I lost my sight but not my vision

Henry Wanyoike never thought he could run until his primary school teacher physically shoved him in a pool of competitors when his school’s representative in a running competition failed to turn up. He spoke to PETER MUIRURI.

Henry was only 14 years old when his teacher challenged him to a race. Surprisingly, he won the race and was rewarded with handfuls of glucose and an orange — his first ever prizes in athletics!

Born in May 1974, Henry grew up at Shauri Yako slums in Kikuyu.

Henry Wanyoike (in glasses)

His mother brought him up after his parents separated early on in his life. Like other young boys growing up in his village, Henry had the desire to excel academically. However, young Henry was much of a little rascal, engaging in mischievous schemes much to the dismay of his mother.

"Mum would leave me with a lot of work but I would forget as swimming with other boys took centre-stage," recalls Henry.

For his misdemeanours, Henry would get some thrashing from his mother. Academically, Henry was not doing too good either. In his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, he scored only half of the possible 700 marks and could not enrol in his dream school, Kabarak High School.

favourite pastime.

His mother enrolled him at Kahuho High School, a day school near his home where he continued honing his now favourite pastime — athletics.

"I ran and won both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres races between my school and a neighbouring one, pocketing Sh1,000 prize money. This was a lot of money then and I gave some to my mum," says Henry.

To supplement his mother’s meagre earnings, Henry did odd jobs, among them trapping moles. When the 1993 KCSE results were announced, he had again performed dismally, scoring a D+. This dashed his hopes of joining university. With the help of his mother, he trained as a cobbler, setting up a shoe-mending business near his home.

Despite the menial jobs, Henry was still optimistic that life would change for the better. Then tragedy struck. One day in March 1995, Henry was having breakfast when a piece of ugali he was holding suddenly fell off his left hand, followed by crippling numbness on the same hand.

"I was confused and could only manage a stammer. I was scared," he recalls

At the nearby Thogoto Mission Hospital, doctors could not find anything wrong with Henry. Doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital later discovered that Henry had suffered a stroke. That was the beginning of his ordeal.

One day, Henry woke up to his mother’s loud shouts. She was wondering why he had overslept, forgetting to milk the cows.

Henry remembers: "We argued with mum. I tried to tell her it was still dark while she insisted that the sun was up. I reached for the light switch but couldn’t see anything and concluded there was a power blackout. Mum thought I was just being lazy."

Soon, his mother realised that her son was not putting on a show and they went back to Thogoto Hospital. Several tests revealed that he had lost his sight and that nothing could be done to reverse the condition. At 21, Henry had become blind.

"I got into a depression," says Henry.

Through the help of friends, Henry joined Machakos Institute for the Blind where he was taught various skills.

"Since I was a cobbler before losing my eyesight, I thought I could try the same but I ended up threading parts of my legs most of the time," says Henry.

It was in Machakos that his love for athletics was rekindled. The games teacher, who was also blind, encouraged Henry to give athletics a try.

"This was a new experience. Sometimes the guide would forget that I was blind and leave me on my own," says Henry.

However, the little efforts paid off with Henry getting a certificate after winning the Olympic Day Run. The following year, he won the same race and qualified for the 2000 Paralympics games in Sydney, Australia, where Henry clinched a gold medal. The rest, as they, is history.

Henry has since won titles in many competitions. He is also the goodwill ambassador for Standard Chartered Bank’s Seeing is Believing campaign. In most of these races, he has Joseph Kibunja, his childhood friend and current guide, to thank.

"Imagine a man who runs alongside you, finishes the race with you but lets you take all the glory. That is the best example of humility," says Henry.

Kibunja acts as Henry’s ‘eyes’ warning him of impending obstacles.

In 2001, Henry met and fell in love with a woman he met at a telephone booth at the Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi.

Make a call

"I had requested a hesitant Millicent to help me make a call. She thought I was a criminal masquerading as a blind fellow. She overcame her fears and we became friends. We got married a year later," says Henry, a father of four.

Under the Henry Wanyoike Foundation, the resilient athlete has found a way to give back to the community. The foundation has since donated 80 wheelchairs, 200 white canes for the blind and 25 scholarships for needy students.

The Wanyoike Run for the Future, held every last weekend of May in Kikuyu, is part of the foundation’s efforts in furthering the cause for the needy.

Henry urges anyone with a disability to accept the situation and plan the steps ahead: "Mine was a challenge that turned into a blessing."