By Mercy Kamau | Programs Manager
Happy is a 17 years’ teenage mother of a bouncing baby girl currently living with her sister in the Mathare slums. Her mother died when she was a small girl. By that time her family was living in Siaya county, the western part of Kenya. Immediately her mother died, her father remarried and now Happy and her siblings were under care of a step mother. Her father focused more on the new family and most of the times never provided the basic needs for Happy and her siblings. Getting a meal became challenging and most of the times they were sent away from school due to lack of school fees. Ultimately, Happy dropped out of school to fed for her siblings and in this situation she got pregnant. Her father and the step mother felt this was a shame to them and consequently chased her away from home. She tried to run to the person responsible for her pregnancy who rejected her on a broad daylight. Happy become helpless and contemplated suicide several times.
In search for help, Happy reached her sister who was living in Mathare slums and at that time she was also pregnant and in an abuseve marriage. Despite her deplorable condition, she accepted to live with Happy. Life became unbearable, they could go for days without food with no ideal place to sleep. In this circumstance Happy delivered at home with a community birth attendant as she feared the health care workers would condemn her due to her young age of 16 years. She never received any medical check-up or postpartum care. Through MCFPanairobi social worker, Happy was identified as one of the teenage mother economic empowerment program beneficiary . At the point of recruitment, happy and her sister were in dire need of emergency food package, medical examination and skills to cope with their harsh environment. Happy had never attended mother child clinics and did not have any information on safe motherhood. MCFPanairobi social worker referred happy for medical care at Mathare North sub county hospital. At the clinic, Happy’s baby was diagnosed with severe malnutrition. According to the doctor at the clinic, the condition would cause the baby to be anemic or have more serious complications. The doctor advised that Happy would need to be enrolled in the nutrition Centre for close monitoring of the baby. This news disheartened Happy, she got worried about her baby condition. The partnership with the hospital supported happy baby to improve nutritionally and the baby moved to normal weight for age curve. Happy has successfully completed and graduated in cosmetology course in addition entrepreneurship and life skills. MCFPanairobi supported her with start-up capiatl and she is currently operatiing a mobile salon where she earns about $ 10 day for her upkeep and her baby. In our recent interview with her happy remarked “I am very grateful for the support I have received from MCFpanairobi; otherwise I would have succumbed to depression and maybe take away my life. I want to be an ambassador to champion for the rights of teenage mothers around the informal settlement of Mathare”
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