By Susan Lumumba

Lucy Nyambura is a resident of Dandora phase 5 and a mother of five, the last of whom is living with Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a genetic disorder which causes intellectual disability and development delays. I had a conversation with her, during which she let me in on some of the challenges she has been facing with regards to taking care of her child more so in this COVID-19 times.

At the top of her list was that she had to stop taking her son to the hospital in order to protect him from the deadly virus. In the eight months since the restrictions to curb the spread of the virus were put in place, neither Lucy nor her husband has been able to land the regular manual jobs they would get in farming and construction. To this end, they struggle to feed their family and get medication for their son.

Nyambura wishes the government would do more in support of its vulnerable citizens in the wake of this pandemic. Sighting partiality in the process as government officials only help those whom they know as opposed to those who need the help most. Additionally, where help actually got to them, it was as good as none, given that the government only provided one face mask per family, disregarding all the other members. To her, the issue of masks wasn’t a priority as compared to other more pressing needs such as food, medication.

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