Because of his alcoholism, there was no way Joshua could care for Martha. He therefore took her to his mother, Martha’s grandmother, in Maingi, a village near Little Lambs Kijabe. Martha was named after her grandmother, so they are both called Martha.
Joshua left Martha with her grandmother, promising to provide financial support, and returned to Mai Mahiu. He never came back and never provided any support.
It became her grandmother’s responsibility to provide for Martha and her cousins, who had also been left in her care. With the little income she had, it was impossible for her to afford Martha’s school fees, and Martha was approaching school-going age.