MEET WILSON OMONDI (WILLY) KAMUKUNJI BASED COP WHO IS CHANGING LIVES IN URBAN SLUMS

MEET WILSON OMONDI (WILLY) THE KAMUKUNJI BASED COP WHO IS CHANGING LIVES URBAN SLUMS IN NAIROBI.

 Wilson Omondi aka (willy boy)

In Kibera one of the sprawling slums in kenya's capital Nairobi, contrary to the public perception about police officers, one police officer Wilson Omondi is hitting the headlines for the right reasons. Attempts by several NGO and faith based organisations to reach him are now on the pipeline.

While a majority of Kenyans continue to find themselves between a rock and a hard place following the pandemic, Wilson Omondi is trending for making the lives  of most slum dwellers an earthly heaven.

Wilson Omondi says, while the government’s rhetoric may make sense when viewed from a public health
perspective, a closer look reveals the dangers inherent in blindly following the crowd. Take, for example, the situation in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Here, two-thirds of the city’s 4.4 million people are crammed into informal settlements, which cover just 6 percent of its land area. Within these crowded slums, entire families are forced to share single-room dwellings. With no running water, conditions are unsanitary and disease is rampant. Many slum residents work in the informal economy, running small businesses or providing casual labour to nearby rich and middle-class housing estates or to factories in the industrial areas. Few have job security or get sick leave. This is one hell of an area that the Kamukunji based cop Wilson Omondi is not pleased with and now trending for his humanitarian charity works under (I stand for humanity).

Omondi attending to a kid in Kibera

Whereas most people have turned an eye away for these urban dwellers, the cop has majored in assisting them. Recently his organisation donated sanitary pads, foodstuffs, medications and did mass deworming of kids in Kibera and Mathare areas. Contrary to what many expect cops can do, Willy is slowly changing the perception held by the public towards the men in uniform.

In these circumstances, Wilson is of a different analogy and idea. What do concepts such as “social distancing” mean? How practical is it to ask people to work from home? How exactly is someone who shares a single room with half a dozen other family members be expected to “self-quarantine” if they were to fall ill with symptoms associated with COVID-19? How are they to avoid infecting their neighbours or make it to the city hospitals – themselves hopelessly overcrowded and unsanitary at the best of times – without spreading the infection?
This is why I have devoted the (I stand for humanity) charity group to help curb these issues as the word battles covid 19" Said a sad and distressed Omondi as he watched young kids with dreams sleep hungry in these urban slums.

Members of I stand for humanity at work.

Willy's charity group is the first of it is kind in the following ways: It is the first cop initiated organisation that does charity in Kenya and the larger East African region, it is also the only charity based group that doesn't want to show off for what it does.

Like a rain maker in Umofia, Wilson Omondi's deeds are conspicuous to both allies and foes, that is the simple narrative that can  be used to describe the partnership between Wilson and the community in the urban slums.

With bubbly promises of transformation and the exuberance that resembled that of a well fed calf in the open fields, most urban dwellers jumped into pledges and promises with gusto in anticipation that politicians were going to change their troubled lives, but one can not believe that a cop based in Kamukunji can outsmart policy makers and legislators who have abandoned their mandate. Wilson says he doesn't think politicians will sort out the mess he sees in slums but will assemble slum dwellers for votes due to desperation. A situation that doesn't spin well with him.

A jigger infested slum dweller.

His foundation has supplied over 10,000 sanitary pads to the urban women this year alone, supported the malnourished children by linking them to basic primary health care and often do regular medical camps to ease the disease burden that continue to burden their lives.

Willy is a clear proof of a young man who is dedicated to do his job without shortcuts or partiality and that is clear why media houses have pronounced his prowess in charity work delivery and is now changing the perception held by the public about cops.

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining and Wilson Omondi has already done that to Nairobi slum dwellers residents via his charity works. We have no doubt when it starts to rain.

Author: Dr.Mokaya Onsase
Dr.Mokaya Onsase is a Kenyan trained medical doctor, short story writer, actor and human health rights activist.