Mary Wanjiku
“My name is Mary, I am 13 years old and live in Kiandutu slum with my Mother and brothers and sister. Since my Mother and Father separated things have been difficult at home. We have never seen our Father again and we have no money for food. Sometimes my Mother beats me, but I know it’s because of all the problems. I wish I could go to school every day, but sometimes my Mother needs me at home.”
Mary’s father separated from her mother a few years ago, leaving her alone with four young children to care for. This caused the family many problems as previously the father had provided for them, now the mother has to find casual jobs wherever she can in order to put food on the table. There is no stable source of income for the family. When there is no food at home, Mary and her sister go to their Grandmother’s house in the hope that she will give them something to eat. This causes major conflict between the Mother and the Grandmother, who constantly insults her daughter for not being able to provide for her children. The Grandmother is a drunk who sells local brew in the slums and has a very bad attitude towards her struggling daughter. As a result, whenever the children have been at the Grandmother’s house, they are badly beaten by the Mother who suffers from severe depression. “When our stomachs are empty, we go to our Grandmother’s even though we know we will be beaten, we can’t help it.”
When the mother is not there, sometimes Mary and her siblings mix salt into water and drink it to give them energy when there is no food available. Often at night they go to sleep with empty stomachs and when this happens they usually don’t attend school in the morning. The two girls are also often forced to stay home and look after the young boys while their Mother searches for work. This results in Mary and her sister missing much of their education. Mary is currently in standard 4 in Kianjau Primary School and is struggling to keep up because of her poor attendance level. “I like going to school because, in the future, I want to be able to support myself. I am clever but there is too much disruption for me to do well at school.”
We have been trying to help this family through the offering of much needed counseling for the Mother so that she can overcome her stress problems and hopefully learn to stop taking her problems out on her children, as her Mother does to her. This will take time as we try to rebuild her relationships and self esteem. What Mary urgently needs is to go to a boarding school where she can be guaranteed a good education and meals every day, in a safe and secure environment.
