Immaculate’s Story

Immaculate’s parents both died when she was a young girl and after their death, she was sent to live with her aunt. Her aunt was not able to take care of her, and so Immaculate was sent to live with her grandmother in the village. Her grandmother and the other relatives there regularly abused Immaculate, and refused her food and other basic necessities. When she was 14 years old, she could take the abuse and hunger no longer and she married an older man. After she became pregnant with his child, he ran off, leaving her to fend for herself, now with a baby in tow. Eventually, after the baby had been born, her husband returned with promises to change. They had two more children together, but eventually he became even more abusive than he had been before. It escalated to the point of his threatening her with a knife and a panga one night. He ordered her out of his house, and she was sent off once again, but this time with three young children look after. Though life has been difficult for Immaculate, she has continued to work hard to ensure her family’s needs are met. She has been able to find domestic work for people in the community and has sustained her family with the little amount of money she has been able to make. All of her children had dropped out of school in order to help sustain the family, but she has maintained her hope that one day they might be able to return to school.

In 2022, Immaculate was accepted into PFP’s community outreach program and has been given the opportunity to grow her own business of selling rice. Her goal is to continue to grow this business and to also start her own restaurant business. PFP has enrolled each of her 3 children into its PFP Juniors program and they are all now able to attend school regularly, while Immaculate focuses on growing her business.