Jane’s Personal Memoir

My name is Jane, I was born in a remote rural area in the western part of Kenya in the mid-1980s. I’ve 2 sisters and 3 brothers. My biological parents divorced when I was only 7 years old in 1989. My Mother took full custody of her 6 children and moved to a small town to feed and educate us. She later succumbed to TB in 1997 leaving us under the care of her sisters and brothers. The following years became sorrowful and difficult since we were separated as siblings and each one of us was adopted culturally.

I joined my new family in 1998 becoming the only daughter in my maternal uncle’s home who has 3 sons. It was a very challenging time in my life as an ‘orphan’ being part of a new family and being expected to fit in as a daughter they never had.The most painful part was referring to my Uncle as Dad and my Aunt as Mum and my cousins as my brothers (It felt as though I was denying my own sibling’s existence).

I joined school the same year and did fairly well in my national exams the following year. It was now time to join high school and since one of my ‘brothers’ was to join high school the same year, it was very challenging to my parents because my dad had just lost his job and my mother had to take care of everything.