Halima Salim Muyoma

Halima Salim Muyoma was born in 1945 in Navakholo, Kakamega County, the second born in a family of five children.

She began school locally and reached standard four before financial limitations at home forced her to leave the classroom.

She was then sent to Kisumu, where she studied the Quran, before returning home to take up the responsibilities waiting for her there.

Back at home, her days were filled with manual work, weeding fields, and doing heavy household chores to support her parents.

She later married and moved to Majengo to start her own family.

Marriage brought the responsibility of raising children. Her husband was a former railway worker who lost his job and pension, and life grew harder...

Halima Salim Muyoma was born in 1945 in Navakholo, Kakamega County, the second born in a family of five children.

She began school locally and reached standard four before financial limitations at home forced her to leave the classroom.

She was then sent to Kisumu, where she studied the Quran, before returning home to take up the responsibilities waiting for her there.

Back at home, her days were filled with manual work, weeding fields, and doing heavy household chores to support her parents.

She later married and moved to Majengo to start her own family.

Marriage brought the responsibility of raising children. Her husband was a former railway worker who lost his job and pension, and life grew harder when he fell ill with a serious chest condition and later died in their home.

Left to provide for her children alone, Halima turned to small-scale trade, walking long distances to sell beans, maize, and potatoes across Kakamega and Kisumu to earn what little she could each day.

She and her children lived in a small two-roomed mud house with no electricity, and there were many nights when there simply was not enough food to go around.

Neighbors who saw how much she was struggling brought her situation to the attention of the local chief, who connected her with the Mama Ibado Charity.

She was enrolled in the food for the senior program in April 2023, and the charity began delivering flour, sugar, tea leaves, salt, rice, and milk to her home.

Beyond food support, Halima also manages several health conditions, including high blood pressure, goiter, arthritis, eye problems, and diabetes, and attends clinic check-ups every Thursday to keep track of her health.

"Before, I often went to bed hungry and worried about where the next meal would come from, but now I no longer sleep hungry, and I have far less stress about food," she said.

Even with the support the food program provides, Halima still needs help because of her age, her ongoing health conditions, and the poverty that continues to affect her household.