Hope for Brazilian and husband as embassy comes to their rescue

Brazilian Maria Antonia Barbosa Dos Santos displays her passport when neighbours visited her in Kongoni. She and her husband, Charles Ahuta, will be going to Brazil in two weeks. [PHOTOS: KEVIN TUNOI/standard]

In two weeks’ time, a Brazilian woman who has been living in deplorable conditions will be reunited with her family - 44 years since she was separated from them.

A frail Maria Antonia Barbosa Dos Santos made Kongoni in Likuyani constituency, Kakamega County, her home and has had to contend with poverty and sickness.

But Maria and her husband, Charles Ahuta, are currently packing their bags in readiness for the journey to Brazil after the Brazilian embassy came to their rescue. 

Her plight was recently highlighted by The Standard and caught the attention of Brazilian embassy officials and well-wishers.

The two said they were looking forward to a warm reception in Brazil. A jovial Maria said she can’t wait to meet her siblings and ailing mother and jokingly told her husband she would take him to the shores and teach him how to swim once they land in Brazil.

She has been trying to reach her siblings in Penedo for four months without success.

All the memories she has are of the journey she made to Kenya at the age of 19 when she came to work for a German as a nanny.

Armed with her passport that was recently renewed, Maria says they will also be attended to by Brazilian doctors who will treat them for various ailments before they set out.

“We are both sick and currently depend on drugs after testing HIV-positive. My husband developed a stroke from the shock of learning about our HIV status,” said Maria.

Besides that, the mother of one suffers from diabetes and a hernia, a condition that requires immediate treatment.

Despite their conditions, their faces are lit up with smiles at the thought of their planned journey to Brazil this month.

“After you highlighted our story, an embassy official visited our home and promised to help us. His concern was to make sure that my passport was renewed along with helping me trace my family in Penedo,” said Maria.

True to official’s word, the embassy was able to trace one of her brothers working in Brazil in less than two weeks. She said that was the first step to finding the rest of her family.

Air ticket

“I am grateful to the embassy because they traced Herald Barbosa who is a lecturer at a university in Brazil, and we are constantly talking now. He will cater for my husband’s air ticket while the embassy pays for mine,” she said.

“My mother thought I had died and when she heard my voice, she was shocked to the extent that she was rushed to hospital. Since then, we have kept in touch in anticipation of a reunion.”

The 66-year-old woman also praised the embassy for helping her 38-year-old daughter and mother of five to find a job.

“My daughter secured a job in Nairobi and I am optimistic that her life will be better. My only appeal is that she would also secure Brazilian citizenship along with her children so that they can travel home at a later stage,” said Maria.

Maria and her husband recently went to Nairobi to renew her passport and apply for one for her husband.

Braved hunger

Neighbours who flocked to their homestead on hearing the news of their planned travel described the two as inseparable partners who had braved hunger and poor health to live together.

“We are happy for them; they have persevered. The sun has finally shone on them and we are optimistic that they will receive the necessary treatment and will smile again,” said Benard Lwanyi, a neighbour.