MWENGU REHAMA SHILAKO

The rhythmic thudding from the nearby gold mines and the pungent smell from the Kakamega dumping site welcome us to the home of Rehema Shirako at Rosterman. Her compound is overgrown with grass, and the houses are semi-permanent structures standing in the shadow of the waste site. Rehema was born in 1922 in Mumias and was the only girl in a family of two children.

At the time of her birth, schools were not available in her village, so she never had the chance to attend classes. She spent her younger years staying at home with her parents and working as a farmer to help them survive. She eventually married in 1947 and continued her life as a peasant farmer.

In her first marriage, she was blessed with six children, but after her husband passed away, she entered a second marriage in 1967. This union brought five more children, making her a mother of nine, though she suffered the pain of losing two of them over the years. Her second husband died in 1974, leaving her as a widow to raise the children on her own through hard manual labor.

Life became even more difficult as her age advanced and her physical strength failed. She suffered a physical injury to her waist when robbers attacked her home, leaving her unable to walk without help. Today, she lives in a house without electricity and depends on her son, Ibrahim Asman, who acts as her full-time caregiver.

Ibrahim is a casual farmer with no stable job, and he spends his days carrying his mother out to bask in the sun and feeding her. They depend on water from a local stream that is often contaminated by dirty runoff from the dumping site and chemicals from gold miners. Rehema lives in constant fear of waterborne diseases because they can't afford clean water.

While her eyesight is still sharp enough to recognize her many grandchildren, her hearing has faded completely. You have to shout loudly for her to understand anything, leaving her isolated in a world of silence.

For a long time, the family struggled with deep hunger, as Ibrahim’s small farming could not provide enough food for everyone.

Her situation was eventually noticed by her daughter, who introduced the family to the Mama Ibado Charity program. The charity visited their home to assess her health and living conditions and enrolled her into the seniors' feeding program. She now receives a monthly supply of maize flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil, and milk.

"There was a time I worried my mother would leave us because of hunger and pain, but today she is strong and fed because of the help we receive." Says Ibrahim.

The consistent food supply has made life easier for Ibrahim, allowing him to care for his mother without the constant stress of an empty kitchen. The dignity of the family has been restored by the charity's intervention.

Rehema still needs help because she is a centenarian who is completely immobile and lives in an unsafe environment near a waste site. Her fragile health and the lack of a stable income in the family make the continued support of donors the only way she can survive her final years with peace.