MUHATI SEVENZIA KHAYISI

Muhati Sevenzia Khayisi was born on January 1, 1945, in the village of Ikolomani. She was the sixth child in a large family of ten, where resources were already stretched thin among many mouths to feed.

Her childhood was marked by early loss when her father passed away while she was still young, leaving the family in deep poverty. Because of this, Sevenzia never had the chance to attend school, as the struggle for daily survival took priority over education.

With no formal schooling, she spent her youth performing backbreaking manual labor in the fields of others. She worked for small wages, doing whatever was necessary to help her mother keep the family together.

Sevenzia later moved to Shivakhala and married a man from the Bukhulunya area. Together they had eight children, though she faced the heavy weight of losing two of them, leaving her with six children to raise in a four-roomed mud house.

Her husband was a simple laborer like herself, and life became a desperate cycle of poverty as they tried to provide for their large family. In 1990, her husband fell ill and suffered for four long years before passing away in 1994, leaving Sevenzia as a widow with young children to protect.

To keep her children alive, she turned to brewing and selling illicit liquor, a dangerous trade that brought her into constant conflict with the law. She spent years living in fear, using her meager earnings to bribe her way out of police custody until the financial and emotional toll became too great to bear.

Despite her efforts, her children were only able to reach class eight before the lack of fees forced them to stop their education. Today, her surviving children have no stable jobs and struggle with their own families, often leaving Sevenzia alone and empty-handed in her crumbling home.

She now suffers from severe arthritis that often leaves her unable to stand or walk, along with chest problems and failing eyesight. Her life was a silent struggle until a village elder noticed her suffering and introduced her to the Mama Ibado Charity.

The team from Mama Ibado visited her home, assessed her dire living conditions and health, and officially enrolled her in the seniors' program on January 16, 2020. She now receives essential food supplies including rice, sugar, oil, porridge flour, maize flour, milk, and salt.

"There was a time I lived in fear of the law just to find a meal, but today I sit in peace knowing that the charity has provided for my hunger and restored my health."

This intervention has transformed her life from one of legal desperation to one of quiet dignity. She no longer has to worry about the municipal water being cut off for unpaid bills or her grandchildren sleeping on empty stomachs.

Sevenzia still needs help because she remains a sickly widow responsible for four dependents in a house that needs constant repair. Her physical limitations and the lack of employment among her children make the continued support of donors her only source of hope.