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May 16-24 is worry week for Kenyan mothers. No, it's not officially called that. I have baptised it so because of the ongoing countrywide measles-rubella vaccination campaign.
It is worry week because as a mother, I know what my fellow mothers are going through. Question upon question, concern upon concern and 'what if' upon 'what if'.
As I drove around the estate looking for "wamama wa chanjo" one morning this week, I kept asking myself whether I was doing the right thing.
I was just about to hand my children over to a team of strangers so they could inject a substance into their bodies. Was I crazy?
But then I remembered the words of one of my friends, Amakove Wala, through a detailed Facebook post, that took me step by step through the Government's motive in introducing the campaign to our beloved country.
I was running out of fuel, my children were late for school and I was late for work but it is the reassuring words of Ms Wala and so many of her colleagues on Facebook – moms who are privileged to have a little extra knowledge about the medical world – that kept me going.
At last, I found the women who had already trekked kilometres to their third school to administer the vaccine – yet it was only 9.45am.
And so the deed was done. My first daughter screamed her lungs out at the sight of the needle, only to look up in disbelief at the woman with the needle a few seconds later on being told that it was all over.
She hadn't felt a single thing. She had been prepared for horror (and I was trying my best to hide my own horror at the size of the needle).
My second daughter (almost three years old) was so fascinated by the 'cutex' one of the ladies marked on her pinkie, she didn't even notice the jab. She looked up just in time to see the amused faces around her. She laughed when someone said, "Good girl!"
And so ended my week of worry. I am glad I did it and thrilled that it's all over. As you make your decision, remember to make the one you are most comfortable with...but don't take too long to make up your mind.
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