Mwewe is an adorable 6 year old little girl. Mwewe is her Nyanje name, it is Jenny, in English. She prefers to go by Jenny at school. Jenny lives with her Grandmother, her little sister, Lucy, her older sister, Dorcus and her 2 big brothers, Patrick and Shadrick. Jenny's mother died about 6 months ago, in early 2012. She is cared for by her aging grandmother. Her grandmother is an old woman who gets 'piece work' once in a while. This means that she occasionally washes clothes or works in a farm for money. These types of jobs pay very little, maybe 5 kwatcha per day, which is the equivalent of about $1.00. Life is a constant struggle for this family. Jenny's grandmother complains of aches in her legs. She is worried because she knows that one day she will not even be able to do her piece work, and she does not know what will happen to the children when that day comes. We met this very strong woman when we brought Jenny and Lucy home from their shopping trip. She was so very sweet, she kept saying "zikomo, zikomo" this means thank you in Nyanje. She gave us onions from her garden as a gift. It was an honor to meet her.
This family has only been with Appleseed for a few months. Following the death of the children's mother, the grandmother went to the local medical clinic with the baby, who is under a year old. She was there seeking food for the baby because she had nothing. The clinic told her that they were sorry, but that they could not help her. A man, who was there with his son, over heard the conversation. He knew of our school because we had helped him with medicine for his young son. He told her where we were and that she should go to the school and ask for Mary, our Director. Since then, the older 4 children have been attending school and get breakfast and lunch every Monday through Friday. This, along with the sponsorships have been a great help and relief to this wonderful grandmother. Thank you, Sophia Bella for sponsoring Jenny. It means so very much and could truly be life saving.