Rare skin disease makes children sleep with eyes open

Three-year-old Habsay Salat from Wajir County who suffers from a rare skin disease

On Thursday evening, Bilai Aden sat on her hotel bed, rocking her 10 month old baby. The baby’s face was covered in a black hood and blanket, but Bilai would occasionally lift the fabric and peer inside. Baby Misky’s face, full of scars and dead skin, would be revealed. What was more striking was the baby’s eyes. Her eyelids looked like they were turned upside down, and she could not shut her eyes. Even though she was asleep, her eyes remained opened.

Bilai Aden from Wajir County attends to her three-year-old daughter Habsay Salat

Bilha says the condition started when Misky was three months old, and has gotten worse with each passing day. When Saturday Standard caught up with her in Eastleigh where is staying after well-wishers airlifted her from Halani, Wajir county, she opened up on the rare skin condition that afflicts her four children.