The Kenyan man identified as Felix Joel went viral recently and attracted numerous reactions after a photo of him holding a placard in town advertising the sale of his kidney emerged on social media.
Tuko.co.ke later interviewed the small-scale trader from Kisumu’s Manyatta estate and he disclosed that he has three younger brothers who were left in his care after his father passed away in 2007.
”I was in Class 7 when I started taking care of them through the business of mali mali because my mom is jobless,” Felix Joel is quoted as having said.
The burdens that the young man has to carry have become so huge that in 2017 he had to sacrifice his own education. He was a first-year student at Masinde Muliro University where he was studying Animal Science.
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According to him, the motive for suspending his university education was to engage in income-generating activities to fend for his younger ones and their educational needs.
He said the plan was going well until Covid-19 hit last year and distorted his business.
“I also had a contract to supply beans to one of the schools but it ended when students were sent home last year due to COVID-19. I haven’t been able to get it again,” he lamented.
“I have bigger problems that I can’t even start saying now. My dad was polygamous so as we speak we don’t even live at home, but that’s another story altogether.”
The thought of selling his kidney to raise money occurred to him as his 17-year-old younger brother, Morgan is expected to join Kenyatta University on October 4 to study Agricultural Education and Extension.