Leonida Adeyi Busolo

Leonida Busolo Adeyi sits quietly on a wooden stool outside the second semi-permanent house on the right. These three simple structures in Museno, Shanyinya village, once belonged to her parents. She returned to live here after being chased away from her matrimonial home in Ilesi following a land dispute after her husband died.

Born in 1960, Leonida grew up in a large family of nine children. Life was hard from the start because resources were very few. Out of the nine children born in her family, six passed away, leaving only three of them behind.

She started school as a child, but she only reached class three. Her parents were poor peasants who could not afford to keep paying school fees. Because of that, her education stopped very early.

After leaving school, she stayed at home to help her parents. She spent her days doing manual farm work like weeding and fetching firewood. She did all kinds of heavy chores around the homestead to help the family get by.

When she grew older, she got married and moved to Ilesi to start her own family. She gave birth to seven children with her husband. Raising them was a daily struggle because her husband only earned a small income from selling car spare parts in Nairobi.

Life became even harder when three of her children passed away, leaving her with four. Some days, there was no money at all, and the family went to sleep on empty stomachs. When her husband fell sick and died five years ago, the situation turned completely upside down.

Relatives started a bitter land dispute and chased her away from the home and farm she had lived on for years. With no husband, no money, and no land, she had nowhere else to go. She packed her few things and walked back to her parents' home in Museno, Shanyinya village.

Back at her birth home, survival did not get any easier. Her children had dropped out of school early because there was no money, so none of them got stable jobs. Her only son does casual construction work in Nairobi, but he struggles to feed his own wife and three children. Her daughters also moved away to find work, leaving their children behind with Leonida to raise.

Feeding multiple grandchildren in an empty house was too much for her to handle. Most days, she had nothing to cook and had to rely on food begged from neighbors or her brother's family. The stress of not knowing where the next meal would come from weighed heavily on her every single day.

Everything changed when a friend told her about the Mama Ibado program and helped her connect with them. Mama Ibado's representatives visited her home at Museno, Shanyinya village, to see her situation firsthand. After assessing how badly she was suffering, they officially enrolled her in the seniors support program.

"Now we no longer sleep hungry, and I have less stress about where to get food, as I can focus my energy on other daily survival needs."

Today, she receives steady monthly food support that includes maize flour, cooking oil, sugar, and porridge flour. This support has taken away the constant worry of starvation that used to keep her awake at night.

Despite getting food, Leonida still needs urgent help because she suffers from a painful eye condition and body swelling. She cannot afford the medical checkups or drugs she needs, leaving her in constant physical pain as she grows older.