VERBATIVE CASE STORIES AT MARKET PLACE BY LINKCARD STAFF

Teresa is 32 years old and married to a casual laborer and they both are blessed with a girl aged 7 years. They reside at Turitu village about 7km from Kiambu town.
They have lived there in a temporary rented house for the last 5 years. The rent is Kes 800 which many a times is hard to accumulate but the landlord is very patient with them; for they are his best tenants though rent payments are often late.Teresa is jobless and got married to run away from harsh conditions of life back then at her parents.

She has been ambitious from the beginning and she really helps her husband to hustle for a living.
She walks daily to Kiambu town, 7 km journey to and from to sell 12 pieces of groundnut sachets which go for Kes 10 each as part of her stock on daily basis. Her stock is well balanced when she sells all the 12 pieces on a good day.

That makes her walk back home early enough to see the house lit with cooking fire which sometimes serves as a lighting for her dark room.

If she gets home late, many times she finds her daughter curled up in bed or in her neighbors’ house. As you walk on the road side, you notice Teresa holding a torn off umbrella which she has been using all day long to put a shed over her head form the scorching sun, at a corner the city council askaris rarely pass for there are no businesses around. She operates her business from 11.00 AM to 5.00 PM.

The day I visited her, she had only sold three sachets, I noticed she looked tired and every time a smartly dressed woman passed by, she followed her steps often wondering when her God shall ever return and let her wear that gray suit
and the Versace fashion hand bag. She has not seen one like it lately, the lady could be working for a rich boss or her job has big stocks she concludes as she bows down in defeat.

I seat and greet her, I can see she is shocked as I sit next to her on the soil, I can see her cloudy eyes asking if I am for peace, I pick one sachet just to confirm I am her customer.

She looks at me as I peal it and she relaxes and for the next 45 minutes she
opens to me about her life, her business is worth Kes 120, from which she apportions the profit to a huge list of items to her budget for the family hence this may be the reason her dress looks too old.

She tells me she stopped going to church after getting embarrassed many times by her dress and numerous meetings on finances and contributions so often times she sneaked off ashamed. Teresa does not know where to start.

Teresa has no phone of her own; they normally share with her husband so mostly
she uses it at night though due to charging problems as the shopkeeper charges 20 shillings to recharge. Teresa has an ambition to own a shop worth Kes 10,000 that will allow her to make more money as well as give her neighbors small debts for food as most of the time they sleep hungry, she feels bad when they ask her for a debt of Kes 20 to at least feed the young ones.

In Turitu, they have not yet known tribes, one day God shall bless them, she says. As I wake up to pay my sachet with a Kes 200 note, she looks worried since she cannot find that change. I tell her to keep it for my next supply having arranged to meet again to talk about her business but as I walk away I cannot comprehend the state of her neighbors.

I promise myself that I have to find a way to assist Teresa as well as
task myself to visit Turitu, a small village among many like it holding millions of jobless family members struggling to have at least one meal a day.

Teresa is a fighter, I conclude, a royal woman who has not run away from her family despite the abject poverty and this is what motivates us to fight for Teresa and her neighbors with the small acts and just like a surgeon, we won’t rest until the last family heals, for the church to be healed and the country to be well.

That has reminded me of 8 year old Muriithi who lives under the bridge of Githurai round about, his mother chased him away after his dad left them. Some Somali looking men have promised to help him and buy him a Lamborghini racer bike if he agrees to go with them, he is not sure I will get him if those men come back before I do after all they have promised him some help.

Alas, that is not all as we have Mathew from Majengo 12 years who beg to feed his family of 6 and his sickly mother. His big brother went to search for a job as a boda boda rider and has not returned, it’s almost 2 years now and they don’t know where he is.

I need a system to register and document all these cases and some more people especially from the churches for the workers who will help us but they need to get something in return which I don’t want to borrow, I might need your 10 shillings but if you don’t have please drink “Umoja aqua cool” to quench your thirst the next time you want to drink water, I still will get the Kes 10 to help someone” one man cannot help many people but many people can help one”

Jane and Pauline have only this stock to share the proceeds after sale.A budget for two families that disturbs their mind. They have to feed their families that include grand children .Attending such cases amongst many more is what drives us to improve some livelihoods.