Nothing irritates a teacher more than a student who does not concentrate during lessons. In the years of yore, when children or even human rights were unheard of, this would invite proper caning and even suspension.
But to a Siaya based teacher, Mary Cynthia Akoth Ochieng and her students at Ambrose Adeya Adongo secondary school, lack of concentration during lessons is something they are used to.
They have learnt to accommodate each other, with the students forced to make do with the source of disruption, their teacher's oxygen concentrator that has become part of her life for close to a year now.
Cynthia, as she is commonly known, cannot survive without the oxygen support after she was diagnosed with Interstitial Lung Disease that has damaged her lungs. What started as a minor cough in 2017 when she was doing her teaching practicals has over the years defied medication, leading to the failure of her lungs. According to the mother of two, she has been on medication since 2017 but things changed in March, 2024. "I had an attack on the night of 15th March, 2024 and was rushed to Bama hospital next to where I stay and I was immediately put on oxygen" she says adding that the doctors at the facility found that she was not having enough oxygen in her lungs.
