Jiggers menace has killed the dream of many children, says charitable activist

In this week’s review, News 9 Kenya
sits down with Mr. Lewis Nyamori, a jigger menace fighter from Bungoma County,
on a one on one Q and A interview, to unravel the journey he has been through
and wish to undergo in furtherance to alleviating jiggers.

Tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is
Lewis Nyamori, I was born and raised in Siritanyi Village, Bungoma County.

What do you do?

I ran a
charitable campaign fighting jiggers menace in my community. In my village,
jiggers menace has been a hindrance to many children yearning to acquire
education, striking the community illiteracy, through which poverty strikes
many families due to lack of jobs.

How did you find yourself doing this?

I am a
victim of jiggers. During my schooling life, jiggers infested my toes until a
good samaritan came to my rescue. After I got healed and having successfully
finished my secondary education, I had a dream –a dream to help my community
from jiggers’ infestation.

How and when did you begun this
campaign?

I took some
time to study and learn more about jiggers and their treatment or prevention.
Aftwords, I started going around the village, educating people informing them
on measures to curb the menace.

What keeps you going?

I can say
it’s the zeal in me, pushing me to help the community fight jiggers. Also, I
approached some well wishers with the proposal on how to fund the initiative. I
saw an advert on television by Safaricom initiative (NDOTO ZETU) on how to
transform the lives of communities. I took a step of faith and wrote my
proposal to them after which it was accepted. Finally, they visited my
community and helped me with some funding, shoes and reagents to fight jiggers.

What are some of the challenges you
went through?

I was
disappointed to an extend of giving up since many people I approached for
support at the start turned my proposal down.

How did you feel for the first time
doing this?

I was happy
since I managed to help my community to some extend, manage jiggers. However,
we have not exhaustively reached all people due to lack of enough support.

How far do you see your initiative
going?

My vision is
to transform Africa at large and also reach out to the world to help manage the
jiggers menace. It is my dream and I love to see those affected heal and walk
again.

Tell us your call to the community
and the whole world?

Many kids
have dropped out of school due to the menace. It’s my humble appeal as I
request all who can and are willing to support the initiative and put a smile
on some sad face. Together we can alleviate the monster so called jiggers.