IAAF World Junior champion Nyairera Nyairera dedicates win to her mum

2014 world Junior Athletics Championship Gold medallist Ms Margaret Nyairera waves at Nyeri town residents when atop a vehicle that she drove in back to Nyeri, where she received a rousing welcome.

NYERI, KENYA: When Margaret Nyairera Wambui took to the track in the 800m finals during the IAAF World Junior Championships in Oregon last week, one image was glued to her mind: that of her mother.

Nyairera, 18, recalled the hardships she and her siblings have gone through, with their mother always encouraging them whenever they toil in people’s farms to bring some food on the table.

They are paid Sh200 each for a day’s work in horticulture farms in their village of Endarasha, a scenic hamlet set on the slopes of Aberdare ranges. “I remembered my mum, Ann Wambui whom I was sure was following up my performance. I needed a win and a win only.”

Moments later, Nyairera, a form three student at Tetu High, crossed the line in a triumphant stride that saw her snatch a gold medal.

“I am happy I made her smile. I had promised her to give her what she wanted, and the victory in a foreign land was the first. She is my icon and the reason I put all my efforts to put her a smile on the face,” Nyairera said.

Back in Endarasha, Nyeri, Wambui was trekking down her only daughter’s performance through a small radio given to her as a gift by a friend.

Wambui vividly recalls that Friday, July 25, 7am bulletin when she heard a news anchor announce in a local FM station that her daughter won gold the previous night.

“I could not imagine my only daughter had placed my name high in the international podium.

“I heard the news anchor call her name. I prayed loudly and screamed out of joy, until my neighbours came to check what was happening,” she told a gathering at the Nyeri County government offices.

“I am grateful to God for this moment that He has given my daughter,” she added as she recalled talking to her daughter candidly. She also accompanies her to casual labour during holidays.

Wambui described Nyairera as a disciplined girl who loves her mother and her three other male siblings. “Whenever we are out working, she keeps asking me what I would want her to buy for me. I keep on encouraging her,” she said.

So when the plane ferrying Nyairera and the Junior Athletics team touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Wednesday at 6am, Wambui was among tens of students, teachers and Endarasha residents who had travelled overnight to welcome the world champion.

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