Josephine's Story

I was born in 1932 in Uganda. My maternal aunt was working in Kenya as a maid for an Asian family. I was only six years old when she took me with her to care for her young child while she went work.

When the child grew older, I was then taken to be employed in the same place where my aunty worked. I took care of the baby of the Asian family while my aunty did the house work.

Married life

I got married in 1945 to a man from Bungoma and in 1952 we were blessed with a daughter and that is the only child we ever had.

My husband would look for jobs to do especially with the Asian companies, sometimes he got a job then after a while there would no job again. So he kept on moving from place to place in search of something to do to earn him some income. After a while, we moved to a place called Jambo in Eastleigh.

Working life

By now my child had grown and she was old enough so I started looking for a job again and I was ready to work as a house maid so I approached a few Asian families and secured a job with one family.

I later joined up with a womens group got some money and started selling items at the big market in Kawangware.

I started selling beans, maize, kales, bananas and sweet potatoes. We were also able to send our only daughter to college. She has been working at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

After a while, my husband could not work any more due to his declining energy as he grew older. I was also slowing down due to old age and could not do many activities as before.

A landlord gave me a room to live in with my husband and a relative from my home. As long as I was having this room, we were supposed to make sure the compound and toilets were neat and clean.

Caring for abandoned children

The relative I used to live with later decided to get married. Unfortunately, the marriage did not go well and she had to leave her husband.

She left the marriage with five children and came to stay with me for a while then one day she just never came back, leaving me with her children. There is no one to assist me with this big problem.

Campaigning for older people's rights

During the Age Demands Action campaign march in the streets of Nairobi, I was very pleased to be a part of it.

It made me realize that inspite of all that I have gone through God can still single me out for a greater purpose....to speak to the community and our Government about the problems of older persons.

During that time, we had got news of how older persons were burnt to death because they were suspected to be involved with witchcraft.

This was very frightening....but I pray that this Government will do something to protect the rights of older persons.