Making an impression
Towards the end of last year, Sightsavers brought some of the people we’ve helped over to the UK. Angeline Akai, Lawrence Momanyi and Loice Bunei are all blind, and all of them received support from a Sightsavers supported education project in Kenya.
In developing countries, over 90% of children with disabilities such as blindness never get the chance to go to school, which is something Sightsavers is working to overcome.
The reason for their trip was for the three students to attend a big parliamentary event at Westminster. Their aim was to convince the Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell, the Secretary of State for International Development, that the UK Government should do everything it can to ensure disabled children in the poorest countries get the chance to go to school. We decided that visually impaired young people would make the best case, by talking about how important education had been to them. So Angeline, Lawrence and Loice were flown over, courtesy of Skywards Miles donated by members of Emirates.
Having a voice
Five people at the event were invited to stand up and ask a question, and Loice was one of them. She asked Andrew Mitchell about the Government’s commitment to reaching the Millennium Development Goals, and how they can be achieved without specifically addressing disabled people.
23-year-old Loice did not actually lose her sight until she was 16, so had to readjust to a life in darkness. She is now in her fourth year at Kenyatta University in Kenya, and hopes to go on to enrol for a postgraduate degree and become a role model for people with visual impairments.
The three were also able to personally meet with Andrew Mitchell after the event, and Angeline gave him a Sightsavers briefing paper on education. Angeline is a shining example of what can be achieved when disabled people are given the opportunities enjoyed by their peers. However, even with this support she is struggling to find work as no one will give her an opportunity. So much work remains to be done
Meeting his idol
Angeline occasionally helps out at her old primary school, Kilimani, where she first met Lawrence when he was a student there. Lawrence, 14, has been blind since he can remember. He is now in form one at Nakuru Boys High School. He can read and write Braille, and uses screen reading software so he can use computers to help him study. His role model is Peter White, a presenter for the BBC World Service, and when we contacted Peter to see if he would like to meet Lawrence he jumped at the chance!
Click here to read a diary Lawrence wrote about his time in the UK . His diary also appeared in the Young Times newspaper.
What do you think?