Daria Achitsa Machinji

Daria Achitsa Machinji was born in 1939 in Kakamega County.

Out of five children born to her parents, she is the only one who survived into adulthood, eventually losing even her mother at a young age.

After her mother’s passing, she was left to be raised by her brother, moving from place to place before finally settling in Bukhulunya Lurambi, Kakamega County.

Her education was cut short before it could even begin because her father held the firm belief that daughters did not require schooling. While other children attended classes, Daria remained at home to perform labor, spending her childhood tilling the land for others to ensure there was something to eat.

She spent those early years moving from farm to farm, providing manual labor in exchange for small portions of food.

Daria eventually married and settled in Bukhulunya, where she gave birth to eleven children. However, her life as a mother was defined by extreme hardship, as eight of her children passed away, leaving her with only three surviving children—one daughter and two sons. Her husband passed away twenty-nine years ago, leaving her to raise their large family entirely on her own through the most difficult of circumstances.

To educate her children and keep the family alive, Daria resorted to brewing traditional alcohol and rearing pigs to sell. Despite her immense sacrifices to see them through Form Four, her surviving children have struggled to establish their own lives and are unable to support her in her old age. For many years, Daria lived in a cycle of desperation, often going without food when her strength to work finally failed due to her advancing age.

She was introduced to the Mama Ibado program through one of her sons, who informed her that there was an organization helping elderly people who were suffering from hunger. Since joining, she has become a regular beneficiary of essential supplies, including maize flour, porridge flour, cooking oil, tea leaves, milk, sugar, and salt.

This hamper has provided a foundation of security for her household of three, which had previously been teetering on the edge of starvation.

"In the years following my husband's death, I was constantly laboring just to find a single meal, but now I can rest knowing that my kitchen is provided for through the kindness of others," she says.

Daria expresses her deepest gratitude to the donors, believing that through this program, God has remembered her in her final years. She still requires urgent help because she lives in a fragile mud house and has no reliable source of income or family support to cover her daily needs. Without this continued intervention, Daria would be left entirely vulnerable to the hunger and illness she has fought against for nearly a century.