Shem Mohamud LIKHAYO

Shemu Muhamud Likhayo is often found seated behind his house, busking in the warm afternoon sun. He gazes quietly at the deep, jagged cracks running along the walls of his permanent house, which appears to be at the verge of collapse. When we, the Mama Ibado field officers, visited him, he faked a tired smile and reached for his waist to greet us, but his strength failed and he sank back into his chair.

He was born in 1939 in the Tiriki region, eventually arriving in his current home after years of laboring in different lands. Shemu grew up as the fourth child in a very large family of eleven siblings. Today, the echoes of his childhood have grown quiet, as only three of those eleven siblings remain alive.

His journey through education was cut short very early because of a sudden change in school management. Although a school stood right at his doorstep, the headmaster insisted on transferring him to a far-off institution.

Unable to trek the long distance, he decided that continuing school was no longer meaningful and left his studies behind.

At the young age of thirteen, he traveled to Uganda in search of a better life and employment to support himself. He spent twenty-two years there, building a career as a talented football player and working for various companies. He eventually earned a salary at a soda bottling plant, providing the funds he used to purchase his land in Kenya.

His personal life was marked by the complexity of two marriages and the eventual distance of his children. While in Uganda, he married his first wife, but they parted ways after thirteen years when she refused to relocate to Kenya with him. He eventually returned home and remarried, fathering ten children in total, though two have since passed away.

Despite having eight surviving children, Shemu lives in a state of isolation and quiet struggle. Many of his children have moved to distant towns like Kitale and Nairobi, with some having lost contact with him entirely. He now relies on a daughter who lives nearby, as his body can no longer withstand the rigors of the manual farm work he once relied on.

The physical toll of his age has been compounded by severe high blood pressure and painful arthritis. These diseases have robbed him of his mobility, turning a once-active football player into a man who must be assisted like a small child. He spends his days confined to his chair, watching the world move on without him as he can no longer farm.

We visited Shemu at his home after learning about his desperate situation through community outreach focused on the elderly. After assessing his health and the dangerous state of his cracked house, we registered him into the program on April 1, 2023. He now receives a food basket containing maize flour, wheat flour, cooking oil, sugar, and salt.

"Before the Mama Ibado officers found me, I was a man forgotten in a house that might fall on me at any time. Now, the heavy stress of where to get food has vanished, and I can use my little energy to focus on my health."

Shemu expresses deep gratitude for the monthly food supplies that have restored his dignity in his twilight years. He prays that the program continues to find the strength to support other vulnerable seniors who have no one else to turn to.

He remains in urgent need of assistance because his house is structurally unsafe and his health conditions require constant nutritional support. Without this intervention, Shemu would be left entirely alone to face the twin threats of hunger and a collapsing home.