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While most of her agemates are probably receiving their first love messages and walk around with butterflies that flurry in their tummies every time they cross paths with their crushes, Ann Natasha Ngina’s world is anything but exciting.
She has never known love, or how it feels to have a father-figure, leave alone, a mother’s care.
The 14-year-old who was born and bred in Kawangware lost her mother when she was only six years old and has faint memories of her.
She told The Nairobian that she doesn’t know who her father is and her only wish is to one day reunite with him.
“According to Mama Sarah or Pamela, whom I used to live with, my mother was called Jane Mwikali and worked as a barmaid. She passed on in 2009 and was buried at Langata Cemetery. I have visited her grave and wish she was alive,” a teary Natasha narrated.
On her birth certificate, which is the only vital document she has (besides a photo of her when she was about three years that is), the space where her father’s name should be printed is filled with XXXXXX.
Natasha has rented a house near Ngong town where she lives alone. To make ends meet, she does menial jobs to survive.
“Raising the Sh1,500 for rent is not easy. Sometime, I sleep hungry and on very bad days, I just gatecrash children’s homes near my neighbourhood. I am desperate,” she pleads.
Natasha says she was once abused by her employer who refused to pay her for three months.
“I got a job as a housegirl, but later quit after my employer refused to pay me. She beat me up after I demanded she pay me. I have scars all over my body from the beatings,” she revealed.
Despite the hardships she has not lost hope of making it big in life.
“I have bought some books that I read when I get time. I have registered for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) for this year at Ngong Learning Centre. I want to pass my exams and maybe get a scholarship and study hard to be a doctor,” says Natasha.
She says she dropped out of school in Class Six at Karen C Primary School due to lack of school fees.
She hopes that her story will help her reunite with her relatives, especially her father.
