Hawa's Home

Hawa is a women who is also 34 years old. She is a single mom with 5 daughters. Her husband left her two years ago and rumour has it that he is living with another woman somewhere in Eastleigh. There are 10 people living in this small apartment. It is also has two rooms and is about 200 square feet in total.
This apartment is located on the 5th floor. It is quite a walk up the stairs because the steps are all different heights and in a state of disrepair. There is no electricity in the entire building during the day. This building also has an opening from the ground up to the top where thre is for for families on each floor to hang laundry. It is quite a sight!
Hawa also cooks for the 10 people living with her on a small bbq located in the hall. The family may eat two meals a day ...breakfast and dinner....usually consisting of anjara, which is is a pancake cooked on the bbq and rice and beans. The only money that this family receives is from a sister living in the United States and another relative living somewhere else. The money helps to pay for the rent which is 5500 shillings which includes electricity at night only and the school uniforms for the 3 girls that attend school. ($1 US equals about 78 kenya shillings)
This family does not have a tv. The cement floors are covered in a very thing linoleum and we sat on a mattress on the floor which is used at night for sleeping. The only toys that we saw were two very tattered and dirty stuffed animals.
Our gifts for this family were a bag of sugar, rice, toothbrushes, toothpaste and soda.
We take the sodas so that we do not have to offend the family by not accepting food or drink from them. Water is not safe for us to drink.
When we are walking and visiting in the community we create a lot of attention. We are continually surrounded by young children. People are constantly walking into the homes we are in to "check us out"!!