A mother in Minyali B Village in Mautuma Ward, Lugari Sub-county, is appealing for help to take her twin sons, who performed well in the KCPE 2022, to school after spending all the money she had on treating one of them, who sustained severe injuries after getting burned.
Mama Mary Simiyu said she used all the money on taking David Barasa, one of the twins, to the hospital after he sustained severe burn injuries on 40% of his body when an overfilled paraffin lamp burst in 2017.
“I was in my kitchen when I heard a cry from my big house. On reaching there, I saw my son burned, with his t-shirt completely stuck to his body,” she said.
Barasa, 15, topped St. Kizito Primary School with 346 marks, while his brother received 317.
Because doctors in public hospitals were on strike, the brilliant boy was transferred from Kitale County Hospital to Kijabe Cure Hospital in Nairobi, a private facility, after suffering burns on his arm, neck, and hands.
He underwent an operation, and for the whole period of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was still in hospital.
“I used all my savings, worth Ksh 200,000, to treat David. I had to sell everything at home and now have nothing left,” Ms. Simiyu said.
In 2018, he was operated on at Kijabe Cure Hospital, and in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was still in hospital.
David, despite the aftermath of the tragedy, came back home and continued with his education at St. Kizito Primary School, and he managed to do his KCPE 2022 exams despite his condition.
His mother is pleading with well-wishers and Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera to help pay for his and his brothers’ secondary school fees, saying they live a humble life.
Tom Lutali is a seasoned scribe based in Lugari Sub-County in Kakamega County who writes human interest stories and sports for WKT.