For the past eight years, Joyce Mumbi has dedicated her life to taking care of elderly persons who have been neglected by their families and are living in solitude.

Despite her busy schedule as a social worker attached to the Murang’a hospital, Mumbi always spares time to visit and take care of the elderly who need her help.

Through her initiative dubbed ‘Kumbuka Wazee’, Mumbi mobilises resources and donations from well-wishers to help cater for the needs of the aged.

A visit to some of the homes in Murang’a paints a grim picture of the dejected lives that the elderly people are living.

Most of them lack decent shelter, clothing and food, which are basic for human survival.

“Our people no longer appreciate the elderly as they used to in the olden days, and the value attached to them is long gone”, Mumbi says, adding that some see the elderly as a burden as they require special care, especially if they are sick and need someone by their side.

“Some of the elderly people I have come across have no relatives, and I become their family. We have buried several in the public cemetery because they have nowhere to call home,” she reveals.

Mumbi says family disputes and rural-to-urban migration are the two major factors that have led to the abandonment of ageing parents.

She has been able to establish a grassroots network with the neighbours who live near these elderly people, and they have become her eyes, alerting her whenever an issue arises.

Mumbi intends to establish a non-governmental organisation that will be a bigger platform to bring on board more people to support her mission.

“Currently, I am able to deal with the elderly from within Murang’a, but my mission is to reach out to as many as I can, but this can only be possible if I have the resources,” she remarks.

Pelisina Wanjiku, from Matithi in the lower parts of Kiharu, aged over 100 years, has been living in solitude for many years until Mumbi came to her rescue.

Wanjiku has one son who is not in a position to take care of her, and thus she relies on well-wishers for her survival.

“She takes care of me like my own child, and every time she visits, I feel very happy because we spend some moments talking and laughing,” says Wanjiku.