Meet Peggy

A beneficiary of the services at AIC Kajiado Childcare Center

Peggy is an active, bright, 14-year-old girl who loves to sing. She teaches other children her favorite songs, Maasai gospel, and accompanies the songs with beautiful dance moves — it makes her happy seeing her peers learn the songs and dances that she loves.  

The second of three siblings, Peggy lost her father when she was only 3 years old, and suddenly the entire burden of family upkeep was left on her mother, who does not read or write. Peggy’s mother supports the family by washing clothes, and walking the 3 kilometers to fetch water and firewood for neighboring families. Peggy and her family live in a two-room house with mud walls and iron sheet roofing.  

Her mother recalls Peggy complaining of back and joint pain growing up, until one day when she was 10 and she fell down on her walk home from school. She broke both legs and her arm on the fall, and spent the next 2 months in casts and in the hospital to heal.  

As the years passed, Peggy’s pain increased and she was no longer able to walk the long distance from home to school. Peggy’s Mom heard of a medical camp near their home, taking place at Kajiado Children’s Centre. She decided to take her daughter in for medical assessment, having learned that children at KCC are referred for specialized medical treatment in good hospitals.  

Peggy met with a physiotherapist and had an assessment, discovering that she required immediate orthopedic intervention because her bones had not properly healed and would continue causing pain. Peggy was admitted at KCC for this special medical care and enrolled in the school to continue her education during her recovery.

Peggy has been undergoing a series of corrective surgeries since September 2021, and she is now doing well, having gained self-confidence and no longer experiencing pain during routine daily tasks. She is currently in Grade 8 where her favorite subjects are the languages, English and Kiswahili.

Peggy will continue to receive support from KCC in her education, as well as ongoing range of motion exercises at physiotherapy, and emotional support. Peggy’s ambition is to become a teacher, in order to promote the importance of education with other children and her community.