LATEST POST
By James Kinyanjui
Diabetes is a relentless condition. For many middle-aged men, it silently alters daily life until one day it strikes a harder blow—kidney failure. At that point, dialysis becomes not just a treatment, but a life-sustaining routine. While dialysis helps extend life, for diabetic men in their 40s, 50s, and early 60s, it comes with a cascade of personal, physical, and emotional challenges that few outsiders fully understand.
Diabetes, particularly Type 2, is one of the leading causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and eventually end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The kidneys, damaged by years of high blood sugar and hypertension, lose the ability to filter waste from the body—requiring dialysis, often multiple times a week.
For middle-aged men, this marks a turning point. These are often the years of peak professional and personal responsibility. The burden of dialysis impacts everything—health, work, relationships, and identity.
Dialysis is not just time-consuming—it’s draining. Many men report feeling exhausted after sessions, sometimes too tired to drive, work, or even eat. The physical side effects of dialysis, compounded by poorly controlled diabetes, may include:
Over time, the body weakens. These men face a constant battle between managing diabetes and surviving dialysis, often with worsening outcomes.
Middle-aged men often pride themselves on strength and independence. Chronic illness chips away at both.
Some men withdraw from relationships, stop engaging in hobbies, or deny the seriousness of their condition altogether, skipping appointments or becoming non-compliant with treatment.
Dialysis demands time—3 to 5 hours per session, several times a week. This makes maintaining a full-time job difficult. For men in their prime working years, this often leads to:
As the illness progresses, intimate relationships may suffer. Sexual dysfunction, mood swings, and fatigue affect marriages and partnerships. Social activities decline due to physical limitations or embarrassment about the condition.
In many cultures, men are expected to “tough it out.” This leads to emotional isolation, where they suffer silently rather than burden loved ones.
Healthcare systems often fall short in supporting these men holistically. Key issues include:
Despite these challenges, there are pathways to improve outcomes and quality of life:
.
The journey of middle-aged men with diabetes undergoing dialysis is more than a medical challenge—it is a profound personal battle. Understanding their struggles and tailoring support to their needs is not only compassionate—it’s essential.
Their silence should not be mistaken for strength. It’s time we listen, support, and advocate for better care, because every life tethered to a dialysis machine still holds purpose, dignity, and value..
By James Kinyanjui
MID-YEAR 2015 I opened a startup animation firm in Kenya using my own savings and money lent by a friend as capital. And instantly I made my first two fatal mistakes. I started without understanding the market and, I started with three partners who did not have a monetary stake in the enterprise. I would later make a third mistake which, though not immediately plunging us into disaster, nevertheless contributed to our later monumental failure.
In 2015 a very close friend of mine lent me 15000 USD to start up an animation firm. Initially he was to be a partner, but having zero knowledge of the industry, and also being relatively well off, he politely declined to be a member and left it to me to do what I knew best.
I had previously talked to three other gentlemen who were animators like myself, all having varied specializations and I felt we were a good fit. One was very good in motion graphics, the other in 3D animation and the third was more of a “mouth” person, the kind of guy who will convince you to buy something you don’t need.
Granted these guys were straight out of campus and therefore had no money of their own. One had worked for less than a year but had nothing to contribute. But I convinced myself that their skill would more than make up for their lack of capital. My first mistake.
We drafted a partnership deed and neglected to quantify each member’s capital input. We then registered the firm and in November 2015 we were in business.
Business was slow coming in. We had divided the tasks such that the “mouth” guy would handle marketing while the rest of us would do the actual work. However, being the only contributor of capital, I felt the need to also help in marketing and we were able to secure our first customer. The customer was an old classmate of mine who had done really well in manufacturing, and he needed his products advertised using animation. We ate well off of him.
As time went on and 2016 came in with a bang we secured several other projects and saw the need to hire. So we got four other animators and several interns, our second mistake. Not in the hiring itself, but in having full time personnel on monthly pay. 2016 progressed and we completed several projects. By mid-year we had finished any work that was pending. Yet no more work was coming in. The guy we had allocated marketing duties was not doing so well. We began dipping into our savings in order to pay our animators. At this point we should have let go the full time staff but we didn’t.
Come 2017 the situation was dire. Then another bombshell hit us. We discovered the Marketing guy was diverting work. To make matters worse, we did a certain job and he went to receive the money. Instead of banking he insisted on mobile money payment and it was paid to his number. He then disappeared for a whole week. When we discovered, we were appalled.
Needless to say we gave him his marching orders but the damage had been done.
By mid-2017 business was very slow. We had accumulated a huge bill for rent payments as well as salaries. Other administrative costs such as power had also accumulated. Then as often happens in times of hardship bickering set in. One of the other guys whose specialization was 3D animation begun drinking cheap liquor heavily. We quarreled often because his work ethic went on a downward slide. At one time we were working on a 2D animation project and his part had not been done even at midday. He had not even reported to work. So I went to his premises and on knocking, I found him totally drunk. When I asked him how he was going to deliver his portion of the work he answered that I was not the boss of him. I left very angry.That evening I sat down and introspected. I had put in 2 Million Kenya shillings, the equivalent of about 15000 USD into this business and I could see it going down. But I encouraged myself.
At this point in time we also started creating our own Intellectual property productions. The first was called Ng’ano za Kale, translated to mean tales of the past. It consisted of animations depicting the lives of the heroes of Kenya in the past. We wanted to make one for all the 42 communities of the Nation. However we only managed to make one and had begun on a second when we got some support from the German embassy.
Another IP we worked on was a kids program called Kikki and Tikki which was based on the games little children in Africa used to play. And this is where we made our third mistake. We did not understand the market. Instead of targeting the international market, we targeted our local market specifically the media stations within the country. Worse we had not contacted them initially, to get an idea as to how much they were willing to pay for animated kid’s content. After creating two episodes and while working on a third, we were able to get appointments in one of the top media stations in the country. After seeing our content, they were happy. They liked it very much. But they were only willing to pay 346 USD per episode. We were shocked. It had costed us upwards of 1153 USD to create each episode.
Not only would they not return a profit but even our costs were far from being covered. We thought that perhaps this was a once off situation. So we visited yet another media house and another, and all said the same thing. Of course this caused us to immediately cease producing the series due to disappointment.
At this time the support from the German embassy had sustained us over 2017 and we were into 2018, with no money and 2 productions of our own. All the cash capital I had injected had dried up, consumed by salaries, and rent payments. Advertising revenue had fallen off in spite of marketing, and don’t forget we still had the four personnel with us.
Early 2018 we realized we were going to drown in debt. Our personnel by this time had left, realizing that there was no money to pay them. As things became difficult and quarrels increased, we held a meeting, mid 2018. We agreed to dissolve the partnership. What struck me most was that in spite of my partners not having contributed, some wanted a share in the equipment that had been procured using my capital. In the end we agreed that only items procured from our client payments would be shared.
This altercation taught me three main things. One, do not partner with anyone who doesn’t have a hefty monetary stake in the business. Preferably one equal to or even surpassing your own. Secondly, the market is king. Do thorough market research before investing a single dollar of your money. And third, only commit to paying personnel who are directly connected to making money for you, and even then, make it on a temporary basis, only as long as the work endures.
I hope this will help a creative looking to start his or her own business in Africa.By James Kinyanjui
When most Americans hear about female genital mutilation (FGM), they tend to associate it with far-off regions—Africa, parts of the Middle East, or Southeast Asia. But FGM is not confined to foreign lands. It is happening in the United States, including in rural communities, often in silence, and underreported.
FGM is a global human rights issue, but it also has a local face—one that’s rarely acknowledged in mainstream American discourse, particularly when it comes to rural populations where healthcare access is limited, cultural oversight is minimal, and secrecy can thrive.
