Background Info
Elijah Kirathe was born in 2011 in Mwariki sub-location, Nakuru East- Sub County. He is the fifth child of Mary Wanja. Mary is 35 years old. She has six children. Mary grew up in poverty that she did not even receive any education. Her mother would look for manual work around the village to feed the children. Mary had to stay at home and look after her siblings while her mother worked. She had nothing to look forward to; all she hoped for was to get married.
As a teenager, Mary fell in love with Francis Kariuki and moved in with him. After a short time, Mary got pregnant with their first child. Francis was a casual labourer. He worked hard to take care of Mary and the child. The family was surviving on the small income that Francis made. They got four more children.
Francis later started travelling to look for casual jobs outside Nakuru town. He was rarely at home and would only come on weekends. Sometimes he couldn't get any work, therefore, there was nothing to send home. This left Mary and the children lacking the basic needs. The situation prompted her to seek attention outside her marriage. She engaged in sexual activities with men who would give her money. Her husband was unaware of what was happening.
Mary later got pregnant with her last born Christopher Thiong’o. During this pregnancy, Mary discovered that she was HIV positive. She kept this a secret from her husband. Francis later got news of how Mary behaves in his absence. He decided to abandon Mary in 2013 after discovering that she had infected him with HIV and Aids.
Mary was left a single mother. She became depressed which led her into alcoholism. The addiction made her incapable of neither securing nor keeping a job. She is currently unemployed, and her primary source of income is prostitution. She is HIV and Aids positive and often suffers from opportunistic illnesses. Her addiction was so bad that she stopped being responsible for her children. Her multiple sex partners would abuse the children. Elijah and his siblings sometimes had to survive on the streets. Currently, the children live alone in Mwariki, Nakuru West-sub County. Mary's whereabouts are unknown. She only shows up once in a while. Elijah was admitted to Prince of Peace School in January 2019. To Elijah, Prince of peace school is his primary home. Here he finds hope, comfort and refuge from his oblivious background.
Unfortunately, Mary Wanja died in January 2023.
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