Winfred Wanjiku or DJ WIWA as she is better known, was born with cerebral palsy. She was diagnosed when aged six.
It is a disorder that affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. In DJ WIWA’s case, her arm movements are not coordinated as they should be.
This left her with speech and upper limb challenges.
“I use my legs to do most of my work,” said DJ WIWA, born third in a family of four in Gichugu, Kirinyaga County.
She schooled at Thika Town Primary School and later Joy Town Secondary School, both for the physically handicapped.
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“I finished Form Four and stayed at home for two years and later joined a college in Thika where I did a diploma course in tourism, travel and business studies for two years,” she said.
She adds: “I later came back home and became a hawker of clothes for three years and saved some cash, which I used to join a DJ academy called Talanta Institute in Nairobi in 2018.”
So, how did she develop a passion for Deejaying?
DJ WIWA, which is an acronym for her name, credits her mother, who realised that she love music and challenged her to become a DJ.
Unfortunately, she lost her mother in December 2019
DJ WIWA has performed for big events including 2023 Inable annual event, end-of-year parties, corporate events for EABL, Beijing +30, been in Rwanda several times, performed at She Lead Girls Summit at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa and Maputo Celebrations.
Recently, she performed at Shofco at 20, UN Day for Persons With Disability at Uhuru Park as official DJ and a dinner gala.
“At times I am hired to perform in an event and they bring a backup or support DJ, who has no disability yet I end up performing longer because I have good experience and grasp of instruments and later paid less,” she says.
Wanjiru, who looks upon DJ Pierra Makena as her role model and desires to meet her one day, encourages persons with disabilities to recognise their talents and put them to work
She has DJ WIWA Beauty and Disability, which encourages young girls and women with disability.
Julius Mbura, 33, lawyer
Mbura is a lawyer by profession and for three years, he has been working with Inable, a non-profit organisation, which pushes for disability inclusion.
He was born sighted in Thogoto with a sister sibling but lost his sight at the age of 10. He has a rear generic regenerative condition called Redlightis Pagemantos.
He also regained his sight after one and half years and he would use heavy magnification glasses.
After high school, he went to the University of Nairobi, where he used computers with assistive technology after using braille in high school.
“I graduated in 2018 and later joined Kenya School of Law in 2019 and towards the end is when I lost my sight the second time just before the bar exams, forcing me to miss doing one paper due severe migraines that comes with the condition,” said Mbura.
Recently, he was recognised by National Council of Persons with Disability as youth leader in the disability space.
Mbura is also an alumnus of the prestigious YALI Mandela Washington fellowship programme, and a few other international programmes.
Through his own brand Julio Supacharge on YouTube, he reviews cars by touch and feel.
How does he review cars he cannot see?
“I have seen them before and I have good memories of them when I was sighted ten years when I loved cars very much. I consume a lot on automotive and I also listen a lot to engineers for different prototypes of different models and facelifts and what they are looking at putting on different design features of manufacturing,” he said.
Mbura adds that he has oriented memory muscles to master different body shapes and contours of vehicles.
Mbura says he has climbed seven mountain peaks including Mt Longonot, Ngong Hills, Kipiriri, Mout Satima, Mt Kenya and on December 27th he will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to raise funds to buy 400 white canes for the needy.
He says it’s unfortunate the government taxes white canes when shipped into the country.
Linda Gakuru, dyslexic sales and marketing executive
Born in a family of two in Nairobi's Aga Khan Hospital, Linda Gakuru was born with dyslexia.
She later developed kerataconia and Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which she did not know until three years ago.Kerataconia, involves frequent loss of eyesight and which comes with migraines.
The married mother of three; two girls and one boy, is a sales and marketing executive at Safaricom Investment Company(SIC).
Her three children were also born with disabilities: Her firstborn daughter was diagnosed with ADHD at four years, second born has kerataconia, which she said she passed on to her, and third and last born has autistic level two.
Growing up at Kahawa Barracks thanks to her father being an army man, she desired to be a mathematician since she loved maths.
However, her mother pushed her to enroll at Africa Nazarene University for a degree course in computer science even after being called at Maseno University to pursue a Maths course.
"I dropped out of campus after the first year because it was boring and I didn't like the course and secondly due to lack of money," says Linda laughing.
The firstborn of two siblings is the only one born with a disability in her family.
"While growing up, I didn't know I had ADHD but what I displayed a lot was dyslexia, where one would be considered stupid in class in those days in the 1980s because many didn't know about it," she says.
Linda adds: "I couldn't spell my name in primary school by the time I was in class four and I was always beaten since I couldn't do anything. It was until I was moved to a private school that I met Mrs Njoroge, who helped me, taught me how to read without punishing me, starting with Peter And Jane book. I did well in national primary exams passing with good marks especially in maths."
Linda, is now a student at Amani Counseling Centre doing a diploma in Psychology, is expecting to graduate next year in June.
She had to do some courses including enrolling for a marketing certificate course at the Chartered Institute of Marketing(CIM), information science diploma at Strathmore University and graphic design online to get a job.
It's the marketing course that earned her current job at SIC in the sales and marketing department, where she has been since 2021.
Before her current position, she had worked in six organisations including East African Wildlife Society in sales, marketing and graphic design.
While at SIC, she first was a sales manager but had to step down.
"At that point my mother was diagnosed with cancer, my son and daughter were diagnosed with several disability-related challenges, thus making me overwhelmed," says Linda, whose mother later died.
"I found job satisfaction in real estate because I feel accomplished when I sell someone a property that I know will serve their needs," she says.
Linda thanks her husband Samuel Maina and househelp who she says has lived with them for nine years as her good support system.
She also thanks her employer for having good policies related to disability, which have helped her excel.
"Most of the time I work at home because sometimes I just need quietness and dimly lit or no light at all room, due to sensitivity to light, which is much possible in my own house," says Linda