Scary skin disease

By Edwin Makiche

Four decades ago, David Kiprono Ruto, was a jovial young man who nursed ambition of becoming a bus driver in his village, a dream he often shared with his childhood friends. He even got an opportunity to drive a tractor, at some stage in his life albeit for a short while.

But a strange skin disease that he inherited from his mother has continually thwarted his dreams and denied him a chance to be a respectable member of his community.

Born to a poor family at Ndanai location in Bomet county, Ruto says that in his time, he has faced all the sorts of hostilities and stigma, a situation that had made him a pariah among his age mates, and villagers.

His woes began while in the lower primary school, when he began to develop signs of a strange skin disease that also affected his mother.

David’s skin started cracking then scaly patches began to develop on it. Soon, the over growths have not only covered parts of his face, arms and legs but also turned the looks of a once budding young man to resemble the backside of some reptile.

He says the gradual change in his physique was accompanied by more intrinsic effects like frequent muscle weakness and nausea.

LONELINESS AND STIGMA

Pushed by failing health and frequent stigma from classmates, a young David would be forced to drop out of school at an earlier age and resorted to doing menial jobs.

“This disquiet coupled with poor health made me to drop out of school and stay home with my mother, who also has the same problem,’’ he said recently during an interview with the Standard.

He adds, “In the eyes of those around me, I could see feelings of uneasiness, sympathy and suspicion. I could even hear some of my classmates murmur in low voices that they should not come next to a boy who suffers from a strange disease

He says that any prospects of him getting medical treatment were out of question since his father who worked, as a night watch man in a school in Njoro could not afford it. The old man had also privately resigned to fate, after unsuccessfully trying to treat his mother. His younger sister had also began to develop the same symptoms, something that frustrated his father even the more.

RESIGNED TO FATE

A determined David could not however allow fate control his destiny; he decided to take a different route and began doing menial jobs at farms in parts of Molo in Nakuru County.

“I worked in several farms in Nakuru as a shepherd and used part of my payment to assist my siblings back at home. I also learned to drive tractors during free time,’’ he says.

But as time went on, his health condition worsened. He says that painful sores began developing on his skin, oozing pus and sometimes blood. This complicated matters for him since the families he worked could not allow him come near their children, fearing he might infect them.

The nauseating smell that the sores produced when they burst conspired in ruining his social life. “In some homes I was made to sleep in separate rooms with other people since they could not risk coming in contact with me,’’ he says.He adds, “I am unable to save much money from these menial jobs since I have to take care of my health, on top of assisting my siblings back at home. The frequent health failure also makes me lose many opportunities.’’

UNMET DREAMS

Now 47 and without a family of his own, David says that he is feeling the full effect of having this mysterious skin disease. He is aware that marriage for him is impossible, as no lady would dare look at him twice.Both his parents are now diseased, leaving his sister in his care.

In his village, the social standing of a man is defined by the kind of family he brings up, as the main breadwinner he lords over his wife and children. But it goes without saying that a ‘senior bachelor’ like him has no place in such a closely-knit social structure.

When he spoke to The Standard, David said that at his age, he could be the owner of a passenger bus and a proud father of five children. But such dreams remain just as wishes, since the disease never allowed him to explore them.