Mama Kevi: A Journey of Pain and Hope”
“If I Were to Die, I Would Have Died Long Ago” — The Silent Suffering of Mama Kevi
“If I were to die, I would have died long ago. Even my bones would have rotted by now because of the pain I have endured,” whispers Mama Kevi, her voice shaking with sorrow. “The hospital told me, ‘Mama, your arm and leg must be amputated.’ I refused many times. I kept thinking—how will I live? I have children in school. My life and my survival depend on my hands and feet. But the pain became unbearable. I had no choice. They cut my arm and my leg.”
This is the haunting reality of Prisca Mgandira, known to many as Mama Kevi—a 41-year-old mother from Mlimba District, Tanzania, who now lives with only one arm and one leg after battling cancer that changed her life forever.
Before illness stole her limbs, Mama Kevi was a hardworking farmer and small trader. Through her strength and sweat, she raised six children and managed to educate them up to secondary school. Her hands once tilled the land and her feet carried her to the market to sell goods and provide for her family.
But life turned cruel.
Her diagnosis—cancer, combined with chronic stomach ulcers—not only took away her health, but also stripped her children of a future. With no one to care for them, no income, and no support, their dreams of continuing school began to fade into silence.
Her husband, too, is a man of humble means—a struggling fisherman who often comes home empty-handed. Their home is filled with unanswered questions, sleepless nights, and hungry stomachs.
Just when everything seemed lost, a ray of hope came. A kind stranger offered support, helping her receive treatment and a prosthetic leg. That moment rekindled her strength—but only for a while.
Today, Mama Kevi is crying out again—not for herself, but for help to live.
Her needs are overwhelming: clean water, shelter, medical treatment, and a new prosthetic leg.
“My artificial leg doesn’t last long,” she explains. “When it rains, I cannot walk at all. It soaks, it rots. Even now, it’s already breaking apart. I cannot afford to replace it. I feel stuck.”
Her life is a testimony of endurance—a woman broken by disease, but still holding on for her children’s future. Her pain is silent, her struggle invisible to many. But her hope remains—that someone, somewhere, might hear her and lend a hand.
