I continued saving and managed to put up a semi permanent house. The feeling was so good and I was so proud of myself since I was my own cheering squad. Non of my family members wanted anything to do with me. I moved into my new home before I even connected electricity and believe you me it was not easy introducing my kids to this lifestyle yet they were used to electricity in our rental house.
The frustrations from my kids made me work even harder and within 3 months I had electricity. I was so proud of my little achievement but I was still embarrassed of being called mama mitumba. 10 years after I finished high school, I decided to take myself to campus and get my degree. I now believed that I could save little by little and make it. I enrolled in Maseno University city campus for evening classes since I had to hustle in my stall to pay for my fee. I could open the stall at 8. 00 am and close at 5pm to rush to class.
I was in class with people who drove their own cars and worked for big organizations hence being belittled even more. I held my head up high and went through my college because I was hustling to pay my fees anyway. I could get home as late as 9.30 pm from class and most times found my kids already asleep.
I eventually managed to graduate in 2016 without any fees balance at all. Some of those who had the so called big jobs didn’t manage to graduate due to fees balances. I’m now a proud sociologist with my certificate intact, and still doing my mitumba business to make ends meet.
I got my first job with Iebc in January 2017 as a county voter educator and did it with all my passion. The experience was great. It was a short contract and since it ended after the elections I am now back to my business.
I save with CIC Money Market Fund from my mitumba business. I save with Stima Sacco from my mitumba business, my kids academic policies are paid from my mitumba business. I still have my small stall, maybe it’s now time to expand. Believe in yourself always, be consistent, work hard, learn new ideas and above all put God first.
