KEYA TIMOTHY INJAIRU

Keya Timothy Injairu faces a tough reality every single morning because his body cannot move. He was born in 1957 in Matsigulu village, Vihiga County. He grew up in a large family of twelve children, but six of his siblings sadly passed away before reaching adulthood.

Timothy went to school and managed to finish his high school education up to form four. After school, he got a job with the British American Tobacco Company (BAT) and worked there for fifteen years. He saved his money and bought a piece of land in Matopeni where he built a home for his family.

He married his wife in 1984, and they had five children together, four daughters and one son.

His life changed completely when his legs started getting numb without any accident or injury. The sickness became worse over the years, and doctors found out he had severe spinal cord damage that left him paralyzed from the waist down for the last twenty years. Timothy had to use empty sacks to drag himself across the floor of his mud house just to reach the toilet.

Since Timothy could not move, his wife took over the heavy burden of looking for food by farming on their small piece of land. Their four daughters finished school and got married to husbands who also struggle, and they try to run small roadside kiosks to get by. His only son lives with them and tries to do small plumbing and repair jobs, but he rarely gets work. When there were no casual jobs, the family lacked food entirely and they frequently slept on empty stomachs.

A village elder saw how much they were suffering when he visited the home and found Timothy dragging himself on the floor, so he connected them to Mama Ibado Charity. The team came to visit his home, assessed his situation, and enrolled him into the food for seniors program on August 4, 2020. Now, the family receives monthly supplies of maize flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil, milk, porridge flour, beans, and tea leaves.

This monthly food has brought peace to the home and taken the heavy burden off his wife's shoulders.

"We spent years crying in total darkness, depending on neighbors to give us small tins of maize while my husband was stuck on the floor. Joining Mama Ibado changed our lives because having food has given us back our dignity and stopped the hunger."

The food from the charity has kept the family alive and healthy. Timothy does not have any other source of help to manage his health and physical condition.

Timothy still needs help because his spinal problems keep him down and he cannot do any work to earn money. Continuous support from sponsors is the only way to make sure this family gets food and does not suffer from hunger again.