Was I Mother Enough?!!

Political instability most often than not negatively affects lives in all facets of political, social and economic nature. My home town, Kisumu – Western part of Kenya in East Africa was the worst hit during the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence (PEV), but in a twist of fate, it brought good tidings in my life. Members of a particular community who had been doing business were forced to flee, this caused a vacuum and at the same time opportunities in the economic sector. 2008 is therefore the year that I started up BAJUJA Investments (www.facebook.com/BajujaInvestments), an organization that uses innovation and technology to provide essential goods and services. Business was good and money was trickling in. This meant spending the usual eight hours in regular employment, more hours divided between sleep/rest and business and less work with the family. I must say that my passion in business alongside my formal employment left me no time to be a ‘mother’. Japs was 8 weeks old then. When I look back at those years, I must say that I abandoned my responsibilities…I feel so guilty that as much as I was mostly in the lives of Japs elder brothers (Kyle and Tyler), I can’t say in equal measures that Japs got the same "motherly" treatment…perhaps if I could have been around more, I could have timely detected that Japs had a condition….perhaps. We patiently waited for Japs to say his 1^st words. At the age of  three, he still hadn't developed expressive language...his speech development was delayed. Our conclusion was that babies undergo different developmental milestones and Japs’ was one of those unique ones. My friends detected that something was amiss, but none could face me and tell me so, some of them subtly suggesting that I take Japs for a speech therapy/assessment. During one of Japs trips to the hospital, his pediatrician diagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prescribed drugs, but our skepticisms and fears about side effects forced us to resort to dietary measures and therapies in controlling Japs condition. The two completely transformed Japs….from an irritable*grumpy*tantrum-throwing*sickly*ever-constipated*moody boy to the jovial*normal*focused*lovable*expressive*happy*healthy*composed*fun*engaging boy that he is today!!