Owning a house is undoubtedly a dream many of us yearn to achieve before retirement. For Mildred Bichanga, this is a dream she didn’t know she would achieve at just 23.
The mother of one from Kisii county started the construction of the Sh1.7 house for her parents early this year after years of working as a Househelp in Qatar.
In an interview with a local daily, she revealed that she completed her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in 2019 but could not further her studies due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having been brought up in a humble background, her desire was to uplift her parents’ lives. As a result, she decided to move to Qatar, where she landed a job as a housekeeper.
From the salary that she earned while working abroad, Mildred saved some of it which she used to construct her parents a house worth Sh 1.7 million, undeterred by the challenges she faced in the Gulf country.
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“Despite the challenges I found in Qatar, I refused to give up whenever I remember the tough times at home. I had promised my mother, and I was planning to keep it,” she noted.
She explains that ill-treatment by her stepfamily is what pushes her to work hard to change her situation back home.
“They do not want to see us successful. That is one reason that pushes me daily. I promised my mother that I would make life easier and better for her. It was more about her, it was for her,” she said.
Mildred encouraged the young people to care for their parents, especially when they are alive.
“To make it in life, you need your parents’ blessings. What better way to do that than by making them happy? The blessings of parents go a long way,” she said,