An Achiever who Almost Burned to Death: A Compelling Story of an APHRC’s Field Team Leader
DECEMBER 4, 2009 was a very happy day for Seth Omondi Amuom, a Team Leader over-seeing data collection work in APHRC’s Korogocho Demographic Surveillance Site (DSS). This is the day he graduated from the University of Nairobi with a Second Class Honors, Upper Division degree in Economics. It was a rare achievement for one, who, 28 years ago was deemed dead, waiting to be buried.
Seth was barely one year old and living with his mother and step family in Nyanza Province, Kenya, when he underwent a literal baptism of fire which he miraculously survived. His step grandmother hated his status as an adopted son of the home, and attempted to kill him by throwing him into a fire to pave way for Seth’s mother to get “real” sons for the home.
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| Seth with his colleagues Grace Gathoni(left) and Esther Nyambura |
And he would have died had maternal instincts failed his mother. “From a distance, my mother saw smoke emanating from the hut and sensed the pungent smell of burning meat. She dropped everything and made a wild dash to the hut.” As though God sent, a few minutes later, there was an ambulance rushing another patient to hospital and his mother managed to stop it by standing right in the middle of the road as she held on to her scorching baby and screaming in despair. “That is how I was rushed to the hospital where I spent the next three and a half years,” narrates Seth.
He was burnt to the extent that he completely lost his human form and shape, and got disfigured to the point that his facial features could not be identified. Relatives could only make funeral arrangements because death was the only logical outcome expected of the incident. But Seth survived and the funeral was put off.
“I owe my survival to the many doctors who worked round the clock, numerous hospital Referrals and surgeries. It always seemed a futile effort and anyone would have lost hope but God somehow put it in their hearts to keep trying”, Seth says, noting that he underwent numerous medical procedures that required the coordination of different specialized medical practitioners. “There were cardiologists, neurosurgeons, physiotherapists, opticians, dentists, orthopedists, and plastic surgeons just to mention a few.”
All this time, Seth was abandoned by his family. He explains,“The only family members I knew were the doctors, nurses and support staff of Kisumu General hospital in Nyanza Province, Kenya, which, incidentally, was the first home I have any memory of. I started walking while in that hospital. I saw many people come and go.”
Twenty-eight years later, Seth still has a recurring wound on his head and one of his eyes will not close. But he is too happy to be alive to be distracted by such “minor” inconveniences. It was the first of many times Seth would come in close reality with death. Barely a teenager, he lost his mother to HIV/AIDS related complications, and a few years later, a sister. To make matters worse, he was completely disinherited and banished by his uncles. For sometime he was homeless and moved from place to place before he arrived in Nairobi “to be as far away from” his relatives as possible. Most recently, Seth cheated death again early 2008 during the post-election violence in Kenya when a police bullet missed him by a whisker. He was watching the chaos below from what he assumed was the safety of his house on the second floor balcony in Eastlands, Nairobi.
Despite his childhood misfortunes, Seth has always desired to pursue academic excellence. In 2005 he was hired by APHRC as a field interviewer in Korogocho slums. It is through this work that he met staff from the Hewlett Foundation who had visited APHRC and were on a short visit to the Center’s DSS in Korogocho slum. Impressed by his burning desire for further education, they joined efforts with others and sponsored him for his university education.
Seth is full of gratitude to his benefactors. In addition, he is grateful to many at APHRC starting with the Executive Director, Dr Alex Ezeh without whose generosity and kindness he would not have been employed as an interviewer in the first place. Seth’s colleagues describe him as hardworking and a team player with a flair for excellence. “He relates very well with all of us and pursues excellence in everything he does. Rarely will a mistake pass on without him noticing,” says Esther Nyambura who works with him on the APHRC’s education program.
“I hope to embark on a master’s degree program and I am already scouting for scholarship opportunities,” Seth says in his usual characteristic positive attitude. Through his job at APHRC, he has also managed to educate his sister to secondary school. Seth has a girlfriend and hopes to get married, have a family and build a home of his own.
It has not been easy for Seth and he feels hurt when people run away from him because of his appearance, “I faced a lot of stigma, ridicule, and mockery as a child, my self-esteem and confidence were adversely affected. I was unable to mix freely with people. I still experience these situations even today. Fortunately, I have outgrown my insecurities, there is much more to life than focusing on such trivia.”
Seth, who has never known his father, is inspired by Nelson Mandela, Dr Bennie Carson and Prof Ali Mazrui. “By sharing the story of my life, I hope to inspire someone not to give up in life and to also encourage others to make use of the opportunities that life gives them,” Seth concludes, adding that he has since forgiven his relatives.
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