MUKOVERO KADEGE DHIPHINA

Mukovero Kadege Dhiphina was born in 1954 in Tiriki, Vihiga County. She was raised in a family of four children, but she experienced the weight of loss early in life when two of her siblings passed away.

Her parents were not formally employed, which made the stability of her early years very uncertain.

She only attended a few years of school under the old education system, as the local authorities had to force her father to enroll her by threatening to seize the family's livestock. Despite this forced start, she could not continue beyond the most basic level because her family lacked the money for fees.

She spent her remaining years at home helping with domestic chores until she reached the age to marry.

After moving to Shirere in Kakamega County for her marriage, she gave birth to five children. Her life was defined by hard labor as she worked as a small-scale farmer, planting vegetables to sell just to afford a single meal. Her husband worked as a slaughterhouse laborer, but he was eventually forced to stop working after falling ill, leaving the entire burden of the family on Mukovero's shoulders.

The family endured deep struggles for survival, especially after her husband passed away in 1994, followed by the death of one of her sons in 1996. During these years, food was scarce, and the family survived through extreme perseverance despite the lack of a steady income. One of her daughters was forced to move away to find work, leaving Mukovero to raise her grandson, who is now 14 years old.

Mukovero joined the Mama Ibado program on June 4, 2018, after her daughter in Shinyalu told her about the assistance being offered. She visited the assistant chief for a recommendation and was eventually registered to receive monthly food rations. She now receives four packets of maize flour, porridge flour, rice, cooking oil, salt, tea leaves, and sugar.

"Before this program, I was fading away from the constant struggle to find food, but now I have regained the strength to walk and live because my kitchen is no longer empty," she says.

The assistance has significantly changed her daily life, as she no longer has to worry about where the next meal will come from. This stability allows her to focus on her health and her grandson’s well-being without the crushing stress of starvation. She is deeply grateful to the program, noting that without this food, she might have followed her late husband to the grave long ago.

Mukovero still requires urgent help because she lives in a fragile mud house and has no reliable source of income to support the three family members depending on her. At 70 years old, she is no longer physically able to perform the manual farm labor that once sustained her.