Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo has announced a break from work to care for his ailing grandmother.
In a shared reporting on CNN, Madowo confirmed that his grandmother had contracted Covid-19.
Madowo said on Thursday he is heart broken to see his 96-year-old grandmother suffer from the virus.
“I always fear that they're ringing to say that my grandmother has died. She has been on a ventilator for four weeks and my anxiety is near breaking point,” he said.
His grandmother, is among hundreds of millions in the developing world who was not vaccinated until recently.
“By the time my grandmother got vaccinated by local officials it was already too late as she had been infected by Covid-19,” he said adding that she outlived her husband by more than 25 years.
It’s been emotionally draining for me to talk about this story in such personal terms. I’m now pulling back to look after myself and care for my family.
— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) July 23, 2021
Please say a prayer for my grandma pic.twitter.com/qtHU9viw4Q
“All I needed to get protection was walk to a nearby drugstore in Washington, DC. But many people like my grandmother have died, or will die, because of the accident of where they live. Her heart is now failing, and mine is breaking,” he said.
“Though I'm more than 60 years younger than her, I was fully inoculated by April because I was living in the United States, where anybody over 12 can get a vaccine if they want one.”
Madowo said he fears that Covid-19 would knock on his door once more.
He narrated how his uncle died last month leaving him devastated.
“I was heartbroken, and angry. He was not vaccinated because Kenya didn't -- and still does not -- have enough shots even for a senior like him,” he said.
This comes barely two days after Madowo got a promotion from CNN's Nairobi-based correspondent to the network's international correspondent.
