A physically challenged mother at Ngangarithi area, Nyeri Central Sub-County, Nyeri County is appealing to the government and well-wishers to save her from imminent death from hunger.
Ms Jane Wangechi, 57, started feeling the cruel effects of Covid-19 when containment measures to curb spread of the disease were instituted and her tailoring business in Nyeri town crumbled.
“I am a tailor and I used to earn my living by repairing client’s clothes but now due to covid-19 and the containment measures I had to close my business,” Wangechi said yesterday at her rented single room adding that she had not paid rent for several months now.
She used to feed herself and educate her children through her tailoring business but today her life has turned upside down as the effects of Covid-19 continue to bite in every sector of our economy.
In her room, Wangechi has accommodated her daughter Teresa Wanjiku and Wanjiku’s three children who are now staring at starvation unless quick action is taken to save the family.
She said she was not included in the list of beneficiaries for the weekly Sh 1,000 stipend given by the government to the vulnerable people to cushion them from effects of the pandemic.
“The assistant chief here and members of “Nyumba Kumi” initiative know me very well and I do not understand the criteria they used to compile the list of the beneficiaries,” she posed.
She complained that she has not even benefited from food donations given by well-wishers and distributed through the county government.
Her daughter, Wanjiku said she used to do manual jobs at Chaka trading centre but with the lockdown she failed to raise money for rent and the upkeep of her children.
“It is better we squeeze in this room than see my daughter and her children being thrown out of a house as has happened in some instances because of failing to pay rent,” Wangeci said amid tears.
Nyeri Central Sub-County Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Joseph Mwangi recently said identification of the Sh 1,000 weekly stipend from the government was done by chiefs, their assistants and members of the “Nyumba Kumi” initiative in their respective jurisdictions.
Mwangi, while addressing the press in Nyeri town warned that stern action would be taken against those who distorted data or included names of none deserving cases.
By Mwangi Gaitha
Physically challenged mother and her siblings risk starvation
