Five-year-old girl with Down’s Syndrome, stays indoors as she battles stigma

Grace Wangui with her daughter who suffers from Down's syndrome (Photo: Mercy Kahenda/Standard)

A five-year-old girl is in despair as she silently watches her peers play outside their homestead at Manyani Estate, Nakuru Town.

The girl, newly enrolled in school, suffers from Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes an intellectual disability and developmental delays. The condition has made her lack speech. However, society seems not to be kind to the girl, and her condition has left her stigmatised and isolated, forcing her to stay inside their rental house, where she feels safer. Narrating her ordeal, her mother Grace told The Standard that most of the time, having the girl inside the house gives her peace of mind, as locals keep asking her about the condition, which she lacks answers to.