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"id": 1417928,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1417928/?format=api",
"text_counter": 355,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Naivasha, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Jayne Kihara",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for noticing me. I have seen very many Members who have come after me and they have contributed. I was wondering whether my card is working or not. I would have wanted to speak when Hon. Atandi was here. He brought a lot of jokes and politics as if he was addressing baba . I know baba would not have taken those sentiments seriously now that we are supporting him for the Chairmanship of Africa Union Commission. I am sure he would not have loved what Hon. Atandi was saying. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I wish to congratulate my sister, Hon. Dorothy. This is a very important Motion that all of us must support. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I woke up to disability when I saw on television a child who had been kept under a barn with chicken only to realise that he was coming from my constituency. The mother of that child had six other children, and did not know what to do with him. She just left him there, never bathed him, never shaved his hair, never removed his teeth nor did anything for him. He was full of fleas and jiggers, and because he lived with the chicken in the barn, he did not know how to talk but only crowed like a chicken at 3.00 a.m. That was a child whose parent did not know what to do with him. I, therefore, started advocating for PWDs. As Hon. Mutunga has said, these people hide the persons with disabilities One, is because they are not able to take care of them and secondly, because of the stigma. When we started advocating by giving them presents and going around while identifying them, we realised that we needed an information and resource centre, which I opened – the Disability Resource and Information Centre (DRIC) located near the hospital. The DRIC is where we bring the disabled and give them information so that they can know that there is something that can be done when they are in that situation. We have not thought much of the caregivers as a country. However, we know that taking care of a disabled person may it be a child or an elderly person is tasking. And we have realised that people grow old to a point that they are disabled, and at some point, would need to be taken care of. On 3rd December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), we ferry them to our functions or to their functions because we understand their problems. These people do a lot of work. It is actually a full-time job. In my course of work with PWDs, we also had a young girl who had two children with cerebral palsy, and therefore, were not growing up. They were severely disabled, and would not fit in a normal wheelchair, and therefore, had special wheelchairs. That young girl's husband left her, and I do not know why the men are not brave enough to bear the sight of children or PWDs. This girl ended up giving up those children to a home because her friends were all over jumping and enjoying life but, here she was, an orphan, and with children with disabilities, and we could understand. We even tried to open a shop for her so that she could use the room behind to take care of her children as she sells her goods in front but still it was too much for her. This is a full-time job, and they need to be taken care of because there is nothing else they can do. That is the only job that they are doing. As I conclude, one can be disabled at any stage in life, and might need to be taken care of. This problem mostly, gets the people of vulnerable means, and are not able to even feed. Therefore, the chain of poverty goes on and on until people give up in life. I, therefore, think it is timely. It is very timely to consider caregivers because they do so much. You may not be disabled but you are sick and cannot do anything for yourself. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I wish to support and congratulate my sister. I do not know why some Hon. Members are telling me to stop talking. I have a lot to say about disability because this is something I have been doing since I joined Parliament. I got to know something I had never thought about. Thank you very much. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}