Wilfed Mutegi Mworia. Poverty tried to swaddle him like a black cloak on the wings of a storm. From the get go, Wilfred wanted education. He wanted to learn, to become someone useful and to lift his family out of the abject poverty the faced every day.
Once Wilfred reached high school, the cost of education was too much for his family to bare. The choice became clear. Either Wilfred’s family would buy him a single pencil or they would provide a simple meal of cooked maize flour and water for the family. There were no other options. Wilfred prayed for a way to free himself from the oppression that was suffocating his dreams. He knew he had to find a job.
With no skills beyond a rural 8th grade education, Wilfred took a job in a rock quarry. There, casual laborers hand carved 2 foot long bricks from the stone surrounding them. Their only tools were chisel and mallet. They did all of this for less than $1 a day. Wilfred joined others in carrying the heavy carved building rocks 3 stories up to the quarry’s surface, using hand made steep ladders. One slip could end his life.
3 of these rocks equal the size of one brick carried by Wilfred to the quarry surface.
Wilfred revisits the quarry and shows Matanya’s Hope what his work entailed.
Donations “Save and Change my Life” by Wilfred Mutegi Mworia
“I’m very grateful for your unselfish donations you have ever made to save and change my life. You have really played a great role in my education more so, by financing my studies. May almighty GOD bless you. Actually, you came into my life at the right time. Before I met Michelle, my life was miserable and hopeless where poverty hindered me to think about a future. My dad was a drunkard who neither bothered nor cared about anything but getting a penny for his illicit beer.”
“Afterwards, my lovely mum took the burden of the entire family whereby she engaged in casual labor in order to feed us and cater for school expenses, but this did not go far since our first born dropped from school and got married as a teen. Later on she was also joined by my second sister.”
“Suddenly, life turned unfair where committing suicide was my next idea. This was due to the separation of my mum and dad. Together with my younger brother, we were left with my drunkard dad. This forced my brother to drop out of school and engage in casual labor to cater for me since I was near to sit for my primary national examinations which I passed well. I had to join high school.”
“Afterwards, I became more desperate because I had no one to help. I joined my brother who had by then indulged in drug abuse. I was determined to get back to school. I took a job (to raise my own money for school fees) at a nearby place and worked for many months. In the final week, I accidentally cut my finger off with a machete and had to be rushed to the hospital. They could not save my finger. The owner refused to pay me a single coin. He was holding all of my money since the time I started. Now I had nothing but the few coins I had saved earlier. I joined a rural secondary day school but I was unable even to pay those fees. Luckily, Michelle came to our school and she cleared my fees arrears, moved me to a better school and promised to find me a sponsor.”
Wilfred Mutegi Mworia showing Matanya’s Hope the finger stub as a result of his accident at work.
“I am so grateful for Matanya’s Hope accepted to relieve my burden and I am hoping for good results in my exams. I wish I may meet all of you who work so tirelessly to change the lives of the poor like me. One day, I will also help a needy child as you have helped me.”
Yours lovingly,
Mutegi Wilfred
