How do you pick up the pieces after burying three of your children, being arrested for a crime you did not commit, and shortly after your husband commits suicide?

This is the story of Seline Akoth, a widow who traded despair for a humble life. Through unwavering perseverance, she has transformed her destiny, rising from the shadows to become one of Nakuru's most prominent fish sellers.

"My life took a tragic turn when my late husband chose desperate escape (suicide) over my unjust arrest after my brother, who was to be arrested for human trafficking, escaped," says Ms Akoth.

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Ms Akoth says that before her husband's death, she had lost three of her children in 2013, 2014 and 2017 respectively.

"The same day I buried my husband, devastated by grief and determined to start afresh, I fled from Tanzania to Kenya, where my sister hosted me in Nakuru, where I remain today," she explains.

Mrs Akoth says she gave up fighting for her husband's property in Tanzania to avoid meeting her mother-in-law and two stepchildren, and returned to Kenya with only the clothes on her back.

As soon as she arrived in Nakuru, she started looking for work and was lucky enough to get a job in a hotel peeling potatoes for a daily wage of Sh200 to make ends meet.

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My father introduced me to alcohol when I was in class two

"After working for three weeks, with my savings and the help of my sister who bought me a gas cylinder and a karai, I decided to start my fish business importing fish from Uganda," she said.

Ms Akoh stresses that her fish business has taken off and on a good day she earns up to Sh10,000 a day.

Seline Akoth a 34 year old widow at her fish shop in Nakuru.

Photo credit: Winnie Kimani

Through being a businesswoman selling fish, Ms Akoth says she has not only found independence but also the strength to heal the wounds of the past.

"For all widowers, things may seem hard, but wake up and pick up the pieces by working extra hard to prove to your in-laws that sometimes fighting over your husband's property is unnecessary."

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'I buried my three children and shortly after my husband committed suicide,' tribulations of a Nakuru widow.

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Winnie Kimani