Ten years after losing her arms, Jackline Mwende still carries the scars of intimate partner violence
Ten years after a brutal domestic violence attack left her without arms, Jackline Mwende reflects on the challenges of living with disability. She shares her struggle with prosthetic limbs and the ongoing physical and emotional toll of the incident.
Why it matters
The story highlights the long-term consequences of gender-based violence and the limitations of current prosthetic technology for survivors.
Jackline Mwende after prosthetic limbs were fitted in South Korea / FILE
Ten years have passed since Jackline Mwende's life changed forever.
Her story shocked Kenya in 2016 after her then husband chopped off both her arms in a brutal act of intimate partner violence.
Today, the mother of one has learnt to live with a permanent disability, but says the physical and emotional wounds remain as fresh as ever.
She says accepting her new reality was the first step towards rebuilding her life.
Although she underwent several corrective surgeries and later travelled to South Korea, where donors fitted her with custom-made electronic prosthetic arms, the devices never became part of her daily life.
"They helped me for a short time, but they were too heavy," she says.
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