France, Dec. 27 -- The first thing you notice about Mary is her laughter - warm, loud, and quite unexpected from one who has faced death twice.

Inside a tiny tailoring shop in the town of Thika, near the Kenyan capital Nairobi, rolls of fabric spill off the shelves and sewing machines hum. Mary sits in one corner, yarn in hand, looping stitch after stitch with meditative focus.

Knitting was not always her livelihood, it was once just a childhood hobby, forgotten somewhere between raising three children and building a business. It only resurfaced in 2017, when her body forced her to slow down. 'I felt like the world had slapped me'

That year, Mary was diagnosed with spinal cancer and was bedridden for 11 months. She remembers the silenc...