Soaring Achievements in a Challenging World

When Phillipina’s parents rush her to the hospital on the eve of her first birthday, the medical attendant makes a tragic mistake while giving her an injection to reduce her dangerously high fever. That single incident leaves her with lifelong paralysis, in a country and in a family where the disabled are regarded as damaged and worthless. The Lost Nerve chronicles the Phillipina’s extraordinary journey to reclaim her life. Refusing to be limited by her disability, she is determined to excel through education. She refuses to be defined by others, and learns to rely on her own inner voice, strength, and judgment. Inside, she is strong as steel, but she learns to present an appealing and vulnerable exterior to make her strength, intelligence, and abilities acceptable in a world that judges her for being different. Anyone who has ever struggled to fit in will be inspired by Phillipina’s courage. You will be amazed when, as a disabled seven-year-old child, she decides to escape from an alternative medicine clinic where she is being unsuccessfully treated for her paralysis. You will cheer her on as you watch her pursue advanced education in Canada. Your heart will be touched as you experience her quest to be a mother, and you will sympathize with the additional difficulties she faces as a disabled single parent in Kenya. And last, your eyes will be opened to the way that Phillipina, along with more than 140 million women worldwide, has been tortured by the barbaric practice of ritual female genital mutilation, as she describes her courageous decision to have FGM reversal surgery. Educational, inspirational, and fascinating, The Lost Nerve is a book you will remember long after you have turned the final page.

CONTENTS

Preface

PART 1

1. My Early Childhood
2. Dagoretti Children’s Center
3. The Digo Healer in Tanga, Tanzania
4. Beginning School and Life in Taita Hills
5. Port Reitz Polio Clinic, Mombasa
6. Return to My School in Taita, and Childhood Fears
7. Cultural Attitudes and My Struggle to Go to High School

PART 2

8. Bura Girls’ High School
9. United World Colleges Scholarship Opportunity
10. Limuru Girls’ School
11. The Muslim Man Whom I Believed to Be Jesus
12. The Holiday That Changed the Course of My Life
13. Fellowship from the Christian Children’s Fund
14. My Job at Likoni and the Helpful Strangers


PART 3

15. The University of Nairobi
16. Pilgrimage to Lourdes
17. Pilgrims in Italy
18. Encounter with Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo
19. Final Year at the University of Nairobi

PART 4

20. Joining the Public Service
21. My Palmarian Experience
22. Nomination for a Workshop in Mumbai
23. Mumbai, India
24. Arusha, Tanzania
25. The Stranger Who Preferred to Assist Me
26. Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Canada

PART 5

27. Travel to Ottawa, Canada
28. Halifax, Nova Scotia
29. Entering Carleton University
30. My Travel to Kenya in Spring 1989
31. Return to Ottawa in Summer 1989
32. Travel to Niagara Falls and the USA
33. Summer Job in Ottawa
34. Completing My Degree and Returning to Kenya

PART 6

35. Ministry of Commerce
36. Struggle to Get My Car from Kilindini port
37. Learning to Drive My Modified Car
38. A Course at the Kenya Institute of Administration
39. Ministry of Cooperative Development
40. Going for Gemstones in Kasigau
41. Visits to Fisheries Sites in South and North Coast
PART 7

42. My Experiences During Pregnancy
43. The Auctioneer Saga
44. The Birth of My Daughter
45. Going Home with the Baby
46. A Beautiful Relationship with Fred
47. The Car Accident at Kilimani

PART 8

48. Project Management Department
49. University of Manchester, UK
50. Arrival in Nairobi, Kenya
51. Second Pregnancy
52. Pre-selection Interview for Members of the National
Constitution Review Committee
53. The Birth of My Son
54. Returning to Work After the Birth of My Son

PART 9
55. Coping with Children’s Health Issues
56. My Years on the Ministerial Training Committee
57. The Decision to Immigrate to Canada
58. My Friend Was Dying of HIV/AIDs
59. Application for the Canada Permanent Residence Visa
60. Official Trip to Tunis, Tunisia
61. Granted Permanent Residence Visas


PART 10

62. Arrival in Ottawa, Canada
63. Hired as Consultant for Parliamentary Center
64. Decision to go for FGM Reversal Surgery
65. Travel to Trinidad, Colorado
66. Arrival in Trinidad, Colorado
67. A Time for Change

About the Author
Phillipina Dali was born in Taita Hills, Kenya. She worked in public service after earning her B.A. with honors in economics and sociology. Later she studied in Canada for her M.A. in international affairs. After nineteen years in the Kenya public service, she resigned in 2004 due to increasing challenges due to her disability, and decided to immigrate to Canada with her two children. She lives in Ottawa, where she loves to read and learn about issues of sustainable development. This is her first book.