Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Uhuru’s daughter sheds princess tag to wash feet.

Uhuru’s daughter sheds princess tag to wash feet.
http://bit.ly/14HnQDa
By Joseph Wambugu
She may never have encountered the pain of a jigger embedded in a toe, but President Uhuru Kenyatta’s daughter, Ngina had pain etched on her face as she helped children with jigger-infested feet wear shoes for the first time.
The President’s daughter, shedding her princess status to go down on her knees to help school children in an area of high jigger infestation, appeared deeply disturbed that such parasites ravage feet of both young and old in this digital era.
Twenty-three-year-old Ngina was making her first recorded public function when she joined a team of Ahadi Trust Kenya in Mathioya, Murang’a County on Saturday on a mission to distribute free shoes to school children.
Few may have identified the slender young lady wearing a skyblue cardigan and jeans, for who she is, save for the stately, sleek vehicle in which she was chauffeured to Ngutu primary School where Ahadi Kenya Trust was distributing free shoes to 10 primary schools.
Mingling at ease with the crowds who took time to recognise her, Ngina melted into a welcoming group of traditional dancers and did a jig, joined by Ahadi Trust’s Cecilia Mwangi and other invited celebrities like gospel singer Ben Githae. She then put on white rubber gloves before getting down to the business of washing the feet of disadvantaged children.
Her face cringed in apparent shock as she dipped the badly damaged toes of a young school girl into an anti-jigger pesticide solution. “I’m very shocked to see jiggers infesting people in this time and age. I have never taken part in this before, but I’m glad I have come to see this today,” she said. The sleeves of her cardigan got wet as she continued to get down and wash more feet, as villagers who followed her in a large group appeared more star-struck by the presence of the President’s daughter than the work she was doing.
Ngina lauded the initiative of the free shoes by Ahadi Kenya, saying such programmes are good for comforting the poor who are afflicted by many problems. “I was shocked to see many people still infested with jiggers today but with such programmes as this one by Ahadi Kenya, I’m sure, these insects can be eradicated from homes,” she said. Ahadi Trust distributed over 3,000 pairs of shoes to primary school going children, old people and to those who had recovered from infestation.
The Trust chief executive Stanley Kamau said the shoes were distributed through a new programme dubbed Fukuza Funza na Kiatu (eradicate jiggers with shoes). Kamau said out of the 2.6 million Kenyans who are infested by jiggers, 1.6 million are primary school pupils, yet jiggers can be kept at bay by wearing shoes. He said the Trust had acquired thousands of pairs of shoes offered by Toms Company, to be distributed to every school going child in areas with high infestation.
“The shoe will remain a property of the Trust and so whoever will be given must ensure they wear them to help end a communal problem,” said the anti-jigger trust chief executive. Kamau said distribution of free shoes would be a long-term project because the Trust wants to ensure every primary school going child is free of the jigger menace. He also urged the government to waive all tax on leather related materials in order for the poor to afford leather shoes.

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