"I started coughing a few weeks after our trip to Mombasa. It must have been it – the reason I got sick. My daughter and I took a bus to Nairobi. She wanted to see the beach on a Sunday during the summer. We took an entire day traveling to get there. It was a two-day thing—just the time to get there, see the beauty of the deep sea, and return. We were not supposed to stay longer than that. It is quite a journey to get there, honestly. We were squeezed into a tiny corner in the bus all the way down to Mombasa. I still remember the smell coming off the back of the bus being nauseating. I recall opening a little window placed above our heads.

A few weeks after we got back from Mombasa, I was sick. I was warm. I was sweating and coughing heavily. I had a fever – the doctor said. I was taken to the nearest hospital where we live – my daughter and I. 

I was lucky everything worked out for me. I was confirmed to have been diagnosed with active TB a couple of days after hospitalization. It was a rare thing as the way the disease got to me. I was told. Though I was offered treatments that helped me recover, I took many antibiotics—different kinds - I remember. I was lucky enough to recover well so I could see my daughter again. She has never had TB, fortunately. I was blessed she was safe. She helped me fight for my life – she was all the strength I needed to push this illness away and survive – because many of us, who live here, can't find the strength and luck to fight the pain back. My husband was one of those people. He died a few years back. Many of the people I know have died here – just like that. Some because of that same illness I had. But I was not one of them. And it is all my daughter's blessing. I love her so much - for everything she represents in my life and for saving mine that year not long ago."