My name is Lillian Akinyi Kimko. Am thirty seven( 37) years old ,born in luo, nyanza specifically Rusinga island . I am the first born in the family of seven; two boys and five girls

I got married to David Muturi Kamau, who hails from central province of Kenya kiambu county in the year two thousand( 2000).I gave birth to two beautiful daughters namely; Hope faith wambui who was born on 24th April 2004 an shekinah Gloria who was born on 9th June 2005.

Shekina was born with a heart problem that made her to be in and out of hospital for almost two years, in the 2008 0n 10th of August, shekina passed on after an attack of bronchial pneumonia,

In the year 2011 my husband was diagnosed with diabetes, he also started the journey of going to the hospitals, the prescriptions of the diet an proper medication made him improve, being in and out of the hospital most of the times ,one day he went into adiabatic coma that he did not manage to come through, so he passed on 5th may 2012.

Am left a widow with one child to look and take care of Hope wambui who is my first born and only child and is now 10 years old and in standard four at a local school.

I live in Nairobi along Langata road specifically bomas of Kenya with my daughter, am a tailor by profession, I deal with dress making, tailoring, upholstery and soft furnishing i.e. ladies dresses and suits, men’s wear an children’s wear ,in upholstery I deal with curtain making, loose covers, cushions, bedcovers mosquito nets etc.

I had challenges when schooling this was because my parents were peasant farmers ,so they could only manage to put food on the table at least once a day. I went to Kolunga primary school and enrolled in standard one in 1980,iwas in and out of school most of the time because of lack of school fees but managed to do Kenya certificate of primary education in 1989 and passed with an overwhelming marks of 478 out of 700mark, I was called to a provincial school known as Ahero girls in the year 1990 of which I had to drop out in form two due to lack of school fees in the year 1991,I decided to join my parents in farming whereby I grew kales and sold as a kept the income to manage my school fees, I later went back to school in form two in the year 1993 and joined form two at a local secondary school in my home area called Lambwe secondary school, with the little savings I had with the help of my father I completed my forth form in 1995 holding a Kenya certificate of secondary education with a C+

After A level education, I joined Trans Eastern Airline Aviation College on September 1996 in Nairobi for a course in Mechanical Engineering (aeronautical option),my father struggle to pay college fee for one semester then he fell sick. Due to his deteriorating heath we struggle the more but by the grace of God I went through college for the three years but could not sit for the diploma exams because my father passed on in February 1998 when I was to complete my course in December 1999, so I had to quit college and got married since all our siblings were depending on me as the first born,

My husband was a casual laborer but we manage to educate some of my siblings, through my husband’s help he took me to college in 2009 to do tailoring an dressmaking at Beacon of Hope Vocational Training Center, apart from dressmaking and tailoring course they offered us other courses as home based care and business management, then I got employed at Dharamshi and company in town center in 2010 and quit and started a business to complement the earnings of the family since I was not being paid well at my work place where I was employed, I opened Dalimu Trading company which was doing well until my husband started ailing that total brought it down, I was forced to close down the shop because I could not manage to pay my house rent and the rent of the workshop ,now I operate from my rented house for the time beinghe earning I get from my business I use in paying rent, school fees ,buying food and the rest I try to restock the business

Since the covid 19 pademic started my tailoring business had to be closed down.. I am now focus on the rental houses.. since this area has many Universities and colleges there is need for cheaper rentals for students and by the help of previous loans given by zidisha I managed to build ten houses each bringing $40 per month totalling to $ 400 per month..

Having installed a water tank and the good customer care I give to my tenants like reducing the rent by 25% during this time of pandemic word has gone round and many people are calling to ask if there is a vacant house

In a monthly basis after paying all my bills I remain with $370 this amount I use in paying school fees for my daughter and food..

Since there is a demand of rentals I wish to add four more rental houses and renovate the ten houses

After renovation I will increase the rent to $45per month this will largely increase my income thus better my living standard

The raised amount will be used to pay tuition fee for my daughter who is joining kmtc( Kenya medical training cent) in September 2022

Ksh 80436 that will be used for paying tution fee, Ksh 25000 for her uniform then 30000 is for laptop and phone that she will be using while in school