Woman’s brave face despite struggle with sick children

By Veronica Kirigo

Beatrice Saleh, a mother of eight, is a bundle of energy. Despite her age, she moves about at a lightening speed doing several household chores simultaneously.

In a short while, she is done and places a hoe on her shoulder, as she joins other women in Busilwa village in Kakamega County in search of a casual job.

Her face is animated and her voice takes on different pitches as she tells stories to other women who constantly burst into laughter. Soon the women part ways as they go to work in different farms.

Saleh’s stare can be unnerving and her confidence startling, especially after learning that out of her eight children, three are asthmatic and two suffer from hernia of the testicles.

Hernia is a condition where an organ protrudes through a weak part of tissue or muscle.

While one of her sons was operated on, the other hasn’t and the condition has gotten so bad that he cannot walk, forcing him to discontinue school.

Despite her predicament, she puts on a brave face as she continues to toil in her usual jovial nature.

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"Laughter makes things more bearable for me and if I stop laughing, I would die of depression," she jokes.

The woman aged 45,is a force to reckon with, as despite her low and unreliable pay she has been able to put food on the table.

Her husband resides in Kisumu and is unemployed but sometimes sends money home.

Despite their predicament, Saleh does not let any of her sick children sleep hungry.

"My children are sick and they need a proper diet and I work to the best of my ability to ensure that they eat the right food," says Saleh.

Through her casual jobs, she says that she has been able to educate her eldest daughter who is now 21years old to college level.

Although some of her children have been chased away from school because they don’t have all the requirements, she vows to work extra hard.

"I always tell people that if they think they have been suffering, they should try living my life for a day," says Saleh.

"Many people want to know how I have been able to take care of my sick children without breaking down," explains Saleh.

"I tell them life is always how you take it, either you choose to sit around feeling sorry for yourself or do something about it,"says Saleh. Saleh says asthma is a devastating disease to children, especially when they start to wheeze. She describes the scene of watching her child fall to the ground gasping for breathe as mortifying. Sometimes, she says, the child will cough so much and during those times, it is difficult to keep tears away but she tries.

According to Saleh, it takes extraordinary strength to keep her cool and assist the child from that agonising moment.

"I have to be mentally strong as a bit of delay can mean life or death,"she says.

Part of her first aid skills has been self-taught but a great deal has she has received from volunteering as a community health worker.

Saleh is always keen to lend a helping hand to the sick. Her wish is to have her asthmatic children live happily with asthma and perform well in school.

This has seen her learn to save every coin in order to achieve her dreams.