Polio has not stopped me, I have big plans to fulfill; MP

By Obegi Malack 

 

When I met Janet Marania Teyiaa, in the outskirts of Ngong Town,the nominated Member of Parliament evidently showed that disability is just a condition and had nothing to do with leadership qualities.

 

She is overwhelmed by my visit. Accompanied by her assistant Ann Sianto, Janet arrives on crutches thanking me for arriving much earlier since she had many invites to attend to.

MP Janet Marania Teyiaa

 The first thing I noted when she entered the meeting room was the unavailability of buildings to accommodate disabled persons; many buildings do not have facilities to ease access into them by the physically disabled.

 Janet was in her rural home in Ilkilot Village, Ewaso District where access to media is limited when she was informed that she had been nominated to the National Assembly from Kajiado West. She says she couldn’t believe it and thought it was a mere joke from her friends until she ordered a copy of a daily newspaper to prove that it was indeed true.

 She was born in a poor and illiterate family, and politics was the last thing in her mind. Janet was crippled by polio at the tender age of five since her parents were not aware of the disease and took no measures to prevent it.

 Rejected by her father who had four wives, her mother was reluctant to let her go since she was seen as a pariah in Maasai culture. She was forcefully taken from them by Grace Kingatu, a well-wisher after intervention by area chiefs and enrolled to Kajiado Children Care Centre where she was taught how to use crutches.

 After two years at the centre, Janet was sent to AIC Girls in Matasia, where she sat for her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in 1995.

“It was hard since walking to and from school was the most challenging experience, but I managed to pass by examinations,” says Janet.

 

In Maasai culture, women are not highly valued but taken as vessels of obtaining wealth besides serving their husbands and children. They are disadvantaged education wise compared to their male counterparts and the educated few are mostly primary school drop outs.

The culture didn’t stop her from enrolling at Olematasian Secondary School beating all odds to progress in her studies.

 After her secondary education, the single mother of three enrolled in Maasai Technical School.  Getting funds for her studies was a challenge. But she did Stage 1education for six months only then dropped out of  the institution for lack of fees. However, she went out to use the little knowledge she had acquired to pull her community out of  poverty by  teaching them the importance of education.

 “I studied hard to fight the wrong cultural beliefs that are s unfair to women,” Janet says stoically.

 In Maasai culture, a Maasai girl should be married at the age of 15; she is given away at the tender age after being booked during her birth so that the parents do not have a hard time trying to control her in adolescence.

 But Janet stood to her ground giving education her first priority.

After college, she got involved with adult education and began teaching adults at Grace Adult Centre.

 She has taught at several adult education centres besides being manager of seven women groups in the area. Community work has also been up on her agenda.

 Janet, the only educated member in a family of five girls and two boys has already put a smile to several children in the area by sponsoring them to schools.

 “I have enlightened parents on the importance of education I already have an orphan who is now in class seven and  I have advocated for girls to be in school, will keep on with same spirit to ensure nobody suffers in past cultures,” said Janet.

 She now says that the community that neglected her due to her disability has accepted her  as their daughter who will change their lives.

 “I will fight for the  rights of the disabled people to ensure that they enjoy life like others and I will ensure that schools for the disabled are put up countrywide,” she said.

 One of the issues she  will deal with, is to ensure that buildings are built in a way that they can accommodate disabled people besides tabling a motion in the House for Public Service Vehicles (PSVs)  to be adjusted to accommodate them.

 Stopping Female Genital Mutilation is also her challenge which she says she will deal with saying the practice has made many girls drop out of school.

At only 32, Janet has entered into history books as first disabled woman MP from the Maa community with her nomination coming after the election of first woman MP Peris Tobiko of Kajiado East.