Njeri Meresa, VoicesofAfrica alumna in Kisumu, Kenya
'I don't need sympathy. Give us opportunities, mingle with us and treat us like normal people because we are normal', says Gerald Wabwire, blind man at the home for the aged.
Although he was born blind, he is prove that physically challenged people can achieve their dreams just like any other person. According to sister in charge of the aged at the home, Wabwire is one of the most cleansed old man in the home.
‘Wabwire does his own chores including, sweeping, washing his plates after eating, washes his own clothes, in fact their room is the cleansed within the facility. He does share room with a person who sees, but you find that most of the time its wabwire who make the room tidy’, says sister Agatha.
When 68yrs old Gerald Wabwire lost his eyesight, it was shocking and devastating. It was tough blow, particularly for a youngster who had big plans for his future.
‘I was told that my eyeballs melted at the age of two. My mother could not do anything, but to see me blind thank God because I have all the senses. When sweeping the floor I use my sense of touch ha! Ha! Laughs a little’, Wabwire traces the dark moment of his young life.