Anne Ngugi’s daughter opens up about her struggle with birth defect – congenital hydrocephalus

Anne Ngugi’s first motherhood experience was tough given that she was only 25 when she gave birth to a daughter who was born with a birth defect.

Anne’s daughter Angel Ngugi was born in 2004 and she had congenital hydrocephalus – a condition that causes excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain causing the head to swell.

Angel, who is now a teenager, is a talented singer. She was recently featured in a song titled ‘Niko Sawa’ by another physically challenged girl called Audrey, who became blind while growing up.

Angel made her debut in music in 2016 when she featured her mother in the song ‘Nataka Jua’. But it was not easy for Angel to get where she is today.

People laugh at me

Angel opened up about her struggle growing up with a condition that caused her head to swell. In an interview with BBC, Angel reveals that sometimes people laugh when she passes.

“I used to ask my mom a lot of questions, ‘mum, why am i different from other people? Why is it that when i pass people laugh at me?’ She didn’t have an answer fro me apart from singing,” said Angel.

Watch the interview below:

 

 

“Neither money nor fame can make you a better journalist” Anne Ngugi advises journalists moving to other stations

There has been a major media realignment over the past few months, Citizen TV raided NTV and poached its entire Swahili desk that comprised of Nimrod Taabu, Jamila Mohamed, and Rashid Abdalla.

Other celebrated journalists like Mashirima Kapombe and Victoria Rubadiri have also joined Citizen TV from KTN and NTV respectively.

Anne Ngugi calls on fellow journalists to be cautious before moving to a different media house. Anne worked for KTN as Swahili news anchor for close to 10 years before she moved to K24.

Just 7 months after being poached by K24, Anne was unceremoniously sacked at a time when she was five months pregnant with twins. She stayed jobless for a while before landing a job with Christian TV station, MBCI TV.

Anne eventually left MBCI to join BBC where she currently works as a reporter and a host, she hosts Dira Ya Dunia programme.

Money and fame
Anne Ngugi
Anne Ngugi

Anne Ngugi now says her experience working for different media houses has taught her that money can deceive journalists. She cautions journalists against moving to a different media house just because everyone is making the switch.

“I have come to realise that neither money nor fame can make you a better journalist, but passion can. Make sure you are going for knowledge, and try to identifying yourself with a media house that is believable to be good, more than looking for the money that you will scoop from them, although we are in different journeys in this field.

“Once you start moving because everyone is moving, you will end up losing your identity, and you may even find out that you are empty without achieving any goal,” said Anne Ngugi during an interview with the Star.