Young, blind but with a vision

Gladys Mukiira, 12, a girl born with blindness and who was abandoned by her mother while her father allegedly developed mental problems at a tender age of one and half years entertains crowds at Nanyuki Stadium during Mashujaa Day celebrations. Photo by JOB WERU/Standard.

When Gladys Mukiira, 12, attended last year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations at Nanyuki Stadium in Laikipia County, she had no idea what awaited her.

At the height of the celebrations, she was called to the podium to entertain the guests with a song.

And because she is blind, it took her time to make her way from tents about 100 metres away from the podium. But she made it with the help of her grandmother and a well-wisher, Virginia Wanjugu. On the podium she moved the audience with her song and the story of her life.

 At the end of it she left the podium with cash donations following an impromptu fundraiser.

“I was born blind but I thank God for giving me life. But being blind cannot stop me from realising my dream. I know I can sing and I am ready to produce a CD, but I do not have money,” she told the audience.

Gladys first went to school three years through the help of well-wishers who took her to St Lucy’s School for the Blind in Egoji Meru, but she dropped out due to lack of school fees. Laikipia environment county executive John Bosco Akaale and Laikipia East MP Anthony Mutahi stepped in and paid her school fees at the Salvation Army School for the Visually Impaired in Thika where she was forced to transfer to. During the Mashujaa Day celebrations, political leaders and business people contributed money to help Gladys produce a CD of the eight songs she has composed.

And when this writer traced her later, he found Gladys full of joy. She laughed off the hurdles she has gone through in life and talked about her dream of becoming a banker.

“I know I do not see. I know God is on my side and I know I will become a banker and give back to the community that has been on my side through the 12 years. Gladys laughed as she narrated how she convinced her two siblings to return home after they were abandoned by their mother in Nanyuki town and ended up living on the streets.