This picture went viral on Facebook, and here is this Busia family’s story

Last weekend, the picture of a young woman and her daughter standing next to a make-shift mabati ‘house’ whose ‘door’ is a tattered blue mosquito net, went viral on social networking website, Facebook.

Calls to have the woman and her child get help from leaders in her locality, justifiably, dominated social media on Sunday and Monday.

At the time the picture was circulating, little information, or rather distorted information, was being spread online in regard to the exact location the photograph was taken, and the number of years the woman and her child have occupied the crummy structure.

Well, on Monday, K24 Digital traced the woman to a remote area in Choyi Village, Budalang’i Constituency in Busia County, where we found her seated outside the bedraggled structure with her two children.

The woman identified herself as 26-year-old Lilian Munyama.

She says she, her two children and husband have been living in the mabati structure for two years now, and not six as was alleged on Facebook last weekend.

Lilian says they lost their “modest” family house two years ago to a fire incident, which “left us with absolutely nothing”.

“We have tried to save towards building a better structure, but given our humble background, the savings have never been enough,” she said.

“Some of the challenges we are facing in the mabati house that we are currently occupying is being rained on during the wet season,” said Lilian.

“Given the structure’s small size, we cannot put a bed or table in it. We, therefore, are forced to sleep on the floor at an angle,” she said.

Munyama says she wishes area MP, Raphael Wanjala, or governor, Sospeter Ojaamong, could help her and her family get a “decent” house.