No help, no rest: Woman battles poverty, stigma to care for sick kin

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It is 10 am when we arrive at Miendo village in Webuye West constituency, where Nancy Wapangana is busy attending to her granddaughter, 10, her daughter, 29, and her husband.

They all demand her full attention. Both the daughter and granddaughter are living with cerebral palsy, while her husband has eyesight complications and a leg problem requiring medical attention.

Wapangana says caring for the three is exhausting and emotionally draining, and it is difficult to balance their care with providing for the rest of the family.

“I have always had burnouts since I have no time to rest. I am always up by 5. a.m, cleaning the house, preparing their breakfast, and washing their clothes since the children suffering from Cerebral Palsy crawl around and the house has to be clean to avoid infection, considering we are in a rural setting. I also feed them since they cannot hold the cup or spoon,” she noted.

Feeding them is particularly strenuous, Wapangana adds, as the children need a balanced diet. This often forces her to lock them indoors while she rushes to the market to sell tea leaves to raise money for food.

“I am usually forced to lock them in the house whenever I have paid work, as no one is willing to look after a child with this condition. People believe they are suffering due to some social problem or a bad omen, so they are often shunned,” she says.

She adds, “The mother of my 10-year-old granddaughter is mentally challenged, and the last time she was home was in November 2025,” she says, tears welling up.

Children with cerebral palsy often experience associated impairments, including cognitive, sensory, motor, feeding and swallowing difficulties, speech and language impairments, and orthopaedic issues such as joint deformities.

According to Wapangana, caring for children with this condition is not only psychologically demanding but also financially draining, due to the high costs of care and treatment. Stigma and social isolation persist at high levels, despite awareness campaigns.

She emphasises that it is impossible to travel and leave the children alone.

“Leaving them alone is a challenge, especially since they are girls. On one occasion, I left them at home to run errands in town and discovered my 29-year-old daughter had been raped, but she could not recall the person. My granddaughter cannot talk or walk, so if left alone during the rainy season, she will get wet. I wish the government would establish mechanisms to assist in caring for such children, including specialised care facilities where parents can bring their children at no cost. Visiting hospitals or attending seminars is usually exhausting, as no boda boda rider wants to carry them, or, if they do, they demand triple the normal fare. Often, when they fall ill, I have to carry them on my back to the hospital, as the wheelchair is difficult to manoeuvre on our rough roads,” she notes.

Draining task

Her husband, Christopher Wapangana, 70, complains of being excluded from government programmes, particularly free farm inputs and disability funds, leaving the family in a precarious financial situation.

The family is appealing to donors and organisations supporting people with disabilities to intervene, providing wheelchairs and enabling access to education. “I am a retired agricultural officer. I tried applying for a disability fund, but I was declined because I receive a pension, yet the cost of treatment is high. I am appealing for assistance for my children and grandchildren. It pains me to see my wife struggling to care for them and provide for the family, and there is nothing I can do due to my health condition,” Wapangana explains.

Caroline Kisaka, from Miendo, helps the family whenever Wapangana has pressing engagements.

“Wapangana is often in tears and constantly depressed. Any support for these children would be a huge relief,” Kisaka says.

Evans Jumba, founder of the Bungoma Cerebral Palsy Community CBO, has been raising awareness about cerebral palsy, reducing stigma, and promoting understanding and inclusion of individuals with the condition.

He is appealing to the community to embrace children with cerebral palsy as they would any child with a disability, pointing out that society is still reluctant to recognise the condition as a medical issue.

He says that medicines and therapy sessions, which cost around Sh10,000 per month, are prohibitively expensive for parents and guardians.

“We hold an awareness day on March 25 at Bungoma Paediatric Hospital grounds. I urge the government and policymakers to invest in the inclusion of children with disabilities. We should create a society that values and includes every child, regardless of their abilities. Inclusion is not merely an act of charity; it is a matter of human rights,” he notes.