Liz Muthoni | NATION An elated Mary Atieno Ang’wen yesterday after she received a cheque worth Sh5 million that she won in the Masonko na Safaricom promotion. Mrs Ang’wen is a trader from Homa Bay.
A few days ago, Mary Atieno Ang’wen was a struggling sugarcane seller at Kuoyo Kaora beach, Rangwe constituency on the shores of Lake Victoria. Today she is a millionaire.
In a flash, the life of the mother of six changed dramatically in what sounds like the fictitious stuff that movies and novels are made of.
Last Friday, as she went about her business at the beach, selling sugarcane to the fishermen who were landing their fish catches after a night-long voyage in the waters of the lake, a phone call came through.
A man, who introduced himself as Amos Juma from mobile phone company, Safaricom, would inquire about her name and whereabouts, before proceeding to warn her to brace for some amazing news. She had scooped the Sh5 million weekly prize in the ‘Masonko na Safaricom’ promotion.
“At first, I thought it was a hoax,” Mrs Ang’wen recalls. Only a week earlier some mysterious caller had told her that she had won Sh1 million, only for it to turn out to be the antics of a con man.
Thus, she did not quite believe Mr Juma’s news of a win, but still played along and made arrangements to travel urgently to Nairobi as she had been asked. Her husband remained behind to take care of the family’s livestock.
Cautious about letting in many people on the news, she only shared the news with her husband and a few close family members, but added that the truth would only be known after she landed her hands on the cheque.
On Tuesday, she was in Nairobi, accompanied by four of her in-laws and a younger brother, all of whom live in Nairobi, to collect the Sh5 million cheque. In hindsight, she says that the earlier prank was a forerunner of her fortunes.
As she stepped onto the podium at the headquarters of Safaricom Ltd, Mrs Ang’wen was still in awe and disbelief.
The enormity of the news would sink as she shook the hand of the incoming chief executive officer, Robert Collymore and saw a dummy cheque with her name on it. She intends to invest part of her newfound fortune in expanding her sugarcane business. Though she could afford starting a different business if she wanted to, she is content plying her trade at the beach.
The rest of her prize will go towards paying for the education of four of her children who are still in school and aiding the completion of her local church. She has offered to buy windows to be fitted onto the ongoing construction.
“This is a miracle from God. If it was not for Him, I would not have got it and that is why I have to give to his work,” an elated Mrs Ang’wen said.
For her, the new fortune seems like a second chance in life after her husband lost his job at Telkom Kenya in 2007.
The family that then lived in Nakuru would be forced to retire to their rural home in Rangwe and to take up agriculture.
It is along the way that she began dabbling in the sugarcane business to supplement family income, and kill boredom.
“I had nothing to do after the planting and weeding seasons were over and that is why I started my business,” she says.
Three years down the line, luck has smiled at them and the family is back on its feet.
Soiurce: Daily Nation
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