Mother-in-law’s Charity was depressed after husband left

Mother-in-law actress Elizabeth Wanjiru, alias Charity Mwamba, says she got into depression after her Ugandan husband, Shem Bageine, left.

The two met while studying at Makerere University and got married while still students.

Charity, 78, plays the role of a strict and no-nonsense grandmother and mother-in-law in the local dramedy, which airs every Sunday at 7pm on Citizen TV.

In a recent YouTube interview with 'Metha ya Kagoni', the mother of three said he took away her children.

"He is younger than me by two years but he was very brilliant," she said.

"We were blessed with two girls and a boy. It was not easy. I suffered depression after he took my kids from me. He was very influential and I could not follow up to get the kids."

Charity said they did not divorce officially, adding that she still rocks her wedding ring.

"There were so many bad things happening at the time, so we did not have time to focus on getting a divorce," she said.

"For a divorce to go through, both people must be present, and he was not."

She said her husband also sold their home, something that almost left her homeless.

"He sold our matrimonial home and sent people to come to throw me out. They wanted to auction my property," she said.

"I could not pay the auctioneers so I asked for help from a pastor friend, who connected me to some lawyers," she said.

"The case dragged on for 30 years and I finally won the case. The house is now mine."

In a past radio interview with Massawe Japanni, she said she had 12 siblings but most of them (10) are dead, many falling in the space of a decade.

"Most of my earlier years were spent mourning. When you mourn this year, as you are starting a new year, someone else dies."