A dark world for orphan who struggles to fend for blind siblings

Vihiga, Kenya: At only 24 years, orphaned and jobless, Dennis Kivati is feeling the heat of having to take  care of his three siblings who are all blind.

And with the increasing cost of living, nothing scares him more than seeing another day dawn in his family’s dark world.

Maureen Lodenyi, 30, Dominick Ogwimba, 29, and Dalmus Kivara, 18, are all blind and rely solely on Kivati – the only one who escaped blindness – for survival.  

“It is difficult taking care of my siblings single-handedly, with no relatives around to help. And all Government offices have shut their doors on us. Only God knows how we survive from day to day,” says Kivati.

When The Standard visited their home in Gamoi village, Gisambai location of Hamisi constituency in Vihiga County, the mood was despondent.

What puzzles the family and any person who visits is how the blindness descended on them; neither of their parents had a family history of blindness.

“They all got blind between the ages of six months and five years, after a short spell of itchy eyes,” Kivati says.

Attempts to save their eyesight at the Kenyatta National and Lions hospitals in Nairobi failed, as the family could not raise the money required for treatment.

Lodenyi says she remembers pain starting in her eyes when she was in nursery school. It worsened within days and ended in blindness.

“I was born with good eyesight. One day – I had just started nursery school – my eyes started itching. I was taken for treatment at both Kenyatta National Hospital and Lions Hospital but I lost my sight,” she says.     

Every day, Kivati is torn between looking for casual work  and staying home to take care of his blind siblings lest anything goes wrong in his absence.

“Since our parents died, I’ve been left with the responsibility of taking care of them. Our parents were not rich and that further complicated everything. We were left with nothing to support us,” he says.

Having only gone up to secondary school, Kivati feels ill-equipped to find anything stable with which he can support the family. This only makes him feel more disheartened. 

For the family, the funds the Government is always singing about that are meant to help orphans and people living with disability are just that, a song.

“The only money we have seen came last year in July, when Dominick was given Sh2,000. And this was after rigorous following it. I have been applying for the money every time but all my efforts are thwarted,” Kivati says.  

Their mother passed on in 2003 and their father in early 2010, leaving them with absolutely nothing to hold onto.

“We look like a huge burden to our brother, who has to struggle to feed us, clothe us, and do practically everything for us,” Lodenyi says.

When their parents realised their children were blind and could not be helped by doctors, they resorted to taking them to Kibos School for the Blind in Kisumu.

At the school, only Lodenyi and Ogwimba managed to learn up to Standard Eight. Kivara dropped out of school in Standard Four for lack of fees.

But even after finishing their basic primary education, help could not be found for the two to continue and so they have been at home.

According to the World Health Organisation’s website, the main causes of chronic blindness include cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, corneal opacities, diabetic retinopathy, trachoma, and eye conditions in children caused by vitamin A deficiency.

Dr Justus Kimaiyo of Sabatia Eye Hospital in Vihiga County says that as much as there are many causes of blindness, most of them are reversible and that the family can be helped only if the victims go to the hospital for tests.