A destitute widow whose plight was highlighted when she was forced to boil stones for her children in April 2020 has something to smile about after Kenyans came to her rescue and built her a new house.
Peninah Bahati Kitsao expressed gratitude to Kenyans having moved from her mud house to the newly constructed bungalow.
The house is big enough for Peninah, her children, and has extra rooms to be leased to tenants.
"Nashukuru Mungu mawe imebadilika nyumba. Ata watoto wangu sasa wamekuwa kama watoto wengine (I am so grateful to God. I can't believe that a woman who boiled stones to trick her children into sleeping now has a house. My children have a bigger house just like other kids," she stated.
Peninah added that she would rent out three of the rooms in the house as well as pursue businesses so as to get money to feed her children.
"My children are now happy. They are not missing any meals, I am so grateful."
Soon after her plight was highlighted in April, the family received overwhelming support from the Kenya Red Cross, the County Government of Mombasa and other well-wishers.
"There are so many people who have turned out to help, I have not counted the exact number but they have brought a variety of foodstuffs," she told Kenyans.co.ke at the time.
She, however, faced a setback after her youngest daughter died after a short illness.
"She developed a fever and a few days later they took her to hospital after they noticed that there was spotting in her stool. It got worse and sadly, she did not make it."
Peninah says that she was left widowed after thieves attacked and killed her husband in 2019 when she was two months pregnant with her last child.
The situation forced her to start washing clothes to earn a living. However, her business took a dive after the first case of Coronavirus was announced in the country after which many of her customers switched to doing their own chores.
A well-wisher on social media highlighted Peninah's plight with the aim of finding someone to help her survive the tough times that she is going through.
