DN2
Hello, my name is Nimo, and this is the story of my life
By the time this child reaches adulthood, she will have paid a national debt, cheated malaria, fought for meagre secondary school places, and probably escaped a tribalist’s misguided fury. Growing up in Kenya is going to be one helluva journey for Nimo! Photo/WAGEMA MUNYORI
Posted Wednesday, February 22 2012 at 00:00
In Summary
Yes, the story of my life. I’m just 11 months old, so kindly understand the circumstances in which this bubbly picture of me was taken. But I want us to discuss serious issues... you know... things like the fact that I already owe somebody all of Sh32,000. No wonder sometimes I feel depressed
I was born in a hospital, and I should consider myself lucky because only two out of five of my peers were born in a health facility.
The rest came to this world under the canopy of a tree or via the trembling hands of a traditional birth attendant.
I remain worried though, because only five per cent of health facilities in this country can perform a Cesarean section.
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Now that I live in Nairobi, one thing’s for sure: I will speak better Kiswahili and English than I will my mother-tongue.
Also, the possibility of me living longer than my husband is real, with the life expectancy of a female Kenyan at 59 years while that of a male stands at 56.
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Three out of 10 of my playmates will not have achieved the recommended full immunisation by the time they are five years old.
That is probably why one out of every 14 of my agemates will die before their fifth birthday due to childhood illnesses.
Acute Respiratory Illness (ARI), malaria and dehydration caused by diarrhoea are wiping out my generation.
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If I do not pass KCPE, I hope I will be part of the 50,000 admitted to national polytechnics.
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I will have my first phone conversation at two-and-a-half years... yeah, two-and-a-half years. That is before I can read or even write my name!
But forget mobile phones. Television, video games and the Internet are my eyes to the world. I hope Mum doesn’t read this, so sssssh! I spend over two hours per week watching TV.
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My father is likely to miss work an average of 5.6 days a year due to illness. Assuming that breadwinners work 8 hours a day, and there are about 8.8 million households in the country, then around 394,240,000 man hours are lost every year in Kenya due to illness.
That’s more than in the USA (5.5 days of sick-leave per year) or Japan (4.5 days), but less than in Europe (9.7 days).
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