Hi Twitter. I started this account some two months ago. Didn't go back to it b'cos 1) I'm not sure I knew how to use Twitter and 2) I didn't know what I was even s'pposed to be tweeting about. See, I have just 2 followers. And I'm just gambling wit ths thread. Lemme take a risk.

I'm Regina Njeri Gathoni. Daughter of a single mother. Mum is a bar tender and hasn't worked since March as you may all know. I'm a single mother, a proud hawker and one of the devastated Gikomba market victims. And TBH, I'm at the edge of my life right now. I'm breaking apart.

I worked at a nightclub before I quit after the work environment became too toxic and exploitative to handle. And then I became a waitress. And then I started hawking Airtel simcards. And then I hawked shoes and lady tops. And then I set up a small shop at Gikomba with a partner.

My 4-year old boy mostly influenced my quitting the nightclub/waitress jobs. In hawking, I found peace and some money for me, my boy and my mother. We live in the same house and dutifully paid rent. We've encountered challenges as two single mothers but always managed to overcome

Around mid-March, full of hope, I took a 50k soft loan from an area loan shark to finance my mitumba biz. And have been paying the 5,500 profit p/month. Biz hadn't even kicked off. Things hadn't even looked up. And, less than two months later, greedy men burned down my poor shop.

Now not only am I behind with rent (Our May and June rent is unpaid) I have no clothes to sell, no shop, no money to service the 50k loan, a mother who still needs a job, a little boy to feed, my mouth to feed and a heart that is breaking into pieces. I'm falling apart. Broken.

KOT, I need immediate salvation as I am at the end of the rope. My head is spinning and I'm out of options. I need to pay off my rent, (10k p/month), offset the loan, get my house in order, kick-start my beloved hawking business and just find peace in the middle of this madness.

My loan, rent arrears, restoring the stall, building materials, labor, little stock, basic needs, evrything won't cost much. As little as 70k wil get me back on my feet. Or whatever I can honestly get. I'm so tired of explaining myself out of poverty. KOT, please. Come to my aid.

That's me. Sitting at the same spot my shop used to be. Next to the river. I'm hopeful for kind souls here. Hopeful that I didn't do this thread in vain and hopeful that a stranger like me still matters. I'm gambling on your kindness. Please. My number is 0746046033. BLESSINGS.