President Uhuru Kenyatta's niece, Nana Gecaga, bravely spoke about suffering from dyslexia- a learning disorder, during her childhood years.
On a post on her Instagram page on Tuesday, March 17, Gecaga revealed that she struggled with dyslexia when she was growing up.
According to Mayo Clinic, an American not-for-profit organization academic medical centre based in Rochester, dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding).
Dyslexia Organization Kenya (DOK) further explains that children who have the disorder are often smart and hardworking but they have trouble connecting the letters they see to the sounds that the letters make (they can read 'cat' as 'tac').
Nana, in the birthday message she wrote to herself in the third person on her 42nd birthday, intimated that the disorder did not come without a cost to her, but her father stood by her side and taught her valuable lessons.
"From being born months prematurely, her [Nana Gecaga] mother knew she would be a fighter and saviour. Despite being the last one to finish tests because of her dyslexia, she continued and was always taught never to give up by her father," she wrote.
The KICC CEO further explained that she managed to get through many of these problems while growing up due to the support that she received from her family, a unit that she holds dear to date.
"From being taught at an early age the importance of siblings and how they will never leave your side no matter what. Her attribute of loyalty was learned from her brother and sister.
"The meaning of strength and unity came from her family always standing together and united as one and always being there for her," the post read.
Nana acknowledged family and friends who had been there for her through her journey and thanked her social media followers from standing by her to date.
"Tonight as I turn the page on a new year, I want to take this time to say thank you to every person who has had a meaningful impact on my life. So yes, a queen was born and here she sits ready to continue her journey she calls life. I am me... I am Nana," she concluded.
DAK further explained that dyslexia is the common cause of learning disability in children and persists throughout life, with the severity varying from mild to severe.
