Dorothy Atieno and her children walk from their house in Ahero village, Kisumu County on November 22, 2017. [Photo: NMG]
A woman and her three children have gone blind in mysterious circumstances.
Dorothy Atieno says she has resorted to prayers after she visited hospital severally to no avail. She is married to a sugarcane cutter.
Atieno's ordeal began in May when she woke up as usual and headed to her shop in Ahero, Kisumu County where she sells avocados and onions. But at 6pm, as she prepared to go home, she felt a sensation in her eyes before realising she could not see.
"I wondered what it was. I made my first, second and third trip to the hospital and, when I persisted, they referred me to Tenwek Hospital for specialised treatment," Atieno told the Nation on Thursday.
She added: "Doctors are the same, and if Sabatia, which is specialised in eye problems, could not find the cause of my blindness, how sure am I that I will get help at Tenwek?"
Their first-born child, Valverine Adhiambo, 16-year-old Form One student at Nyamonye Girls’ Secondary School in Bondo, Siaya County, also became blind while their sons Vincent Okoth, 9, and Benson Otieno, 3, are partially blind, reports the Nation.
She laments that for the last six months she has not been able to help her husband who has started to feel burdened, hence a lot of tension and quarrels in the house.