Several years ago I became casual Facebook friends with a woman named Lydia. After a Facebook memory popped up from the previous year that Lydia had commented on, I realized I hadn't seen any posts from Lydia in a long time. And I just decided to stop by her page and saw she had not posted in months. I posted on her wall a hello, long time no see, hope all is well message and later, she reached out in a private message to tell me she appreciated me reaching out to her because she was in utter despair and no longer wanted to live. This is when it changed from casual friends, to sisters as I grew to know her and more about her life. Lydia, months before had been hit by an inexperienced and careless moped driver that had fractured her leg. She could not afford the medical care she needed and was unable to work because it was so painful to bear weight on her leg. I also learned that her deceased husband's abusive family were wanting to throw Lydia and her daughter on the street. Since being injured Lydia was unable to pay rent for the dwelling she and her husband had lived in because she was unable to work, the dwelling belonged to her deceased husband's family.

Also one of her daughters had lost her life after she had taken some wood to light a fire to prepare food. And as she was crouched down tending the fire, an uncle was angry she had taken the wood and came up behind her to strike her. In fright she turned towards him while she was still crouched down and her dress caught on fire. I saw the photo of her skin missing on her backside, she was burned on the backs of her legs and part way up her back. She succumbed to infection and died. Lydia was in despair. She was behind on rent, in pain and unable to work and had lost her daughter, and her hostile in-laws wanted to put her out on the street. After getting her medical care, getting her medical bills and rent taken care of it was time to get her safe housing. We were able to get a small dwelling built on some donated land.

Then in 2023 life happened again. And we did a fundraiser for her because her sister died of sepsis after getting a puncture wound in her leg. Both Lydia, and her sister were widows, and Lydia's sister left 4 young children orphaned. Those children went into the care of their aunt Lydia and Lydia's remaining daughter, Irine.

We raised funds to pay the medical bills and funeral expenses of her sister and to help pay school costs for the children. Lydia was already a struggling widow and this made it much more challenging as to how she would provide for, and house these children, as her dwelling was small.

Lydia had already been through so much and she was now hauling on her back very heavy bags of vegetables to sell on the side of the road to earn a little money. She did this for a couple of years but carrying 80 lbs of produce began causing injury and pain to her back. We discussed options of getting some kind of motorized bike and cart or 3 wheeler to be able to transport the produce. However the roads can be terrible because of heavy rains that make the roads very rutted or muddy when wet and this would just break down a bike and sadly people have been robbed and even murdered for the 3 wheeler motorized trikes to use the engines for other purposes.

With help we were looking for solutions for something that would enable Lydia to provide for the family so that they could be self supporting and stable. And after doing research into what opportunities are there that could support her family, it was decided on a small or mini mining operation of extracting ore from the ground which can then be crushed and used as a material in many ways there and can be sold by the truck load. This is a business opportunity that is suitable for women to run, and even creates jobs for men who would provide heavier labor and as well as other women, who can help dig the ore. This not only blesses this one family but provides job opportunities for others in the village.

This unfortunately did not come to fruition before Lydia lost her life earlier this month. Lydia was carrying a jerrican to the river to get water, and recent rain had the river surging. Lydia slipped and fell in the river, thankfully a woman saw it happen and immediately cried out for help. Lydia was pulled from the river unconscious. But her head had hit a rock in the fast moving water and caused a brain bleed and sadly she never regained consciousness, and was laid to rest last week. These children have lost their mother and now their aunt, and now Lydia's daughter is left to care for them alone. She has no means to do this, so this fundraiser is to raise money for the small mining operation equipment that helps Irine, Lydia's daughter be the remaining lifeline of support to provide for these children and herself, and will also help uplift others in the community.

The goal of this fundraiser is $4000 US, for the equipment. 517,400 KES (Kenyan Schilling)

Thank you for reading this far.

Any donation is so very greatly appreciated.