmed from a suit filed on behalf of hundreds of poor, nomadic herdsmen who had lost fingers and eyes and limbs from explosives left by British troops that have used the grazing land as a training ground since World War II.

The "boom-boom money," as the payout came to be known, transformed much in this sleepy town, which still has no electricity, paved roads or other modern conveniences.

The disabled once hid in their huts, unable to find spouses, and they were ridiculed by the rest of the community. But that changed fast. Soon they were the envy of Dol Dol.

Herdsmen who had walked everywhere were buying four-wheel-drive vehicles and carrying cellphones.

The Masai and Samburu herdsmen bought so much livestock, the measure of wealth here, that the cost of a goat rose 500 percent. Cows were double the former price.

Many are using their newfound wealth to buy prosthetics and undergo medical treatment.

Wedding ceremonies became commonplace as the nouveau riche, most of whom were men, acquired first and, sometimes, second wives.

"The whole community perception of disabled people has changed," said James Longui, who runs a community organization in Dol Dol called Osiligi. "Disabled people are driving vehicles and running businesses and sending their children to the best schools."

The amounts doled out would not necessarily amount to life-changing sums in wealthier parts of the world. The 1.3 million Kenyan shillings that Mr. Saikong received in an account at a bank in Nanyuki, the nearest town, totaled about $18,000.

But that is still a windfall in a country where the average person makes less than $1 a day.

The payouts varied according to the injuries suffered. Mr. Saikong has a gruesome scar on his right hip and a dent in his temple, caused in 1975 when a cow he was tending as a teenager set off a bomb.

Another recipient, Lemosio Lekorere, 28, lost a finger to one of the British explosives, earning him 450,000 Kenyan shillings (about $5,600). He bought a used vehicle, 15 cows and 30 sheep. He also stored a bit for his two children.

"Before, I had nothing in my pockets," he said with a smile, leaning against his second-hand truck.

Martyn Day, the British lawyer who won the settlement with the British Ministry of Defense, said the disdain the soldiers had for the residents had stunned him.

"I felt it couldn't be true at first," Mr. Day said in a telephone interview from London. "I thought the local people had to be lying. But as I visited and gathered the evidence I became shocked to the core."

Because of the success of the military case, Mr. Day is taking on other claims as well. Several hundred women in and around Dol Dol have come forward accusing the same British soldiers who left the bombs behind with raping them.

"I can never forget what those soldiers did to me," said Oseina Thomas Koitat, who claims that seven soldiers held her down in the early 1980's as two of them raped her.

Many of the women lack evidence to substantiate their claims. They were treated by herbalists, not doctors, so no medical reports of their injuries exist. And the local chiefs who investigated some cases did not leave detailed written records.

But Mrs. Koitat has a witness who found her by the side of a path bleeding with her clothing ripped off. She also went to the hospital and reported the matter to local authorities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/28/international/africa/28HERD.html

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