 So nicely escalating so nicely. I'm having such a good time. Are you having a good time? I hope we are entertaining you according to your taste. It is still Monday, ya? Baruch ko job, Baruch ko apa, from 7 to 10 in the morning we'll give and give you so. So I'm standing in for my colleague doing health on Monday na luch nongelia epilepsy, living with epilepsy and just generally creating awareness. So you can call me Dr. Love since Palenta na Love and I'm just going to be a doctor for a little bit. Ya, hala at me, I tried to find it on Facebook, I tried to find it on channel, on Twitter. Hashtag is why in the morning now please help me give a very very warm welcome to our set of guests. How are you? Hi, you guys look stunning. I think you really do. You have such a good smile. You want to be on a smile? You and you want to smile. What is your name sir? My name is Frederick Be'uichi, you know the last name is is full mouth, so you can call me Be'uichi. Ya, so I'm an epilepsy activist with the National Epilepsy Cognition Committee. My story about epilepsy activism dates way back to 2013. I'm so much inspired by my sister who's a last born. She's now 13 years old and she was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 2. So that's where the journey of creating awareness began. Actually after having known as a family that epilepsy is a medical condition and it can be managed with medication. And you did not come alone Kim, the very gorgeous queen. She looks nice. What is your name queen? Including looking good. What are you on social media handles? How can we find you? This book, Elizabeth Chambili. You can also find me on Instagram. And did I ask you, you have, I'm sure your initiatives have handles. Let's get started with those first. Frederick Be'uichi on Facebook and still on Facebook you can search Angaza Kifafa Na Be'uichi. It's a page that type post everything about epilepsy and an initiative we call Foundation for People with Epilepsy. Also on Facebook all information about what I do from Monday to Friday with regards to epilepsy information is up there. What is epilepsy? Epilepsy is a medical condition. We should start from that because so many other people describe it as a disease and it's not a disease, it's a condition. Important to know because a condition means any person can get it. Even later in life? Even later in life because it's a medical condition that is caused by brain damage. So long as you have the brain you are at a risk at some point in life to get epilepsy awareness but it has its causes because until the brain gets a damage that could be through either an injury, you have had an accident, you got a head injury, the injury went deep into touching your brain. Later in life you end up getting epilepsy. I'm sorry if I may cut you off. You said your sister was diagnosed at two years old. Yes. How old were you when you found out that you were living with a condition? I was seven. That must have been hard and the kids are mean, they're so mean. Oh my gosh. So you will find like there's a connection of children having epilepsy you know from the from the word go and it's not because maybe a mother or a father had epilepsy that's why a child had it. So it's not genetic? The challenge is that actually prone children to be at risk of getting epilepsy at the point of birth and that's why we are emphasizing every other time a mother has conceived they are due to deliver they go to the hospital because some of them take options of either going to traditional birth attendant and they put the child at risk of getting head injury which probably develops into you know other things and thereafter a child developing epilepsy. All right so we know that it's a condition it's not a disease and it's something that is wow clearly anyone with a brain seeing as how if you can hear me that brain yeah that's a bit alarming I did not know that. Okay so what are the triggers of epilepsy? Let me ask let me start with her because she does live with it. What are your triggers? I got so many triggers but flickering lights is one of them. I cannot also stay on the computer on the laptop for a long time. So e-story and Netflix until like it's just too much? Yeah too much excitement yeah when I get so excited and you know yeah when I'm also stressed up angry you know when I'm so tired also. Wow yeah really that's hard so you're really tired and then now suddenly you have a seizure so what do you do? I'm down at that time. Do you always have a companion with you like you make sure that you Yeah everyone in my family knows about this yeah also people who are close to me my friends know about this so yeah most of the time I have someone next to me yeah. I won't tell you guys a story. I don't get hurt. It's a it's a funny it's not a very funny story it's a story just a story so when I was in high school we had I can't remember her name now I remember she was very pretty and she was a prefect and she had epilepsy so I knew she was living with it it was random information but until I saw the seizure like I had I took a moment and you know it's ironic because my there's someone in my family who lives with autism and who's non-vabos so you'd think I'd be ready for I really wasn't I really wasn't ready so I I didn't know what to do and I felt so helpless I truly did not I didn't know how to help I didn't know if I I should hold you if I if I'm going to make it was like like what's going on I want to know first of all how you deal with the stigma of that and then since we like to do practicals up in here we're going to figure out how to help yeah so maybe let's start with stigma like how like maybe you just met someone you're hitting it off you survive you survive and then suddenly something happened it's a trigger and now they don't look at you the same how's that happen to you and how do you deal with this thing it happens a lot but I've learned how to love myself yeah and I've learned to go for whatever I want yeah so nothing pulls me back anymore like that I think you're a bit more brave than the rest of us yo out of necessity yeah sure and and how did you maybe with your sister how did you handle that well there are a lot of myths and conceptions that come along with epilepsy because it's it's not a subject that started the other day those that are Christians you go to the Bible you see at some point Jesus healed a person in epilepsy and those that pick it up from there because when you read that verse in Matthew it says you know he cast the demons for epilepsy and I'm really glad you said that because it's in Africa and anything we don't understand new child yeah so that has formed basis of the background of what people know epilepsy is all about coming from mombasa the whole thing of witchcraft sea and so even for my sister that was the perception and for me I wanted to change the story because from family members you know close relatives to villagers up to the church they thought that we had done something to our sister so that we could amass somewhere oh my gosh and it was in the case so to change the story actually it was very difficult and so many other myths and misconceptions you know kept coming and coming others you know think epilepsy is contagious so once they see a person down they are jacking and they are having a seizure to touch them you know they feel it's like they will have it you know so they thinking it's a curse thinking it's witchcraft sea and all these things yeah so you can bet the kind of stigma that it was there because we go with our sister in a public place and you know her seizure frequency before medication was at after every 20 minutes why you can't even have a conversation you can't really so by the time we were seeking medication she had so many injuries actually epilepsy in itself does not kill but the seizures that prone somebody to sometimes you fall on water on the stones so the worst fall let's say sorry you know the worst case now you fall inside water you're basically helpless now you are actually have the cousin who died of epilepsy oh my days i'm so sorry yeah okay let's let's stop being so sad for a second and call our person or actor of the day help me welcome aiko so aiko is going to he's going to lie down and i'm hoping that he seizes yeah you're going to just shake shake a bit so this is someone who has a seizure okay so this is what we call a generalize seizure so somebody would suddenly you know fall down others would have some kind of a voice coming out very scary one yeah a very scary one before they they they go down yeah so most of the time it depends they would be lying in different position because you have people falling from the front side from the back from the side so that is what causes so many people having injuries yeah you have dislocated arms legs and such like things so we have about five quick things that you can shake if i could yeah so our friend here has just had a seizure and and and and they are down of course they are shaking and everything so the first thing you're supposed to do is to stay calm okay you want to help this person there's so many things that make people fall down or faint even so stay calm to just a certain what has happened to the guy or whoever has fallen down then number two if there are any sharp objects around you remove them okay remember we've said that epilepsy is a condition that's caused by brain damage so anything that might cause some head injury and putting him or her at a risk you make sure you you remove it could be in a classroom or it could be on the street you remove and then the third thing and very important you look for something soft and you put beneath the head okay it could be a question oh yes so you put something soft beneath the head usilale so our person here is continuing to jack the legs and the hands because that's how a seizure manifests itself what we just need to be so careful about it's the head okay at that point in time if they're putting on very tight clothing that's number four you try and loosen because a seizure again is manifested and as it continues because there is no complete circulation of oxygen to the brain and sometimes because of tight clothing they might not be able to breathe so properly so you try and you try and loosen the clothing most of the time a seizure might not last for more than five minutes actually at most it goes to five minutes some it will be two minutes some it will be even in seconds just falling down and it's over yes so and they are what now we call lookalikes because so many people also again confuse epilepsy to other things yeah maybe we'll talk about that so number five when the seizure is almost over you roll them in what we call a recovery position so a recovery position you lie them on their side like that you fold their legs like that and you put one hand here and this hand is there with the with the cushion like that okay okay why is this post important what is happening this post is important because most of them when they're having a seizure they have some kind of form coming out some kind of white foam so if they're lying on their backs chances are the form will be going back and they can actually chalk because they are jacking at that point in time and it's like forcing something inside their mouth so they might end up chalking and even causing debt at that point in time okay so this position helps the foam to just come out naturally slowly and you are sure it's not going back but it's a position that also gives him and is time to also breathe and by the time the seizure is over with this kind of position they can support themselves to stand up so this is during the seizure or as the seizure is coming so the seizure is almost over here and by the time you have rolled them in the recovery position then the seizure is completely over so you're just helping you are staying with that person and this is very important as the last one you stay with that person until they are fully recovered from the seizure because most of them when they just come out from the seizure they are a little bit confused yeah so if it was on the street and they want to almost cross the road you can imagine yeah yeah so that's what happens there are three things that people do and since time immemorial would say they have been thinking that's faster but it's not so when person is jacking what you are not supposed to do number one is do not put anything inside their mouth anything that those that rush with a spoon with a stick why because they think when they are having a seizure they bite their tongue or their lips out of that seizure which is true sometimes it happens so but the first two three seconds over seizure a person already if it is biting their tongue they have bitten their tongue so there is nothing that you can do about it at the end of the day it appears to just be a wound that can be treated but when somebody is having a seizure you know muscles tighten and you are there trying to push something in you are not sure at what point the seizure will be over and the muscles will relax all over sudden they relax and you've been there trying to push something so you guessed it right so that's what can happen so you cause that person even more injury and even death second thing you are not supposed to do is ask they are jacking do not restrain them okay let them just jack that's just how a seizure comes out because a seizure if you go back to the medical part of it you'll be told it's more of some electrical action happening in the body and there's no complete coordination with the brain so that causes the jacking okay so do not restrain them when they are jacking just be careful about the head leave them to do the drama because in two three minutes time it will be over and finally do not give them any drink or any food at the point when they are having a seizure that kind of a thing so those are the three things that people have been doing which are wrong the first five steps we have described as what you are supposed to do all right thank you so much have a seat Aiko thank you for being here oh my gosh you're so cool yay all right so now maybe at in conclusion you can introduce to us the concept of the fair the afro fair yeah we did so um in bid of trying to create awareness about epilepsy i I am an ambassador for a campaign we call agaza kifafa so every year we go to counties we train the community health workers basic facts about epilepsy as we have demonstrated here so they can as well after that go ahead to the communities and also spread the word but since 2015 we've also been hosting an event we call epilepsy afro fashion fair and the event is about empowering persons living with epilepsy and they have talents in fashion and design and the essence of this event actually is also a fundraiser to mobilize resources and support children to get medication the goal in epilepsy treatment is to make sure the persons seizures are well managed epilepsy cannot be cured but the seizures can be managed so we have hosted this event since 2015 and this year we are hosting it in kisumu it will be in a weeks time actually on 25th at imperial hotel the information about how you can get tickets to that event you know on our social media pages as you have mentioned fredrick beuchi foundation for people with epilepsy agaza kifafa with beuchi all those information are there if you are not able to come to kisumu you can just buy a ticket because that directly goes towards supporting a child living with epilepsy and those that are at a youth full stage and they are passionate about you know fashion and design we connect them to establish fashion designers them living with epilepsy they are able to actually go ahead and pursue what they have loved most and just making life for them you know be good and telling other people that they can live a normal life like any other person else oh that's amazing yeah all right so queen is if i may ask that you give someone a steam yani encourage someone like not really about the condition that you're living with but apoko i'm very big on loving yourself yeah and it's beautiful to see that you you can have a condition and still manage so akuna excuse it down so please encourage a teenager maybe someone who looks up to you and like at a minute kakwa kaya you camera is this one all right um i think as a as a youth yeah um living with this condition i think um even if you're not with this condition but uh you're out there i think you should go for what you want love yourself even more and yeah i think you should go out meet people reach out to what you want to do in life and go for it don't feel you know don't feel like you're not there or you're not worthy you're not worth it yeah exactly yani shortly in short usyoga pemduit down sour be respectful be humble and be loving and just do you all right it has been again health on monday sanigan for a colleague we want to wrap this up thank you so very much for joining us upcoming more source i told you so you can't go anywhere