A widow gets her new house!
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Two of Martha’s 3 children |
Martha Auma died in her prime at 37 years old. She was a mother of 3 children – 2 boys and a girl. She came from Tanzania, and when she lost her husband in 1993 her brothers-in-law saw no reason for her to continue living in their homestead. She gave in to pressure, and took her children and returned to Tanzania.
In 2003 Martha returned t her late husbands’ village because her own brothers said that as a married woman she could not continue living in Tanzania with her children. Under extreme pressure, she returned to her matrimonial home. |
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While Martha was away in Tanzania, her mother in law – also a widow divided the land amongst her 6 sons. She included Martha’s husband even though he was deceased.
On her return, Martha found that she had land, but that the house had collapsed. She was not allowed to build a house without being “inherited”. She succumbed to community pressure to be “inherited” in order to build a house. Unfortunately this house was badly built and it soon collapsed. Martha and her children were homeless and when in rained they spent the night in the rain. When she could not bear it, she approached Sequoia and we built her a house and best of all this time around Martha was able to build it without an inheritor. Now Martha’s finally had a home of her own.
Unfortunately, Martha was in poor health and was not able to get the HIV/AIDS medication that she needed. She could not farm and had great difficulty providing for her children. Martha passed away in 2005. Her children are living also in a child-headed home and are sponsored by Sequoia.
One of the 3 children has a sponsor. We need sponsors for the girl and the older boy. The girl needs to go to boarding school to protect her and the older boy needs his high school fees paid. |
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