As hard as they may try, when they cannot be sure of putting food on their tables, the women give into defeat, seeking to put their kids into care while they try to earn a living and get their lives back on track.
Their situations are are made worse by the hardship caused to the community because of the massive fall in tourism.
This was the case for both Fatuma and Ann whose children joined our Happy House family last weekend - just in time for our Christmas party day!
Fatuma's husband died in a a motorcycle accident in Gede last year.
He had been working as an electrician at a local hotel.
After his burial in his ancestral homeland of Tsavo, Fatuma found it impossible to settle there with her children Hussein, six, and Husna, nine.
She returned to live with her own widowed mother in Watamu who, having suffered a stroke four years ago, was in need of help.
They were in dire straits. Unable to afford fees or uniform, the children were no longer attending school.
Fatuma needs to be able to work to try to reorganise her life and to look after her mum, so Hussien and Husna have joined our family where she knows they will be safe, loved and educated.
Ann and her children Zeria , 12, and Reece , five, were all living in a single rented room
After losing her husband recently to liver cancer, Ann has been struggling to pick up the pieces and to support her family.
Having been brought up in a children's home, she has no relatives of her own to help her.
Her eldest son , Claude, who is 16, and is in form two primary school, is currently at his paternal grandfather's homestead.
Ann says her in-laws are aged and ailing and not able to give her support.
She is trying to earn a living going from house to house offering to do laundry work in exchange for a fee.
Her husband had worked as a welder and supported his family with ease, but without him they have nothing.
We have not yet establish the certainty of Claude's future schooling.
For now Zeria and Reece have been taken into the loving care of our family, initially for two to three years to give their mum a chance to find work and is able to support them at home and in school.
All our children gathered (right) to greet their new "brothers and sisters" and to make them feel welcome from their very first minute in our family.
Tomorrow: Jeremiah comes home to happy House.
If you would like to help by sponsoring a Happy House child, please email elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net
