Amon was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy, and though it was not too advanced and fairly treatable, something unfortunate started in his home area that stopped his chance of receiving treatment. In Nakuru, where Amon comes from, the community is made up of different tribes. During the presidential elections in 2007, the different tribes began to disagree about their candidates, and small disagreements turned into violent fighting. What resulted was devastating. Lives lost. People forced from their homes. An entire community in chaos. For Amon, it meant that his physiotherapy sessions were no longer.

Thankfully, his father had watched what the physiotherapists had been doing, so using the knowledge he picked up, he continued the exercises with Amon at home. With time, Amon began to improve, and his dad was encouraged by the progress they were making. Just as they thought they were in the clear, Amon developed another condition. He began to fall down violently, so his father took him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with epilepsy. They gave him medication that he was to take indefinitely on a daily basis. The medication helped a lot, and soon, his father noticed positive change in his son again. The only issue that persisted was his right foot, which by his father’s observation, seemed shorter than his left. “He has to lift his right leg when walking in order for his two feet to be the same size,” his dad explained. The medical explanation however is that he has a tight tendon at the back of his foot, the Achilles tendon, which causes him to walk on his toes.

This year, Amon just started preschool, and though he’s about 4 years delayed in starting, he absolutely loves school. The only thing that he doesn’t love is the dreaded walk to and from class. His dad has done all he can to help Amon reach his potential, and now it’s our turn to help. I can’t wait to get him off his toes and back on his feet, ready to keep learning and progressing, silencing all those misconceptions about what disabled people can and can’t do.