MBALI LOIS MCHELWA

Mbali Lois Mchelwa was born on April 1, 1950, in the green hills of Shinyalu. She was born into a large family of twelve children, consisting of six boys and six girls. Over the years, she watched most of her siblings pass away, eventually leaving her as the only surviving member of her original family.

Education was never an option for Mbali during her childhood in Shinyalu. She remained at home because there was no one to pay for her schooling or support her learning. She spent her younger years performing manual labor, working on the farms of neighbors and doing domestic chores for other families to help her parents survive.

She eventually married in 1950, joining the Wakusi family in Rosterman. Her marriage was a period of constant prayer and labor, as her husband served as a traveling preacher for the African Divine Church across Kenya. While they were rich in faith, they were poor in pocket, and the couple struggled together to raise their children.

Mbali gave birth to seven children, but she faced the deep pain of losing four of them to illness. Her three surviving children only reached primary school, with some dropping out as early as class five and others in class eight due to a lack of fees. These children now lack stable employment, moving from one casual job to another while struggling to support their own families and their aging mother.

The struggle intensified significantly after her husband passed away while on his mission. Mbali was left alone in a two-roomed house without electricity, forced to take up the mantle of being the sole provider. She spent her days walking long distances to look for weeding jobs and farm labor just to get a single meal for the three dependents under her care.

There were many days when Mbali and her grandchildren would sit in the darkness of their small house with empty stomachs. She suffered from high blood pressure, a condition worsened by the constant stress of not knowing where the next meal would come from. Her life was a cycle of manual labor and hunger until her local chief noticed her deteriorating health and the poverty in her home.

The chief personally intervened and guided her to the Mama Ibado Charity program after seeing her desperate situation. After a home visit to assess her needs, she was enrolled into the seniors' feeding program on January 16, 2020. She began receiving monthly supplies of rice, sugar, tea leaves, maize flour, and nutritious porridge flour.

Beyond the nutritional support, Mbali also receives regular health monitoring for her high blood pressure. This medical attention has allowed her to manage her condition without the paralyzing fear that her health would fail before she could provide for her grandchildren.

"I used to walk until my legs failed me just to find a few greens to boil, but now I can pray with a peaceful heart because my kitchen is never empty."

The arrival of the food basket has restored a sense of dignity to her household that had been missing for decades. She no longer spends her final years as a beggar but as a respected elder who is cared for by the community.

Mbali still needs help because her advanced age and hypertension make it impossible for her to engage in the heavy farm labor she once relied on. With no electricity in her home and children who are equally struggling with unemployment, the charity remains her only source of consistent survival.