Jackson Mwangi, 16, from Kambirwa, Murang’a County has been forced to take care of his four siblings for the last 3 years after his biological mother and father abandoned them.
The class 8 pupil at Muthigiriri primary, Kambirwa-Kiharu currently works in a neighborhood quarry so as to bring food to the table for his younger brothers and sisters.
He revealed that his alcoholic mother left home one day and never returned forcing him to take the responsibilities at the very young age.
Even before she left she would go for days, come back empty-handed and drunk and we were relying on well-wishers to feed us,
he said.
“When I saw the struggle we were going through I started looking for menial jobs to get money to buy food,” Mwangi added.
Mwangi said that he approached a neighbor who offered him a job at the quarry.He however added that most buyers look down on him and pay less cash as compared to what they pay to the adults.
“Some people come to collect the ballast and they give less money unlike when they are dealing with adults,” he said.
“We come here every evening but on weekends we spend the days here,” he said.
“I also encourage my siblings to work hard in school so that they can perform well and I assist them where I can,” he added.
“If I get a wisher to sponsor me for my secondary education and that of my siblings too, we would be very happy,” he said.
“We are living in fear that the house might collapse when the rains come and we have nowhere else to go,” he said.
