Gospel singer Esther Wahome has for the first time spoken about raising a child with autism.
She has 3 children; a girl and two boys.
The Kuna Dawa singer in an emotional interview with Lynn Ngugi told how the family found it challenging to raise her son.
Her son, the second born, had speech development challenges and the family sought a medical diagnosis.
Esther told how when he was 2 years old, he was unable to talk. They kept hope alive that he would eventually do so. Many visits to hospitals led to frustration, prompting the husband to deal with the situation.
He returned home one day with a diagnosis he was scared to share with Esther.
"I could see he was so distant and so worried and he was still holding the paper. Then he put it down and I saw autism"
What was even more frustrating was that Esther fell pregnant with her third child, leaving them with questions if that other child would also be autistic.
In the diagnosis, was a dietary recommendation that Esther said brought many problems for their son.
"Our journey of starting feeling God this is the end, this is too hard for us especially now there is the insomnia "
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges.
"No house girl could cope. We realize now this is where we are. We have to help each other. "
They would sleep in shifts, speech therapy, a school, "Now my journey of praying started. "
Diet was the hardest "He would cry, I would cry. You can't take anything with gluten so we had to withdraw most of everything. He would point at the milk and cry, dragging himself on the floor. I would cry. "
She said that was the toughest time for the family plus the unknown of what was ahead. They stopped going to church
"He doesn't sit down and just walks around. We could not handle that so it was a time to just sit back and deal with our situation"
When the son was 5, Esther got overwhelmed "I was done, I had no strength to sing, go to studio. The worst part of it was there are some people in the same ministry were happy that I would never sing again. "
She got into prayer mode asking God to make her son talk.
"I told God, God I want, I need, I pray for my son to talk. Because if he talks he will be able to express himself, he is going to a good school, and he is going to pursue his destiny on his own"
The "I told God, God I know, God I've been to so many nations, I've prayed for people, I've had miracles, I have prayed for women who are barren and they got children., and they have testified. I've had people who've heard my music and their lives transformed and they got healing. I told God you can do the same for me. " she also was aware people mocked her music and ministry that wasn't helping her life.
She apologized to God for blaming him for her child's condition and pleaded to help her son speak.
"I pray you do and even if you dont, I will still serve you. I will take the mockery and the pain and I will become stronger. There is no day I will not say you are a powerful God."
She never prayed about it again.
When he turned 6 years old, she got a call from the son's teacher who said he had spoken his first word. He picked up more words after some months "When he said Mum food, he started talking words, then sentences, then right now the guy speaks fluent English with an American accent."
"That is my testimony" she declared.
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