NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 10 – “I thought I am no one, because of my humble background, but today people I even don’t know have made me and my baby feel important.”
These were the words baby Bhakita Tamara’s mother expressed Friday when she received a cheque of Sh700,000 from the Miller Foundation Kenya.
Even before she knew why she had been asked to come to town, Loise Mbuba was already wiping tears that rolled down her cheeks as we walked towards lawyer Cecil Miller’s office in Nairobi’s Central Business District.
She kept on asking what had made her and her baby so lucky to receive such overwhelming response from strangers.
By Friday 2pm the Sh700,000 donated by the foundation’s chairman Cecil Miller brought the total number of contributions for baby Bhakita to Sh1.39 million.
Contributions were made by well wishers including students via M-PESA and through Bhakita’s Jambo Junior Account at Cooperative Bank.
READ: You can save baby Bhakita, but it must be in 10 days
Bhakita’s mother could not hold her joy back as she expressed gratitude that finally her hopes of having her daughter undergo a heart operation in India had been made possible by well-wishers.
“I cried because when I see people helping me, I don’t know them, they are not my relatives, they are kind hearted people with humanity in them, they are the ones helping me raise Sh1.5 to get Bhakita treated,” she said even as she fought hard not to cry during the interview with Capital FM News.
She says when the family was informed that they needed Sh1.5 million to take Bhakita to India for a heart operation, “we gave up. We knew we could not get that money, when we asked the doctor what would happen if she is not treated before she is six months old, the doctor said he couldn’t explain.”
For the family it meant something worse than the condition itself.
According to Mbuba, they started preparing for the worst since they tried all means including contacting various media houses and other organisations to help them raise the money with little success.
“The worst thing I was afraid of is holding Bhakita and then she dies in my arms, this thing has really been torturing and scaring me, but I believed in God,” Mbuba said as she chatted with Capital FM News crew.
“I was just waiting upon the Lord to perform a miracle and today he has performed a miracle…there is a God who hears our prayers when we look at him, it does not matter who you are or where you come from, people are there with a good heart to assist you,” Bhakita’s mother explained.
Bhakita still requires an additional Sh103, 712 to attain the Sh1.5 million needed.
You can make contributions through PAYBILL No.561122 – Account No: sender’s name.