HADIJA ROBAI MWANDI

Hadija Robai Mwandi was born in 1951 in the Sabaot region of Trans-Nzoia, Musori. She was born into a family of six siblings, but the harsh conditions of her early life claimed the lives of three of them, leaving her as one of only three survivors.

She never had the opportunity to attend school because her mother passed away while Hadija was still a small child. Without a mother to care for her and a father who struggled with extreme poverty, she spent her childhood performing household chores and manual labor to survive.

Upon reaching adulthood, she married her husband and settled in Shitungu, where they worked as small-scale vegetable farmers. They were blessed with four children—two girls and two boys—but she suffered the pain of losing both of her daughters.

Life turned into a bitter struggle after her husband’s death, as greedy relatives and neighbors conspired to chase her away from her marital land. With no home and two sons to feed, she found herself sleeping in the bushes near her husband's grave, crying out to him in the middle of the night for guidance.

She eventually settled in a small mud house in Rosterman, where she tried to sustain her family by weeding and tilling farms for others. Her children were unable to secure stable jobs; one of her sons now lives in a distant town with no means to return home, while her other son struggles with his own household, and she is left to care for four dependents.

Hadija's health began to fail due to the heavy physical labor and a history of broken ribs that never healed properly, along with worsening arthritis. There were many days when the family slept on empty stomachs, and she admits that the desperation once made her contemplate taking her own life.

Her breakthrough came through a friend who saw her crying by the road and told her about a program in Amalemba that helped the elderly. She walked long distances on her painful, arthritic legs to reach the Mama Ibado Charity offices, and after an assessment of her dire situation, she was enrolled in the seniors' program on June 4, 2025.

She now receives a monthly food basket containing maize flour, rice, cooking oil, sugar, and milk. These supplies have replaced her nights of hunger with the security of a warm meal for herself and her four dependents.

"I was tossed away like an empty sack of charcoal, but this food has given me the strength to stand again and feel like a human being."

The regular provision of milk and nutritious food has helped her manage her health conditions and reduced the physical burden on her broken body. She no longer has to choose between her medication and a meal for her grandchildren.

Hadija still needs help because her mud house is in poor condition and her physical disabilities prevent her from ever returning to the farms for work. With her sons unable to provide support, she relies entirely on the kindness of donors to keep her family from returning to the bushes.