More enrol into special schools, thanks to Joseph Rono

His is a story of resilience in an unwavering pursuit of education.

Joseph Rono was struck by polio a year after birth, which left him with a disability.

He enrolled in primary school at the age of 16, dropped out in Standard Seven and stayed home for six years before resuming his education.

But all this did not deter Rono from pursuing his dreams.

Now 57 years old, the father of four and trained electrician is the immunisation champion in Bomet County and the national chairman of the United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK).

His passion in advocacy for the physically challenged has seen him travel to countries he never dreamed of visiting, including the US, the UK and Niger.

It was not easy growing up. He had to surmount many challenges — the biggest being stigma due to his condition and the struggles in accessing corrective surgery to ease mobility at the age of 15.

Diagnosed with polio

His parents, Simon Sitienei and Rael Chepkemoi, did not know what he was suffering from until he was diagnosed with polio at the age of 10.

However, due to deep-rooted cultural beliefs, his parents thought he had either been bewitched or cursed and did not take him to hospital when they realised he could not walk. They believed one’s blood could be sucked out by health workers, and chose instead to treat Rono with herbs.

They later came around and he had surgery five years later at the Nyabondo hospital in Nyanza, and later, at the Eldama Ravine hospital in Baringo County.

With an insatiable thirst for education, he enrolled in class one relatively late. At 16 years old, his classmates were 10 years younger.

He attended Kapngetuny Primary School in Ainamoi, Kericho County; Katuge primary school in Chengoina, Kitale, but dropped out in class seven in 1980.

He went back to Kapngetuny and sat the national exam in 1986, earning admission to Kipchimchim Secondary School where he sat for the high school final exams, before enrolling at Industrial Rehabilitation Centre in Nairobi for a diploma in electrical engineering.

Married in secondary school

He got married and became a parent while in secondary school.

“I have since educated my two children through university,” he told the Nation.

“Two others are in university. I am also supporting two of my relatives’ children in school. I thank God for the achievements,” Mr Rono said in an interview at Emitiot village in Sotik, Bomet County.

For decades, he has been involved in championing the rights of those born with deformities and those rendered physically challenged through accidents, battering or sickness.

He is particularly concerned that some parents do not take their children for immunisation, choosing instead to give their physically disabled children herbs and refusing to take them to school despite there being free learning.

Special schools enrolment

As a result of his advocacy, many parents in Bomet have enrolled their children into special schools such as Korara for the visually impaired; Kiriba, Kapkesosio Special Unit for the Visually Impaired, Kipngosos Special Schools for the mentally challenged/ Autism and St Kizito for the hearing impaired.

“Those of us who are disadvantaged have failed to secure jobs we are qualified to do as the interviewing panel take a predetermined position on our suitability the moment we are ushered into an interview room. Those employed are underpaid compared with those without challenges. Disability is a tag we permanently live with,” said Rono.

Mission-based institutions are the only ones that have consistently given a platform to people living with physical challenges, with the aim of creating awareness in society so as to entrench the spirit of equal opportunities to all.

With the advent of county governments and the legal requirement for employment of those with disabilities, positive changes and acceptance have been recorded in the past seven years in the country.

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