The day sound returned to Kisumu as families celebrate life-changing ear surgeries

Surgeons operate on a patient's ear during a free Ear Nose and Throat medical camp at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital on September 7, 2023. [File, Standard)

For 17-year-old Hillary Midenyo, every day used to begin with pain a sharp, throbbing ache in his ear that never seemed to end. Nights were worse, marked by sleeplessness, fever, and the constant discharge of pus. His childhood has been punctuated by pain, endless hospital visits, and missed school days.

Hillary’s guardian, Carolyn Onzare, knows the story too well. She has been both a mother and a nurse to him, watching helplessly as the little boy battled a condition she barely understood.