Blazing the trail in science

L’Oreal and Unesco feted Kenya’s Dr Peggoty Mutai, 32, in Paris for her revolutionary research that seeks to find lasting solutions for the parasitic worms that affect millions of children in Africa. Her research taps into the age-old knowledge of our forefathers who used traditional plants. NJOKI KARUOYA was there.

For many women, science is just too complicated and complex for their minds. Yet, according to 32-year-old Dr Peggoty Mutai — this year’s Kenya’s L’Oreal-Unesco Fellow and a PhD student in Chemistry at the University of Nairobi (where she also lectures) and the University of Cape Town in South Africa — women have been practising science from time immemorial.