VERY SAD: Luck beckons for 16-year-old bread winner

Murimi Mogosi, 16, carries his mentally and physically challenged brother, Mogosi Mogosi,6, outside their house in Musoma. Looking on is his sister Antonia Mogosi, 14, who finished her Standard Seven on Thursday. Young Mogosi has been their caretaker since their mother died.

PHOTO I BELDINA NYAKEKE. 

By Beldina Nyakeke, The Citizen on Saturday Correspondent  (email the author)

Posted  Saturday, September 14  2013 at  07:25

In Summary

Three years ago, Mogosi’s mother died after a long and tortuous ailment that had drained the family’s social and economic wellbeing as she was bedridden.

Musoma. 16-year old Murimi Mogosi has seen it all. At a tender age, he has not only gone through a difficult childhood but he is today the sole bread winner of his family.

His told of his heart-wrenching story that paints a picture of agony and desperation, but also hope all rolled in one.

Three years ago, Mogosi’s mother died after a long and tortuous ailment that had drained the family’s social and economic wellbeing as she was bedridden.

“When she died, I was forced to drop out of Class Three to look after my younger siblings,” Mogosi told The Citizen on Saturday in a recent interview.

Mogosi said his schooling was sacrificed to allow his elder brother –now in secondary school –to continue with his Standard Six learning, while he did menial jobs to raise some money for their survival.

The young family is without a father whom Mogosi recalls died a long time ago when he was a toddler. “Our mother was the only person we depended on for everything and her death could not have come at a worse time,” he said. The other siblings are a sister and a younger brother who is mentally and physically challenged.

Mogosi’s sad story began in 2006 shortly after he was enrolled in Class One at Kiabakari Primary School. His mother fell sick then and was admitted to Musoma Regional Hospital where she spent six months. “Despite my tender age, I stayed with my mother in hospital. There was no way out because we were left to fend for ourselves.”

When his mother was discharged, there was high hope that life would return to normal. Mogosi would later return to school and was allowed to enrol for Standard Three. It was a sigh of relief that did not last for long as several months down, the woman once again went down with sickness in 2008. She did not recover and died after two years of struggle.

“From that time I realised I was to shoulder the burden of our family…I had to make sure we get basic needs like food and school needs for my brother and young sister. I depended on wages from cheap labour to earn something to sustain us,” Mogosi explained.

He says due to the burden, he would toil for a whole day to raise what was barely enough to buy a single meal. “While away I would lock the little boy inside the house as he cannot walk, talk, sit or do anything on his own.”

“Each day came with new challenges but I am happy that today my elder brother is nearing completion of secondary school and hopefully he can get something better to do to continue the battle. My sister is also going to Standard Seven and I am looking forward to enlisting for a technical course in the near future,”Mogosi said.

Thanks to well-wishers, his ultimate goal is to pursue education to university level. A sponsorship from Anglican Church Diocese of Mara under ‘Tuwalee Pamoja’ Project will enable him to pay his school fees for three years at Nyamiongo Vocational Centre. He has enrolled for masonry.

Tuwalee pamoja project coordinator Ernest Ndiege says that the sponsorship will include school fees and accommodation. The sponsors expect the boy to board once all arrangements to take him in are in place any time from now.

But Mgosi says the opportunity is not without challenges of a new life away from the family that has come to regard him ‘father’ and ‘mother’ rolled into one.

“I pity the little boy but now that my brother and sister are finishing their secondary and primary classes, they will continue the struggle,” he said optimistically.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN