MY JOURNEY TO THE WORLD OF BLINDNESS

My name is Fidelis Kimurgor a resident of Uasin-gishu county, My journey to the world of blindness started when I was three months old. I was affected with vision problem called glaucoma. I underwent an eye operation at Moi teaching and referral hospital. Unfortunately, my parents noticed that my eyes were not fully restored by the age of four. A subsequent visit to Sabatia Hospital revealed that some nerves had been damaged during the initial surgery, leaving little hope for restoring my sight. However, by the grace of God, one of my eye was partially restored allowing me to perceive blurry vision.

At the age of five, I joined St. Francis Kapenguria Primary School for the visually impaired. Despite the challenges, i remained focused on my studies. However, in 2018, an incident occurred that dramatically changed my life. While in form 3, some of my friends playfully threw books at me, causing an injury that resulted in total blindness. Before this incident, I had still been able to see blurred vision with one eye. Though this experience was undoubtedly painful, i found the strength to accept it and move forward.

After completing my secondary education, I face the challenge of enrolling to college to pursue journalism. Many schools rejected me questioning how I can pursue this field despite being visually impaired. However, I was able to joined Cambridge college in the year 2021 January to pursue diploma in mass communication and journalism. Being the only visually impaired student in the class, I managed to overcome the obstacles and graduated on December 2023.