Oftentimes, successful persons have unique grass to grace stories, and for Jubilee Party Nominated MP David ole Sankok, his climb began under a tree.
The MP confided to Kenyans.co.ke that in his pursuit of financial independence, he started off with a makeshift clinic under a tree after walking out of his first job - an internship, which he proudly says was the last time he was an employee.
"Professionally, I only had a boss in an internship after which I started dealing with clients in my outpatient clinic under a huge acacia tree in Suswa at the place where Kilesi plot currently sits, next to the then Suswa Town dam," stated the MP.
He further noted that he attended to his patients under a tree for a while before he was able to raise enough money to rent a single-room house that he converted into a clinic.
"I later got enough money from clients to rent a business room at Ole Moriongo building and bought some furniture. I now deal with clients for my cows, pigs, chicken, estates, Lodge and other businesses," he added.
His journey in the medical field was kickstarted by a harrowing experience in the hands of a medic at the tender age of 12 that led to his physical disability.
"It happened in 1988 while in Class Six and twelve years old. I suffered pneumonia and was rushed to a local private hospital, where a doctor made a wrong diagnosis - examined me and injected the lower inner quarter of my gluteus maximus muscle, therefore, tempering my sciatic nerve, paralyzing my right leg, which l later lost.
"I was in Kijabe and the doctor was a white man. He told me to learn how to use the crutches because I would be using them for the rest of my life. The news caught me flatfooted, because coming from a pastoralist community that depended on physical strength, I felt like my life had come to an end," stated Sankok in an earlier interview.
After the diagnosis, he endured crawling to school for two years before he got accorded crutches to aid his movement.
It is that experience that inspired him to join the medical field after his earlier dream of growing up to become a cattle rustler got thwarted by the disability.
Shortly after starting his clinic, the lawmaker expanded his business to include cattle farming that he says earns him an annual income of Ksh16 million
"Currently, I have 300 heads of cattle but every year I sell 120 bulls at Ksh80,000 each, 100 pigs for Ksh20,000 each and 120 heifers at Ksh60,000 each," stated the MP.
He also noted that he shut down his clinic after being nominated to Parliament because "I wanted to concentrate on service delivery."
His academic qualifications came under question earlier after Media Observer, which is a journalistic watchdog cast shadows over his registration status but he confirmed to Kenyans.co.ke that he attended the University of Nairobi.
According to Parliament's website, the lawmaker acquired Diploma in Medical Research from Bergeon Univesity, Norway, and a Bachelor in Medicine from the University of Nairobi.
