Disabled boy’s undying dream to get education

By CHARLES NGENO

Gideon Kiprotich (seated middle) with classmates at Emityot Academy, Narok County. [PHOTO: CHARLES NGENO/STANDARD]

Narok; Kenya: With a pair of thin legs curled at the lower side of his body, he is determined to attain formal education like any other child.

What could have been legs grew and curled sideways to create an impression of cross-legged posture. The limbs are short and too thin to support the body of 13-year-old Gideon Kiprotich.

However, this does not stop him from living a normal life and interacting with other children. He has resorted to using his hands for mobility.

The buoyant boy was born with the deformity, according to his mother Nancy Tonui.

“After Richard took me as his better half, God blessed us with Gideon as our first born and we thank Him for that. God gave us more children who are our pride and our source of hope that Jehovah has wonderful surprises tucked away in the future,” said Nancy. Nancy too is strong-willed and would not let her son miss school because of his deformity. Despite the lack of a special school near their home, Nancy carries the boy every day to school.

Rainy days

Kiprotich schools at Emituyot Academy which is about four kilometres away. Daily, the mother carries the boy on her back to school in the morning and picks him in the afternoon.

Nancy says Kiprotich started school at the age of 11 and is now in Class Two. “I usually put him on my back and carry him to and fro as the terrains are too tough for him and sometimes the paths are muddy during rainy days. Even when the weather is fair, dust cannot allow him to move by himself as he sometimes tries to do,” Nancy said.

She says her son constantly asked her to take him to school something that Nancy decided at last to do. “There are some things which are too difficult for a parent to explain to children. When he saw other children going to school, he always asked why he was not allowed to be like other children,” says Nancy.

Full of praises

“I knew I had to sacrifice to ensure that he goes to school despite the challenge. Since then he is happy and feels he is just like any other child.”

A wheelchair donated by Narok County Council to the boy has since broken down but not Kiprotich spirit to learn as he seems to enjoy his days in school and in the company of other children.

His father Richard Tonui says apart from the deformed legs, his son has normal growth of his other body parts.

When we visited the home, the boy was full of life with a charming smile. His radiant eyes and extra alert ears speak of a determined warrior ready to soldier on regardless of the body limitation.

Phillip Kirui the head teacher of Emityot Academy is full of praises for the boy.

He said Kiprotich had managed to cope with school challenges, his body discomfort notwithstanding.

“I am encouraged by his spirit of hard work. He can outdo others who are better off, physically. Mostly, he does his best not to be looked upon as a person with disability,” said the headteacher. He says during lunchtime, the pupil queues with other pupils despite a special arrangement that food should be taken to him, which he refused.

“It is heart-rending to see him fighting to queue with others for meals at the school kitchen and refusing favours. No amount of persuasion can stop him from doing what others are doing,” Kirui said.

Special school

The boy, Kirui said uses his hands to move to class and does not allow anyone to help him move around.

Caroline Chepkemoi who is the boy’s class teacher is quite happy with his class work. She says Kiprotich is satisfactorily focused on his work. “He always asks questions on what he had not understood and I’m impressed because he is an active learner,” said the teacher.

Kiprotich’s parents who do menial works, said they hope their son could get into a special school.

“My son has the potential to realise his dream of being a teacher if he can get into a special school,” says Tonui.