Edith Mbaya- Mother to the special
A mother, entrepreneur and care giver. Edith Mbaya is all that and more.
As I draw near the school’s gate, I hear the familiar banter. The children are doing what they love best at break-time-play. What’s a bit different is a gadget on some of their ears-hearing-aids; which does not stop them from scurrying around after each other. ‘Take a seat please,’ Edith’s soft-spoken personal assistant says as she ushers me into a brightly furnished reception. I’m about to meet the woman who has made this rare setting be.
Edith Mbaya is the Principal of JoyMereen Integrated Centre, a school located in a serene Nairobi neighbourhood. The woman, with passion for education, is also a mother of two: Doreen, now 32, married with one child, and Ken, 23, who is in university. Here is where it all starts. She meets this great gentleman, so great that they end up at the altar where they exchange marriage vows. This was 1977, when she was 23. Few months into their marital bliss, Edith gets caught up in nausea spells, frequent headaches dizziness. She is sure it is Malaria but the doctor confirms she is expectant. Well, this news frightens her, following the endless gory stories she’s heard about labour. But, ‘The pregnancy went smoothly. I was energetic throughout. I worked till I was seven months gone when I took my maternity leave,’ she narrates.
Then came the pangs, and they hit real hard. ‘I was in hospital in a jiffy and as I pushed, my pulse suddenly went to an all time high I’ says a nervous Edith, her face telling you that she has sped down the corridors of time and now speaks from her labour ward. Some relief comes to her face as she goes on to unfold that her condition had been the aftermath of her baby’s hefty size that called for extra mega effort to push successfully. Such a tall order that was that the mid-wife attending to her, who happened to be her acquaintance, lost it in wails fearing Edith would not make it. ‘When I saw her crying, I shouted, “God, I will not die!'” The doctor rushed in, employed his dexterity to Edith’s snag and with some new found energy, she propelled baby Doreen into the world.
Right from the time Edith graduated from a teacher’s training college; she was posted to a school for the deaf where she worked for 13 years before delving wholly into special education for the deaf.
Just around this time she developed a strong liking for chicken and milk. ‘I would actually beg my husband to bring me some at work. It was not long before the familiar -, morning sickness kicked in and I knew our second baby was knocking.’ And she indulged in a GREAT diet- both in quality and quantity. Before she knew it, she was BIG. ‘When I was eight months pregnant, I left work since I couldn’t walk as much as I used to because of the weight gain and the fatigue that followed,’ she adds.
Nonetheless, her daughter, Doreen, who according to Edith, had always been very intelligent and knew too much for her age, ‘spotted the difference’ and behaved accordingly. ‘She would bring me pregnancy magazines and tell me about the right food.’ Mother and daughter would then intently thump through the magazines and adorn their table with healthy food. Again, the baby was reported to be too big to be pushed, and thus a C-section was settled for. Edith says, despite her weight, she was still strong. She remembers matching to the theatre, where her strength was drowned by a sedative before the surgery commenced. Before long, out came a healthy Ken.
She laughs saying she was blessed with very intelligent but hyperactive children. Until about nine years, they always kept her up and down. Both feeding and sleeping were an issue. With a tinge of pride, she recollects how her duo stopped bed-wetting at 9 months, and at 3 years, they were more or less independent human beings. ‘Ken could pick the telephone and call me at work,’ she recounts with enthusiasm on her face.
Looking back
‘There was not much education and the hospitals were few. Specialists were also few and the clinics were not adequately equipped,’ Edith reminisces. She advises current pregnant mums not to fear and to embrace this period as a normal phase of their life. ‘A happy mother gives birth to a happy child,’ she notes. As much as the space between her kids was big, she doesn’t seem to vouch for it. ‘Allow them to follow one another closely, as this breeds a stronger bond between them,’ says this special educationist, further cautioning that it could .. psychologically affect the older children, who have to deal with another sibling after a long time of being the only child.
About JoyMereen
JoyMereen Integrated Centre was started in 1999. Here, children are taught to listen to English with their hearing aids then communicate verbally to others. This makes it easy for them to be enrolled to regular schools. JoyMereen is an inclusive school, which both deaf and natural- hearing children can attend. The hearing children interact with those with a hearing challenge, which puts them in a position to practice their language skills,’ she explains. ‘Children acquire language skills between the ages of 3-7 years. The earlier a hearing disability is diagnosed in a child, the easier it is to counter its shortcomings, for example, through being introduced to a hearing aid early,’ preaches the mother whose fervour for children with a hearing challenge is evident.
END: PG 34 /16-17