As a child, Samuel Odawo was so adept at ducking under trees and darting between houses while negotiating round sharp bends in Ndere Alego, Siaya County, that siblings and neighbours christened him ‘Hono,’ meaning miracle.
The 35-year-old lost his sight at the age of six months after an untreated measles attack.
“Little did I know that this was a foretelling of the challenges I would face and that it would take nothing short of a miracle for me to excel in life, education, and a career,” he says.
One of those miracles is that a fortnight ago, he made his maiden overseas trip with no need for a guide.
Odawo was awarded a Chevening Scholarship at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and his recognition as the first visually impaired student marks a milestone in integrated teaching systems. He is studying for a Master of Arts in Management of Special Education.
“As blind persons, we have to go an extra mile to achieve what we want, but we eventually get there,” says Odawo, who describes himself as having been a risk-taker all his life.
Chevening scholarships are awarded to outstanding emerging leaders to pursue a one-year Master’s programme at a UK university.
Before the award, Odawo had worked for two years at Juba Primary School at Dadaab Refugee Camp, teaching children with special needs.
In a Skype interview, he told The Standard on Saturday that the integral culture at Birmingham ensured that blind people were independent and fully participate in academic and social life. He wants local institutions to embrace a similar approach.
“I easily move around from my hostel to class and back. When I get to the traffic lights, I press a button that alerts me when it’s safe to cross,” says Odawo who obtained his first degree at Kenyatta University.
The British university has provided a laptop computer with screen reader software to enable him conduct research and file his assignments, write e-mails and also keep in touch with his wife, Margaret, who is in Kenya.
His wife told The Standard on Saturday that she was delighted her husband was pursuing his dream to advocate for change for the visually impaired.
“I am proud of him. I am motivated to pursue my dreams, too,” she said.
Facial recognition
One of the greatest challenges that Odawo and his blind peers face in Kenya is recognition of the white cane, which he cites as a universal identity for visually impaired persons.
And as Kenya joins the globe in marking World Sight Day tomorrow, he says there is need to inculcate a culture where the white cane is respected, especially on the roads.
He says motorists should be asked to exercise special caution and give the white cane user the right of way.
In May, students from Birmingham University developed a smart cane which incorporates facial recognition technology to alert the user when they are approaching a familiar face, such as a relative or friend.
The ‘XploR’ mobility cane detects faces from up to ten metres away, and vibrates when detecting a recognisable individual from a bank of images stored on an internal SD memory card.
What is the history behind the white cane?
The white cane was first used for navigation in 1921 by photographer James Biggs from England who became blind following an accident and painted his walking stick white to enhance visibility while on the streets.
Nine years later, the President of the Peoria Lions Club in Illinois, George A. Bonham, sought for its modification as a tool for the blind by suggesting a red band.
The national chair for the Society of Professionals with Visual Disabilities, Paul Mugambi, says most motorists do not respect blind road users leading to mostly unreported road accidents.
“Some drivers are restless, impatient for the blind pedestrian to cross fast so that they can drive on,” says Mr Mugambi who has composed a road safety awareness song titled, ‘Heshima kwa fimbo yangu’
Mugambi says that there have been at least 15 incidents in the last few months that have resulted deaths and injured pedestrians through hit and run accidents.
Odawo, Mugambi and their peers are now rallying for the recognition of the white cane and have mounted a wider public awareness campaign on road safety.
Head of Ophthalmic Services Unit at the Ministry of Health Michael Gichangi regrets that poor condition of some roads makes navigation difficult.
“Drivers are fair to those with white canes, but I think our roads are not well prepared to address the needs of the blind, compared to those in developed countries like UK, where their street lighting and systems are disability friendly, and encourage use of a guide dog,” Dr Gichangi added.
He estimated that there about 250,000 blind Kenyans and says cataracts, childhood eye diseases, glaucoma, trachoma and uncorrected vision problems are the leading causes of blindness.