Thirty-three-year-old Pisoi Kijabe was born a normal child in a family of six in the Naroosura area, Narok South sub-county. While in class four, however, she developed a sickness that affected her backbone, imposing a permanent disability on her at that tender age.

“I was a brilliant girl and I loved being in school. But when I started developing complications, I was hospitalised at Kijabe Mission Hospital, where doctors did their best to improve my limbs in vain,” she remembers.

The young girl was, therefore, forced to drop out of school and depend fully on her parents and her sibling for her livelihood.

“Life completely changed for me. Every move I had to make, I depended on someone to hold my hand. What motivated me was my family that showered a lot of love on me and encouraged me to be strong,” she says.

Nevertheless, everything did not move as smoothly as expected. The worst happened when Pisoi lost her father, who used to be the pillar of their family when she was a teenage girl. The big loss forced the family to struggle for basic needs like food and clothing.

The love and unity that were in the family slowly started fading away and slowly, her siblings, who used to be her only hope, started seeing her as a big burden to the family.

Moving out

“My sisters started fighting me and at one point, one of my sisters stabbed me with a kitchen knife. This is the day my eyes were opened and I realised that I was no longer needed in the family,” she painfully recalls.

Pisoi was forced to move out of her parental home at the age of 20 to look for another place to call home. She was too bitter about her condition and regretted that she was born to face such a big challenge. With spiritual guidance and counselling from her local church however, she was able to accept her condition and soldiered on.

At this point, she had mastered the art of bead making, where she could make beautiful Maa artefacts and sell them to the neighbours.

Using the little she had earned from the bead making business, she rented a small house in Naroosura town, where she lives to date.

Pisoi was blessed with four children, three girls and one boy, whom she feeds, educates, clothes and provides all other basic needs for through her bead-making business.

“I am the sole breadwinner for my children. I have no other friends except my children. I am determined to educate them until they become professionals so that they can take care of me when I am old,” she continues.

During market days, Pisoi, with the help of her last-born daughter, moves in her wheelchair to sell her beautiful beads.

“I thank God for my talent in making beads. I can make all kinds of artefacts that attract many customers. I pay house rent and maintain my family with the profit I get,” she explains, adding that she no longer complains to God, but instead remains thankful for the gift of life she has been given.

“I have learnt to trust in God alone,” Pisoi reiterates.

Pisoi is a good example of people who struggle to earn a living despite their condition and background. She denounces the habit of moving in the streets and begging for money and would rather persons living with disabilities discovered their talents, work on them and use them so that they can earn a decent livelihood.

“I have learnt that disability is not inability. We are able to do things differently and we too can contribute to the growth of our nation.”