A Widow Story
In 2009, My husband and I met this lady in Moshi Kilimanjaro.
She is a widow, who was taking care of 16 children ,out of which only 2 boys are her own biological sons. I was curious and interested on her story so we set up a day to visit her in her place. So we drove to visit her, in Arusha and found her in a two bedroom house with all those boys and girls.
Their house was full, and they were living a shif-life routine . Everything…sleeping,showering,school uniform etc….They were giving themselves shifts, others were going to school in the morning, others in the afternoon. So even ,for school uniform, was the same, they share,one can wear a shirt in the morning the same shirt will be worn in the afternoon by another one…. Same to shoes…same to sox…etc.
How about food? Interesting…they could spend days without food and they were smiling all the time…
How about basic needs like toilets. Where someone wants to go for a call of nature??? Shower?? I was so curious. And I asked her…It was terrible. They do shifts…waiting and waiting if someone is in already…… So ,we decided to start with making one for the lady so she can have a bit of privacy…as a Mother…that was successful in few days.
How about School fees? How does she manage to pay the fees for all these kids??
By the way, being a Widow in countries like Tanzania is no joke, a woman goes through a lot of pain, starting from financial ,being moved from a family house and everything being taken by the deceased family ,called a witch and being blamed that a widow is the one who killed the husband, also a widow goes through a lot of troubles…so one grieves a loss but also the treatment after the loss.
We again, jumped in, supporting her financially slowly and also paying her house rent. We did this for years, and we are grateful some of the kids graduated from university.
Painful Part…
In 2019,one of her biological son(28yrs) became blind from unknown reasons. He woke up in the morning and found himself blind. It was painful for her and even for us. Hospital bills and check ups has to be taken care of. He is still blind, and no hope for a sight. No money for those expensive checkups and hospital bills….so he stays home and she is taking care of him .
House project….
This Year,we decided to start a three bedroom house for her. It is still a work in progress project, and we think she will be moving in in March 2021 or so. It will be only habitable but not full completed
Touching lives….
This mama is so inspirational to my life, working hard and always positive for the future. Some of the income from our company, goes to social projects like this. Just to put a smile to a disadvantage one in our community. If you consider travelling with us, rest assured part of your money will touch someone’s life in Tanzania. KARIBU SANA.