Dr. Kerubo was born and brought up in Isana, a beautiful evergreen area in the highlands of Kisii, Kenya, where farming was small-scale and most people made a living from brewing and selling illicit beer. Role models, exposure and meaningful experiences were unheard of and the idea of ‘success’ was a far-fetched mirage. Her father had a college certificate for his training as an animal breeding technician and her mother was a stay-at-home mom having dropped out of school and gotten married at the tender 17 years.

Her father spent a lot of time traversing the highlands, providing artificial insemination services to cows while in the company of veterinary doctors. He learned veterinary medicine 'on the job', was meticulous at what he did and became a favorite of many who fondly referred to him as ‘Daktari’ – Swahili for doctor. He unequivocally became a role model to Dr. Kerubo. Her father recognized and fully believed in the power of education in changing lives as exemplified by his successful struggles to secure a good education for his eight children and several of his nieces and nephews.

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The impact of poverty and suffering caused by disease particularly that caused by Malaria and later heightened by the HIV pandemic is something that Dr. Kerubo lived with having suffered malaria many times herself. During elementary school, Dr. Kerubo had several conversations with her father about the poverty and suffering in the community, and many times he didn’t have any answers. However, he was always extending a helping hand to community members whenever he could  and encouraged her to work hard in school if she wanted to make a difference in the community- which she did- and he was always her cheerleader.

 

Now, many years after those elementary school day conversations, and the demise of her father, the Mabuka Foundation is an effort to preserve the legacy of the late John Mabuka Kegengo aka Daktari and his many admirable values including, generosity, inclusion, and empathy.