Emily Wanjiru Wanjiru recited the poem in 2015 at Sagana State Lodge that touched the President who promised to help her.
Wanjiru lives with her grandmother, her two brothers, a cousin and her mother in Indian Bazaar estate, Kiambu town. The one bed-room house belongs to the county government of Kiambu.
Their house has neither electricity nor water. A sewer is built under their house.
Before the poem recital grandmother Serah Nduta worked in a quarry, breaking stones for ballast and collecting garbage for recycling.
However, Wanjiru got a chance to perform a solo poem dubbed ‘Mvua hii ‘ to the President in Nyeri county and the President offered to help the family to get out of poverty.
“The poem touched him as it talked about the leaking roof of their house and the President decided to help us and he sent people to help us,” Nduta said.
The family was living in a makeshift wooden house at Gachororo.
A team from State House - Team Uhuru - led by Dennis Itumbi moved them from their house and took them to a rental house within the same area in Gachororo and paid rent for 22 months while Wanjiru got sponsorship to join St Petroc Premier School in Runyenjes Embu.
The sponsorship should see her through primary school, high school upto university.
“There were new sofa sets, beddings, utensils which were also photographed but later before they could leave the new things were replaced with second-hand ones a thing that we did not understand but we were only glad that we have been moved to a new house,” Nduta said.
After staying in the house for 22 months, they were evicted as they could not pay rent anymore.
Nduta, who still collects garbage, said she has a major challenge with Wanjiru as she is schooling in Embu and is unable to cater for her school needs, which have been escalating as only school fees is catered for.
