BATHELOMEON ERNEST ACHESA

Bathelomew Ernest Achesa was born in Bukulunya village in Kakamega County in 1958. He was the third child in his family.

He grew up in the countryside, where he watched his parents work hard every day to manage their small home with very little money.

He started his education at Bukulunya Primary School, but he had to stop going to school when he reached class three. His parents did not have money for school fees, so he had to leave school to help his family survive.

Without an education, he spent his teenage years staying at home. He worked on neighbors' farms, weeding their crops just to get a single evening meal for his family.

He left his village in 1982 to look for casual work in the Jua Kali sector in Kakamega town, and he got married that same year. He and his wife had six children, but one later disappeared, leaving him to raise five children with the little money he made from casual labor and small-scale farming. Over the years, getting food was a big struggle, and the family often went to bed hungry when he could not find work.

Because of poverty, his children did not go far with their education, and today they still struggle to find stable jobs.

His eldest son works as an untrained mechanic in the open-air Jua Kali markets, while his other children stay at home, including one who is very sick and depends completely on him.

Life became even harder as Bathelomew grew older and lost the physical strength to farm, leaving his family stuck in a leaking mud house in the Al-Karim slums.

A kind village elder saw that Bathelomew was becoming weak and had no food in his kitchen, so he introduced him to the Mama Ibado Seniors Feeding Programme. Program officers visited his home to check on him, and he was officially registered into the program on May 8, 2019. He started receiving a food basket every month containing maize flour, rice, cooking oil, sugar, porridge flour, tea leaves, and salt.

"Before the program, the stress of looking for the next meal was making me waste away, but today the hunger is gone, and I can use my remaining energy to care for my sick child and grandchildren."

Bathelomew still needs help from donors because his old age and high blood pressure stop him from doing heavy work, and his son's small mechanic job cannot pay for their house rent. Continued support will help this elderly father get his medicine and protect his grandchildren from hunger.