Giving her dignity back
Lydia Nekesa was born and raised in Mombasa. She has never seen the door of a classroom and the interest has never existed anyway. She speaks of two siblings- brothers- back in Mombasa, and a mother who got remarried. Due to her illiteracy she doesn’t know her age; but she is approximately 21 years of age maximum.
She found her way to Ruben Centre whilst the pandemic was hard hitting the nation in July. At the time, Ruben Centre was providing food stuffs to the members of the kwa Reuben community. But word in informal settlements spreads faster than a bush fire and we had people coming from beyond the target area. One of them was Lydia; hailing from neighboring settlement area of kwa Njenga. In the crowds of thousands, Lydia was just another starving person in need of help and no one took notice. She had to be shrewd to standout and get the “best” help.
She observed those who commanded/ authorized/ commanded the crowds and approached one of them who happened to be Ruben Health Centre facility in-charge, Zipporah Mwangi. “[Habari madam. Naomba dakika zako mbili tu unisikize. Mimi sitaki chakula, nataka kazi.] Hi madam. I am only requesting two minutes of your time. I don’t want food, I want a job,” were Lydia’s words after tapping on Zipporah’s shoulder.
Those words- I don’t want food, I want a job- were what caught the facility in- charge’s attention. Lydia went to state she has two children, boy aged about 5 and a girl aged about 2. All three young ones (including the one in her womb) were fathered by three different men who are now non-existent. The boy whom was left in the house was sick, being malnourished and had diarrhea. She carried the girl on her back. At the time, Lydia was desolate and desperate. She was suicidal and even wanted to abort the unborn child, according to Zipporah.
Pre-Covid, she would collect and sale plastics or hawk groundnuts. She claimed to have gained skills of a hair stylist earlier in her life. Having being moved emotionally by the story, Zipporah reached out to Br. Sunday who was the coordinator for the food distribution. When he (Br. Sunday) asked Lydia what she could, she said she could do anything. The desperation in her eyes and voice forced him to think and act quick. His challenge was the organization was trying to figure out budget cuts and here was a lady in need of a source of living. He reached out to Ruben Centre’s HDSTP coordinator Elizabeth Kagwima who created a temporary position for Lydia as knitting-lady for the weaved shawls.
After her first day interactions with Sunday and Zipporah, Lydia was asked to come the following day with all her children for a follow up. She kept her word and came. She lived some 10 km away from the Ruben Centre. Lydia was taken to Ruben Health Centre’s maternity unit so that it can be established when she is due. Both the boy and girl were taken to the nutrition unit to put them on a program. After a week, the small family had regained their health. Lydia started working temporarily for Ruben Centre from early August to date.
Br. Frank got to learn of her story and decided to help her relocate to a closer and cleaner house. He also bought her bed and beddings. Lydia is due to deliver in December. She is healthy, mentally and financially stable and. has regained her dignity. Through Elizabeth, Lydia has saved a fair share of money that in case her job ends she has somewhere to start over. This is just the one of the many individuals Ruben Centre has impacted this year alone.
By: G.B