‘We have nothing but salt and a matchbox’: Kenyan mother’s plight highlights poverty crisis
Elizabeth, a mother of four in Nairobi, says she has “nothing but salt and a matchbox” as she struggles to feed her children amid deepening poverty.
Without a phone of her own, she carries a SIM card in her pocket, hoping to borrow a stranger’s device to check messages for job opportunities.
Her situation came to light after she met politician Geoffrey Mosiria, who documented her story as shown in this video shared with Global South World.
“Sir, in my house, there is hunger. We sleep on an empty stomach,” she told Geoffrey. “Begging is not a part of me, I rebuke it in the mighty name of Jesus.”
“The only thing that is in my house is salt and matchbox.”
Elizabeth’s case underscores broader deprivation in Kenya, with the latest available data from 2022 showing that 25.4% of the population — about 13.8 million people — are living in multidimensional poverty, with a further 26.4% considered vulnerable.
The country’s multidimensional poverty index stands at 0.113, lower than peers such as Cameroon and Tanzania, but still reflecting significant gaps in access to basic needs.
For families like Elizabeth’s, those figures translate into daily uncertainty over food, work and survival.
“I do manual jobs. I've been out for weeks trying to secure a job, all in vain.”
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
