StemCell Therapy

By NDUNG'U GACHANEMore by this Author

A blind prison warder at Muranga GK Prison has beaten all odds to diligently serve her country and discharge her duties as a deacon at the Anglican Church of Kenya, Diocese of Mt Kenya Central.

Ms Esther Nyawira Kamindo, who lost her eyesight in 2014 after a long battle with diabetes, visualised a bleak future and feared that her employer, the Prisons Service, would declare her redundant. She was at a crossroads.

She did not know whether to soldier on or despair in life as she could no longer perform her duties at the prison, including escorting inmates to the courts and hospitals.

Worse still, how would her husband, in-laws and friends react to her condition? She wondered.

I could not commit suicide, since Im a believer, but I lost the purpose to live. Whenever I heard that a friend or a relative died, I wished it was me. I was hopeless and could not imagine that I would catch up with life again, she told the Nation.

As fate would have it, she lost some close friends who could not tolerate a blind friend and she now had to cope with a new way of life, where friends and strangers alike discussed her in hushed tones.

From a person who used to enjoy the beauty of the world to one covered in a world of darkness, a person who could perform all household chores to someone who was dependent on others for everything, and having to cope with gossip from people who knew me before I went blind, it was not easy. It was tormenting and challenging, she adds.

But her family has remained supportive and with help from her employer, she underwent counselling and rehabilitation, learning Braille, living skills such as orientation with the surroundings, mobility and computer studies.

She accepted her situation and this kept her moving. And though tormented by the turn of events, Ms Nyawira gradually accepted that she could no longer see and had to take her studies seriously to compliment her new life as a blind warder.

In 2016, she completed her studies and went back to her work station as a counsellor, since she could no longer discharge her earlier duties.

A white cane became her companion. But even with the milestones made to readjust her life, Ms Nyawira has to live with insults from some drivers and matatu conductors, who do not understand that she cannot see when crossing the road.

Some even attempt to assault her and she has to explain that she is visually impaired.

These are just some of the things that I have to cope with as a person living with disability. When I look at my earlier life, I just feel the urge to serve the Lord.

People like me have been neglected but I was not. Some were fired; I was not; while some have isolated themselves because of stress, she said.

Ms Nyawira says her employer has been supportive, enabling her to complete theological studies and attain the position of a deacon at ACK.

I will be ordained on December 27 this year, and I will use the position to not only spread the gospel but to reach out to all those who have either lost their eyesight or a function of their body but have refused to accept themselves, she says.

I will also use myself as an example to help people understand that we are human beings too and we need acceptance despite our shortcomings.

ACK Bishop Timothy Gicere believes that by becoming a deacon, Ms Nyawira will have fulfilled her calling and that it will be a lesson that God uses us differently.

See the rest here:
Loss of sight fails to dim warder's dreams of brighter future - Daily Nation

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