Woman: We resort to begging since nobody wants to employ a leper

Angelina Muchere, 61, who lives at the leper colony in Tumbe village, Mombasa. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Ms Angelina Muchere left her three children in Mwanza, Tanzania and crossed the border into Kenya. 

  • Those interviewed said they could not stand the stigma and discrimination subjected to them by family members, friends and villagers back home.

Tanzanian Angelina Muchere, 61, came to Kenya to beg on the streets of Mombasa in the 1990s and her life has been on a roller coaster. 

Once a week, Ms Muchere makes the trip to the coastal city and begs for alms outside a bank in Mwembe Tayari area before returning to the leper colony in Tumbe village.

There are times she sleeps in a godown. On a “good” day, Ms Muchere can make about Sh500.

“Nobody wants to employ a leper. Who would hire someone with crippled hands and legs?” she asks.

Ms Muchere left her three children in Mwanza, Tanzania and crossed the border into Kenya. 

ARRESTED SEVERAL TIMES

“I have been arrested several times by police and county government officers and once spent two months at Shimo La Tewa Prison,” she says.

During the interview with the Nation in Tumbe, the elderly woman said she is happy to have found a leper colony “which I can call home”.

“In this village, I am treated well. The money I get from begging helps me buy food and other necessities. We are like a family here,” she says.  

LEPROSY VICTIMS

Ms Muchere joined other leprosy victims who either abandoned their homes or were sent away by their families.

Those interviewed said they could not stand the stigma and discrimination subjected to them by family members, friends and villagers back home.

“We are shunned due to this crippling disease. Our limbs are either amputated or almost useless. That means finding conventional work is almost an impossibility so we resort to begging,” she says.