Moses Ngira vows to make it

By JECKONIA OTIENO Moses Ngira vows to make it Earlier this year, The Standard published a moving story of a young student from Jamhuri High School in Nairobi who had defied odds to make ends meet. After the first story which chronicled a determined Moses Ngira ready to take on life despite living with disability, the young man got a truckload of promises from people who said they were willing to help with his education and help his life get back to normal. Among the many promises, it was only the Kenya Red Cross Society that fulfilled its pledge and took Ngira for surgery to correct his deformed hand. All the others fizzled into thin air and stopped all manner of communication. All those who had promised to see the lad through school – including Kenyans living in Diaspora – have not come forth to fulfil the promises made to him. Thanks to this predicament, Moses is out of school and wondering what he ever did wrong to deserve such bad luck in life, yet he is not giving up. He asks, “Why must one thing after another go wrong. Yes I had the surgery, my arm is healing but I cannot use it yet because it is not completely healed; I therefore have to depend on friends which its limits.” Ngira’s arm was straightened in the surgery in Isiolo early this year and three months down the line the plaster of Paris was removed so that he could start his physiotherapy to gain maximum use of the arm but this has posed another challenge because he cannot afford the therapy sessions. Each session costs about Sh700 at the nearest hospital to where Ngira lives. However, this hurdle has been passed because Dr Mohamud Said assures that the Red Cross will take care of the physiotherapy fees. Apart from this reprieve from the organisation, Ngira has other ideas in mind. He reveals his plans without any bitterness though he agrees that he is slowly losing hope. First of all Ngira is now out of school and will not be sitting the Form 4 exams come the end of the year after the administration at Jamhuri High School sent him home until the fee balance is paid. Laments Moses: “I would have loved to register for exams and that is why I tried so hard and got Sh4, 200 which I took to school to register me but I was informed that unless I paid Sh10, 000 I could not be registered.” This blow has kept the student out of school despite his determination not to miss school even when he was still nursing his arm. He points out that people gave him a lot of hope but he has come to realise that in deed they were just lying to him probably to get publicity while they knew too well that they would not help him. He notes that he can never depend on people any more and he has made up his mind that since he never begged anybody for help but these people came out after reading the stories then he wants to strive on his own to make it in life. Ngira asserts, “I have never been a beggar and I will not be one because I want to strive to make it after my arm is fully healed. I fact my plan is to relocate to the countryside at least to keep life moving because I feel I am a burden to the people I am living with; they have been good to me for the time I have found it rough but a man has to find his own means to survive.” School is topmost in his agenda as he says that no matter how many years it takes him, he will have to finish his Form Four and advance to university, he promises to find his way round the challenges. Ngira argues that disability is not disability but what is putting him down is his arm. He states that if his arm was healed he would not have had a rough time noting that for the past two months he has faced the roughest of tides than any other year in his life. Saddening to Ngira though is the thought that he has dropped out of Jamhuri High School which was like a second home to him. “I appreciate so much some of the teachers who stood by me during all these trials including the late Christine Oyugi who passed on towards the end of March; let them know that if I had a chance, I would have made them proud but things have refused to work and we can’t force them to,” says an emotional Ngira. For now, Ngira is more concerned about his healing arm before he can think of anything else after he relocates to Yala in Siaya County in the coming weeks.