When Risper was 9 years old she was struck by the train
that runs through the Kibera slum and lost a leg. The challenges of living in the slum are extreme. Poverty effects
all aspects of life. It would be two years before Risper's family could help. "For all of 97 and 98' I was just crawling like a child". Her father eventually found work and had the carpenter make her crutches. It wasn't until 3 years after the accident that she got her first prosthetic.
Risper has been getting free prosthetics for more then a decade now, and she goes through 2 every year. The free legs fall apart quickly as the Kibera terrain is very extreme. She is constantly making her own repairs as the expense of travel and time to get the free legs creates hardship. "When the legs break or my repairs fail I often fall down".
Risper lives in a typical Kibera mud structure with her mom and child. She finds work as a hairdresser.
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