ARTISANS | Melissa Njeng | Judy Cherotich | Laura Sangara | Marion Mbungo
Marion Mbungo*
To say that Marion Mbungo’s life has been difficult would be an understatement. She has buried a husband and three out of her four children. In 2004, on the same day that her husband died, Marion learned that she was HIV positive, and was fired from her job. Yet, stoically, she continues to move forward. Marion works in the paper department at Imani Workshops.
Marion is 40 years old, the firstborn from a family of 8 children. She studied up until form three of secondary school, before, like so many families, the money ran out. At 15 she found a job, working at White Castle Hotel in Eldoret. There she met her husband and they were married the same year.
She and her husband remained happily married for the next 25 years. They had 4 children together. But in the early 1990’s, Marion’s husband was transferred to a new job assignment in Nairobi, a common family challenge in Kenya, where the jobs often are not located near the family’s homeland. For the remainder of their marriage they saw each other for only short visits, every two months. During these years, she suspected that he was “moving around,” but rationalized to herself that, in African culture, it is normal for men to have other women. But tragedy soon began striking the family. In 1993, Marion’s three-year-old son died of an unexplained illness. Then two years later, in 1995, her 6 year old daughter died.
In 2004, her husband came back from Nairobi where he worked as the manager at Mahindi. He was very sick and bedridden. She took care of him for only one week, and then he died. There were many rumors that he was HIV positive. At this time, Marion was working at Race Course Inn, a local restaurant. On the day her husband died, Marion's manager took her to get tested for HIV, because he said that people would refuse the restaurant if they knew she was working there and was positive. Marion learned that she was in fact positive, and her job was immediately terminated. She was paid her dues, and then fired without severance.
The cultural stigma of HIV would cause her great pain as well. Before they learned her status, her brothers and sisters supported her a great deal, paying for hospital bills and bringing her food. Yet, one day the doctor disclosed her status to her mother, and soon her brothers knew, and then her whole family. Her family abruptly stopped supporting her, cut all contact with Marion and her sons, and she was left to die.
In 2005, after testing her sons, Marion learned that her 3rd born was also HIV+. Her brother had been paying for her child’s school fees but when he learned that her child was also positive he refused to continue supporting his education.
In October 2006, Marion’s son was diagnosed with stomach cancer. She spent the next 4 months by his side in the hospital. During this time she could not work. She spent all of their money on bills, her clothing business went under, and she lost her apartment for failure to pay the rent. In January 2007, her son died at age 10, after 4 month battle with cancer. Marion was devastated, utterly without hope or support, saddled with a Ksh52,000 ( approximately $800) hospital bill. She was referred to Imani Workshops.
When you ask Marion about her fears now, she explains that she has none. Her worst fears have all come true. Her husband has died, her family has left her, three children have died, she has no money, a huge debt, and HIV in her veins. But she has hope for her one remaining child. Marion believes that one day she will have money again, and she hopes to sell clothes again. Marion tries to focus on each day, using her Imani wages to provide school fees for her son who is studying in Uganda. Somehow, like so many women at Imani who have been through so much, Marion finds a way to smile..