You are very passionate about immunisation: was this informed by your own experiences?
Yes. I have physical disability from polio. I wish things were different and I could use my legs. I feel bad when parents ignorantly miss to take their children for immunisation because I know how important that jab is.
How long have you lived with this disability?
Fifty years now. But I was born 'normal'. I remember running and herding goats in my village at about the age of six until I became sick. I was by my parents in the rural parts of Baringo. Diagnosis confirmed that I was suffering from polio and there was nothing that could be done. I had to face up to the consequences.
Just what is it like suffering the ravages of polio?
Polio is painful. Polio disables a person; it brings indignity. As much as I look fine using crutches, everywhere I go there is some shadow of the Kipchumba who is not using crutches; the Kipchumba who uses his own legs to walk. That shadow always moves with me. It often haunts me when I think of what I could have achieved had I never encountered this disease.
Fifty years on you still harbour pain in your heart?
Yes! And the pain comes mostly because somebody did nothing where they should have done something. Somebody missed to make the right choice for me. Polio attacks children – when they can’t make their own decisions.
By any chance are you blaming your mother?
No. I learnt that my mother was illiterate. Also, my family lived in a very rural place – the nearest hospital was 50km away.
So, polio has blocked you from achieving certain things in life?
When I was growing up as a young man, I admired dancing. I also had ambitions to be a soldier. I couldn’t achieve either. In 1984, I turned up for Army recruitment in my village despite having my crutches. Everyone thought that I was there to spectate and were shocked to see me line up when we were asked to. They asked me what I was doing in the line and I replied that I wanted to be a soldier. They said it would not be possible.
That must have hurt...
It still hurts. Because the boys we turned up with to that recruitment are now senior personalities. But there was also another incident...
Another time you were denied an opportunity?
Yes. I went to seek a job in the county council. As soon as the chairman of the council saw me, he said, ‘There is no job for you’. He referred me to a rehabilitation centre built for people ‘like me’ where we could learn how to make shoes and weld and we would receive free food rationing. He actually said it in vernacular – it sounds worse. That incident ignited a fire of agitating for rights of persons with disability.
Is there a silver lining to all this?
That came at the point when I was looking for that job. When I was dismissed, I didn’t live honorably. I went back home and wrote down the rights of a person with disability. That was in the 80s. Together with other lobbyists, we have changed the way this country treats persons with disability. Perhaps it contributed in my nomination to the senate.
Between the shadow Kipchumba who is not on crutches and the person who has to rely on walking aid, who do you see more when you look at yourself?
I need both of them: The physical one to assure me of the reality. But there is also the inner me who, despite physical barriers, will always reach out to everyone in society.
Has this society always been nice to you?
Many times not. I have been denied opportunities; sometimes I have been allowed less interaction. Sometimes people will respond positively and sometimes negatively.
Tell us about your family
I am married to a beautiful wife. We have three sons. I thank God for the lady – for even accepting to be married by me. It was quite a challenge.
When you say it was a challenge you mean she had second thoughts?
No. Her family was opposed to it and didn’t want her to marry me. She insisted that she was happy marrying me. I am still grateful to her.
Before your wife were you ever rejected by other girls?
Oh yes! That happened many times. The interesting thing about my life is that I experienced nearly everything. I used to be a DJ, I played the piano and the guitar, I sang. I approached many girls. When I brought up marriage, many plainly refused. Some even said that their parents would not consent.
Are you happy right now?
I am not complaining. I may not have achieved the much I wanted but I am contented in my simple life. I will not run for a loaf when a slice is enough.