SHIVAYANGA MARY ANJILA

Shivayanga Mary Anjila was born in 1950 in Iguhu, Ikolomani, within Kakamega County. There were ten children in their family, and they faced a very difficult upbringing.

Schooling was an impossible dream for her because her parents lacked the financial means to pay for education. She remained at home without ever stepping into a classroom, while nearly all her siblings suffered the same fate.

As a young girl unable to attend school, she spent her days performing heavy manual tasks around the home. She spent her childhood cultivating the soil, gathering heavy bundles of firewood, and washing dishes to support her family.

Later in life, she married and gave birth to nine children, which marked the beginning of an even heavier burden of care.

The family endured severe hardships to the point where putting food on the table was a daily battle, and they frequently went to sleep on empty stomachs.

Over time, she faced the painful loss of her eldest child, who passed away, while another child mysteriously disappeared and was never found. To ease the financial strain, she traveled to Nairobi and worked long hours washing clothes, ironing, and cleaning for an Indian family, but that employment eventually ended.

After her work in Nairobi dried up, she returned home to the Masingo slums on the outskirts of Kakamega town, where she lived in a small, fragile mud house. She tried to survive by performing manual casual labor, such as tilling other people's farms and fetching water for neighbors.

Her seven surviving children were forced to drop out of school early because she could not afford their fees, and today they all remain without any stable employment. Her situation grew worse when severe health issues set in, leaving her with an open wound on her leg that never heals and constant bodily aches that prevent her from doing any manual work.

Relief finally came when the local village elder noticed her extreme suffering and brought officers from Mama Ibado to visit her. After assessing her desperate living conditions, she was enrolled in the seniors' feeding program to save her from starvation. She now regularly receives essential food supplies, including maize flour, sugar, cooking oil, rice, tea leaves, and salt.

"In the past, I lived with constant stress because we would often sleep hungry without knowing where the next meal would come from. Since joining this program, I no longer sleep hungry, and the food support has removed a massive burden from my shoulders," Mary shares.

Even with this life-saving food assistance, she still lives in a dilapidated mud shelter and faces ongoing pain from her unhealed leg wound. She completely relies on continued donor support to manage her chronic health issues, maintain her basic daily dignity, and survive without any income.