Elizabeth Mbevo
ELIZABETH was born in 1967 south of Mabafweni village, in the south east coast of Kenya. Between her village and the Kikoneni town lies a deep valley. In the floor of the valley are the remains of a concrete bridge, swept away by heavy rains. To get to the village, one must cross a seasonal river and go up a steep dirt road, which is virtually impassable during the rainy season. Thus they are isolated for many months of the year.
Elizabeth had three siblings growing up and although her parents were poor, they were able to support the family because of the harvest from their farm. When Elizabeth was 15 years old her father died. This changed the economic status of the family drastically. Soon after the death of her father, her mother fell sick with mental illness. This sad situation put Elizabeth and her siblings into further economic difficulties. There was no one to take care of the family now. As the first born, all the responsibility of raising the family fell upon her shoulders. She was not able to raise sufficient funds to pay school fees, buy uniforms and feed herself and her brothers. Due to this, Elizabeth was not able to continue with her studies and quit school when she was in standard seven.
Elizabeth and her brothers had to depend on the mercy of their good neighbors to provide them with food and sometimes even clothing. “We never had any decent clothes. People gave us clothes of charity, and they were hardly enough,” she said. “We rarely ate good food,” she added. The years of her childhood were marked with extreme misery, want and hardship. Tears welled up in her eyes as she narrated the story of her life.
Due to her dire situation, she was forced to marry Mr. Edward Mbevo in early 1985. Mr. Mbevo was a man who had helped the family in their time of need, especially providing them with food and educating her brothers until standard seven. Mr. Mbero was working with the Akamba Handicraft Enterprise in Mombasa and was well off. While married to him, Elizabeth was able to live a life of comfort and happiness. Elizabeth bore three children, and kept busy working the family farm and taking care of household duties. She loved her family and was satisfied with her life. The only hardship was taking care of her youngest son who became sick shortly after birth and remained sickly for five years.
When the child improved in health, her husband then became ill. In November 1999, her husband died of tuberculosis. The subsequent death of her husband changed the lifestyle of the family drastically. The children were still quite young with many needs, and Elizabeth found it difficult to meet their demands. She depended on her daily bread from her in-laws until she was able to receive her husband’s benefits. However, this was not sufficient to support the family.
After her husband’s death, Elizabeth had only one source of income – the sale of milk from one cow that her in-laws had allowed her to use. From the sale of the milk, she was able to raise 40 Kenya schillings daily (about 50 cents). Because her in-laws supported her in other ways and she was able to get some food from her little farm, she was just able to clothe, educate and feed her children. Today, all her children are in school.
The existence of CHOICE Yehu Bank program in the area has helped to supplement her meager income. She joined the program in 2000. She saved 20 Kenya schillings per week, as was required by the program. In late March 2001, she received her first loan of 5,000 Kenya schillings, which she used to buy kerosene and wood carvings, which she sells at a local handicraft market. To date, her income has increased substantially. Her monthly income before joining the Yehu Bank was 1,200 Ksh, from the sale of milk. As a result of her loan, she now makes an additional 9,000 Ksh per month from the sale of kerosene and handicrafts. She has gone from making around $15 USD per month to $130 USD per month. That equates to an 8 times increase in income from a simple $50 dollar loan!
With the increase of her income, Elizabeth is able to save without any difficulties, make her weekly installments in due time, pay school fees for her children, buy school uniforms and cater to the other human needs for herself and her children. Moreover, she has great plans for the future. She intends to borrow a second loan from the bank of 10,000 Ksh to expand her business in order to bring up her children healthy and happy. She once again has hope and looks to a bright future for herself and her children.