Fighting Odds to Make Ends Meet in Majengo Slums

Strength of a Woman

Aisha Omar was orphaned at a young age of 7 years, and was lucky to have a grandmother who had to struggle day in day out to put a meal on the table and to make sure Asha and her brothers had a meal and acquired basic education. They grew up at Katanga Majengo in Pumwani location with limited resources and many times they slept hungry.  Aisha was lucky to complete her secondary education and in additional managed to do computer packages before her grandmother relocated upcountry. Her two brothers left  Majengo in search of green pastures elsewhere as casual laborers, while  her only sister was taken by some relatives who live in Tanzania.

 With challenges of a young woman, Aisha opted to get married with a hope of accessing basic needs.  She conceived immediately, however to her surprise  when she gave birth, her husband changed, and she got more confused because she saw a different person from the one she knew. He would come back home drunk, and would pick a quarrel over nothing, and sometimes assault her physically.  Aisha kept hoping things would be better. She struggled to collect herself, andmanaged to get a job at a recruitment agency, however it did not last long. This forced her make hard decisions about her life as she could bear it no more, she quit the marriage, and with her baby, sought refuge at a friend’s.

Currently Aisha lives in Katanga in a one roomed house with her four year child. Aisha came to know of DREAMs during assessment and enrolment of girls into the program. Being an entreprenuering person, she would cook and sell food from house to house in her village and the nearby environs. Unfortunately Aisha limited skills in financial management and her customers would not pay for the food, despite promises of payment. Eventually she closed her business to seek other greener pastures in order to make ends meet.  She joined some group of young men washing cars at Kamukunji Sub County offices.  Aisha and her team took advantage of people visiting the county offices for official work. Aisha has benefited form DREAMS Program through a training on professional car wash. Aisha is grateful that the training has helped her improve on her service provision to her clients. She looks forward getting a better paying job at a car wash. Aisha confesses that she now sees the car wash job from a different perception. Aisha says DREAMS Program was God-sent, an opportunity to enable her earn a decent pay for her hard work. She believes she will own a car wash one day. Indeed her hope, dream and goal has been renewed again. May DREAMS reach more desparate girls because they really need help

Email