Ms Pisoi Kijabe was born a normal child in a family of six children in Naroosura area, Narok South Sub County.

When she was in standard four at the age seven, the 33-year-old woman developed a sickness that affected her backbone, imposing a permanent disability on her at a tender age. She does not recall he name of the disease, but its effect is permanent. She says she is unsure if she suffered a polio attack or not.

“I was a bright 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 recalls.

The young girl was therefore forced to drop out of school and depended wholly on her parents and siblings for livelihood.

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

Nevertheless, everything did not move as smoothly as she had hoped. The worst happened when Pisoi lost her father who was the pillar of their family when she was a teenager. The big loss forced the family into struggling for basic needs like housing, food and clothing.

The love and unity that was in the family slowly fade away to be replaced by gloom. Slowly her siblings who used to be her only hope, began to see her as a burden. She was treated as a pariah, she says.

“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 remembers.

Pisoi was forced to move out of her family home at the age of 20 to look for an alternative shelter and home. She says she was too bitter with her condition and regretted that she was born to face such a big challenge. But with spiritual guidance and counselling from her church, she accepted her condition and soldiered on.

By this time, she had mastered the art of bead-making. She immediately immersed herself into the handiwork and started making beautiful Maa artefacts, which she to neighbours and visitors.

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 through her bead making business.

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

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

“I thank God for my talent in making beads. I make all kinds of artefacts that pull in many buyers. I pay house rent and maintain my family with the profit I get,” she proudly says.

“I no longer complain. I thank God for the gift of life he has given me. I have learnt to trust him alone,” Pisoi reiterated.

Pisoi is a good example of people who have defied the challenges presented by their infirmities to fend for themselves despite their condition and humble background. She detests the habit of people with disability having to beg for alms that are sometimes thrown at them by the so-called the unfeeling Good Samaritans.

“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.”

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Ann Salaton