Teacher who lost his sight but not vision for education

Kagir Primary School in Baringo North head teacher Joseph Kibet at his office on May 27,2019. [Kipsang Joseph/Standard]

Joseph Kibet sits in his office, with the table full of exercise and text books. He orders for his machine and inquires which class he is expected to be in from his assistant Bethuel Kiplagat.

Mr Kibet is supposed to be in Class Eight for Christian Religious Education lesson. He picks his braille and asks Mr Kiplagat where they had reached in the last lesson; it dawns on us that he is visually impaired.

While Kiplagat writes on the board, Kibet goes on teaching.

The last born in a family of five was not born with disability.

He lost sight on December 17, 1978 aged six. The head teacher of Kagir Primary School in Baringo North said bandits raided their home, where the school is now located and shot at him before stealing 35 heads of cattle.

The bullet entered above his left ear and exited through the right cheek. “I slipped into a comma and a year later regained consciousness, it’s then that I realised my world had changed, I could not see who was around me, my freedom was curtailed,” Kibet said.

Life changed and he had to rely on people around him to guide him. In 1982 James Kiptisya heard about his story and enrolled him in Thika School for the blind. He cleared primary school in 1990 and joined Secondary School where he studied until 1994.

In 1996 he joined Asumbi Teachers Training College and was employed under Parent Teachers Association at Marigat Integrated School in 2001 earning Sh3,000 a month. It is while working at Marigat that he saw the need to have a school nearby and engaged parents and elders who gave him support.

Kibet sympathised with children who braved insecurity in the region to trek over six kilometres to a nearby school. “The nearest school here then was around six kilometres, rivers would flood during the rainy season, insecurity was rife while others during drought and hunger time failed to reach school, they would remain in the bush to look for wild fruits. I saw it well to start a school and engaged parents and elders in 1998 we settled for this school,” he added.

The teacher revealed that he used part of his Sh3,000 salary to pay two teachers. One of the teachers earned Sh700 while the other Sh500.

In 2001 he met leaders who had attended Arid Lands District Steering group meeting which he was a member and raised the issue.

The then District Commissioner John Abduda flew to the area and realised the need to have a school. Though the government had banned opening of more schools he said the DC went to Jogoo House and was given the go ahead to establish the institution.

The school picked up but due to insecurity between 2011 and 2013 it was closed after teachers and pupils fled.

Kibet did not want to see his dream die and in 2014 sought to be transferred to the school.

Teachers Service Commission moved him to the school as deputy head teacher before he was promoted to head teacher in 2016.

Kenneth Yano a Class Eight Pupil at the school said the teacher works hard to ensure they excel in their studeies.

“He is visually impaired but he is doing much, he is brave and has always pushed to see we get the best,” Yano said.

Kibet teaches English, Social Studies and CRE.

And Richard Chepchomei recounted how he met the teacher hours after he was shot.

“The locals had improvised a stretcher using two poles and a sack, they were able to carry the young from his home to Yatya where I met them and ferried him in the canter i was driving,” he said.

Michael Kakugo noted that the teacher is also a representative of Persons With Disability in Baringo National Affirmative Action Fund.  

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