Jamila
Jamilla Musa is 24 years old and the eldest of 8 orphans. When her father died of AIDS in 1994, her mother refused to follow tradition and be "inherited" by her brother-in-law. He took over her small plot of land and without their home, the family then had to rent accommodation in the busy border town of Busia. There they all went to work at a stall selling tomatoes, onions, pens, cakes – common practice in rural Kenya, as shown on the right - anything to help them get by.
With their combined effort, the older children were able to go to primary school. When their mother also died of AIDS in 2003, Jamilla had to become mother and provider to her younger siblings. Her 17-year-old brother Hamisi was forced to drop out in spite of good grades due to lack of school fees. Sponsorship from the Project allows her brother Musa and sister Hamila to attend school.
Jamilla finished primary school and learned to plait hair. Through a business set up with financial backing from the Project, this skill still earns her an income today.
Cresenesia
Cresenesia Nanama embodies the traditional sense of African family obligation. Although a mother of 7 children herself, ‘taking in’ children is something she has done for many years now, rearing and feeding them until they are old enough to marry, work, and make a life of their own. At times the relation has been close, at other times distant. She is known in her clan as Mother, a complement and responsibility she takes seriously.
The most recent adoptee, Mary Ludomia, is 12 years old and a second cousin to Cresenesia; her parents and her grandmother are dead so each of the children are staying with various relatives in different parts of the country.
In order to maintain the balance in the home Cresenesia has been receiving a monthly sum from the Project funds to spend as she sees fit. As more and more families are either unwilling or unable to shelter young orphans, those who do deserve our support and appreciation.
