Singe Mother of Twins Needs Help

Loise Wanja, right, a single mother of twins in Nashua, N.H., and Esther Muite, one of the members of a women group, who is helping Wanja and her twins. Picture by H. Maina/ Ajabu

By Harrison Maina

LOWELL, Mass.-Loise Wanja cuddled her children on a recent Wednesday afternoon in Nashua, N.H.Wanja, 22, is a single mother of 13-month-old twins. She gave birth last July, and she is the children’s sole caretaker.

Raising multiples alone is a daunting task for any parent, but Wanja faces extra challenges. She said the father of her children deserted her when she was pregnant because she refused to abort them. The economy robbed her of her academic scholarship and her job at a fast food restaurant in Ohio. Worse still, her roommates threw her out of an apartment they shared because she could not pay bills.

Wanja and her twins are now surviving at the mercy of well-wishers. She is temporarily staying with, Jane Njuniria, a family friend in Nashua. She is appealing to the community for help.

Wanja recently recounted her struggles to Ajabu Africa.
As a third year psychology major at Bowling Green University in Ohio, Wanja’s future appeared bright. She had an academic scholarship, two jobs, which comfortably paid her bills, and a boyfriend who adored her.

But her world came crushing one day in 2007, when she discovered that she was pregnant.

Wanja missed her monthly periods and decided to take a home pregnancy test.
She shared the results with her boyfriend, whom she only said is a native of Tanzania, and he was very supportive. But Wanja was scared of motherhood. She though she was too young to juggle raising kids, school and work, she said.

“I was very scared and confused,” she said. “I was not ready to be a parent.”

Wanja’s partner comforted her and advised her to terminate the pregnancy. Wanja agreed.

“He said that an abortion was the best option for us because we had no means of supporting the child,” she said. “I was stupidly in love at that time, so I believed him.”

Wanja and her boyfriend visited an abortion clinic and an ultrasound confirmed the pregnancy.

The nurse, she said, seemed a bit surprised at the ultrasound results, but didn’t disclose why.
“She went into another room, discussed my results with the doctor, then came back and told me that I was pregnant,” Wanja said. “She also gave me a date to come back for the abortion.”

Wanja said the date of the procedure fell on a day her boyfriend was scheduled to fly to Tanzania for Christmas holidays, so he gave her the money then left for the airport.

But Wanja had a change of heart and did not go for the operation as planned.

“After days of thinking and praying, something told me that it was not right to have the abortion, and I made a decision not to proceed with it,” she said.

She communicated her decision to her boyfriend in Tanzania through email, but the response she received was devastating.

 “He cursed me a lot for refusing to do the abortion,” she said.

The boyfriend also vowed never to see her again. The news crushed Wanja, who had just lost her academic scholarship and was on the brink of dropping out of school.

Wanja also lost her jobs and her roommates kicked her out because she could no longer afford to pay the bills.

A few weeks later, she went for her first doctor’s appointment and learned that she was in fact carrying twins. Having had no experience with multiples, Wanja says she didn't know what to do. She cried hysterically for days. She was depressed. Wanja had nobody to turn to for advice because her mother had died in 2004 during child birth. Her father, she said, deserted her family when she was young, and she had no close relatives to turn to for help.

“Having twins sounded like double trouble for me at the time,” she said. “But now I know that they are the best things that ever happened for me. I view my kids as double blessings.”

It was at this point of despair that Wanja received an offer from a family friend in Milbury, Mass., to share her two bedroom apartment.

Wanja quickly packed up her bags in February and left Ohio and stayed with her friend until the children arrived in July.

Her friend provided shelter and food and took her to doctors’ appointments.

Loise Wanja cuddles her twins Natasha (left), and Natalia Njoki (right), on a recent wednesday afternoon .The trio is currently staying with a good samaritan. H.Maina/Ajabu

Wanja’s living conditions improved, but the emotional burden of being a single parent was slowly taking its toll on her. She said she was depressed throughout the pregnancy, and she refused to come to terms with her situation.

“I tried negotiating with God and told him that if he helps me out, I will change and become a better person,” she said.

Wanja secured enough baby items to make it to the hospital to deliver her twins.
Natasha and Natalia finally arrived on July 10, 2008 at U Mass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass.

Wanja didn’t want to overburden her friend so she decided not to go back to her house after delivery.  She contacted a welfare center in Worcester, Mass. and was a signed a social worker, who helped her find at a family shelter in Medway, Mass.

 Wanja left the hospital and moved into her new home, but the adjustment was overwhelming. She had to figure out how to care for her children. She also had to contend with the world outside. Wanja and her kids were confined to a small room with a bed and two cribs. She was also surrounded by total strangers.

“We were the only black family there because everyone else was either white or Mexican,” she said.

But Wanja was glad that Natasha and Natalia at least had playmates.

“The shelter had a lot of babies, who could play with my babies,” she said.

Wanja and her twins stayed at the shelter for six month. While there, word of their plight was quickly spreading around the Kenyan community in New England.

One day she received a call from Jane Njuniria, a fellow Kenyan, who had lost her husband in the 1998 bomb blast in Kenya.

 “Jane called me many times and encouraged and supported me with words of God,” Wanja said.

One Sunday afternoon Wanja and Njuniria finally met. Njuniria and her friend, whom she only identified as Lucy, visited with Wanja and her kids for several hours that day.

That visit changed Wanja and her kids’ lives.

“Jane asked us to come and live with her in her apartment at the Canterbury Gardens in Nashua, New Hampshire,” she said. “I was hesitant at first, and I asked her to be give time to think and pray about it.”

Two weeks later, Njuniria drove to the shelter to bring her new family members home.
She also introduced them to a women’s group that she attends, and her group members also pledged their support for Wanja and the kids..

“We decided to help her through her struggle, so she could get established and live her life with her children as a dignified mother,” Esther Muite, one of the group members said.

Muite said they wanted the multiples to lead as normal a life as possible.
“The children did not have toys to play with like the other kids, no clothes or anything,” she said, adding that they were motivated by Wanja’s admission that she had made some mistakes and was willing to be guided.

The Women group has raised some funds to help Wanja get some training to enable her get a job. She recently secured an admission at 3 Dimensions Health Services, a Kenyan-owned college in Lowell, Mass., and is training to be a certified nursing assistant.

The college offered to pay for her First Aid and Medication Administration Practice and another Kenyan-owned company, NewMe Uniforms of Lowell, Mass., donated Wanja’s school uniforms.

The college is located about 10 miles from Nashua and the women group members take turns every day dropping and picking Wanja up from school.

Wanja admits that she has made a few bad choices in life and blames her decisions on peer pressure.

She hopes to go back to college some day to complete her degree. She also hopes to establish a charitable organization to educate youngsters on teen pregnancy and provide shelter to battered women.

Wanja also wants to be the world’s best single mom.

“I would like to raise my kids to be the best- like Michelle Obama’s,” she said.

A fundraiser is planned for 5 p.m. tomorrow at 43 Congress St., Apt 7, Nashua, N.H.,(Get Directions) to help Wanja and her twins.

“We are asking for community help so that we can all set this young lady on her way to become independent and self sufficient,” Muite said. “Any assistance we get will be highly appreciated.”

If you can not make to the fund raising today due to the short notice, please call these numbers for your pledges:
Esther Muite at (256) 682- 0524 or
Jane Njuniria at (603) 557- 2691

You can also mail in or drop off your checks, toys clothes and other gifts at:

43 Congress St., Apt 7, Nashua, N.H.

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