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The year 2007 was a dark one for me. I was a second year student at Kampala International University pursuing a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Education when I completely lost my sight.
On that day, I had woken up as usual and was rushing to the exam room to start my end of semester exams.
As I hurried along, I realised I could not see clearly and thought there was some mist but then everything went black. A classmate assisted me to the exam room and after everyone had settled down, I called the invigilators to alert them of my predicament but they said there was nothing they could do to help me.
Frustrated, I started screaming because I felt nobody wanted to help me yet my desire was to write my exams. Luckily, my reaction attracted the lecturer and the dean’s attention who came in and stopped the exams for 30 minutes to meet departmental heads.
I was then assigned an assistant lecturer who read exam questions to me and wrote down the answers on my answer sheet. After I completed all my exams, I traveled back to my Kabiyet home in Nandi County for the school holiday and started taking Braille classes.
My parents pleaded with me to defer my studies and fully enroll for Braille classes at the Kenya Institute of Special Education but I reiterated I would go to Kampala upon commencement of the second semester.
Back in Kampala I maximised on the oral lectures and group discussions to keep tabs on my class work and during exams, the University assigned somebody to help me write my exams until I completed the second semester and went for another three months Braille session.
Prior to these dark days I had been diagnosed with chronic eye complication that kept me in and out of hospital. It had started when I was in upper primary and followed me into high school where my vision gradually blurred.
A number of ophthalmologists and opticians I had consulted recommended a cataract surgery on my eyes to improve my vision, which I did at Sabatia Eye Hospital.
Two months after the surgery, my right eye went completely blind. It was later established that the surgery had been conducted when my eye pressure was high which led to blockage of the optic nerve resulting in blindness.
Despite the challenges, I finished my university education and graduated in 2009. I spent the year 2010 literally knocking on hospital doors seeking for a remedy for the blindness, but this was in vain.
I eventually left to see a specialist in Germany where I was diagnosed with Uveitis but my blind right eye could not be repaired. In August 2010 I underwent fresh eye surgery and four per cent of my left eye vision was restored and I was happy to see again.
Today, I have enrolled for a Masters Degree in Literature studies at the University of Eldoret where I was offered a part time graduate assistant job. Although I still use medication to reduce inflammation and moderate the eye pressure, I am grateful that I can see once again.
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