FACES OF CHANGE

  • Overcoming Blindness to Children's Disabilities

    Khadija, Zanzibar

    “I could not see. Not even objects that were very close to me,” recalls Khadija. At the age of five-years-old, Khadija Kali Mati was rendered blind. Khadija lived with her grandmother in Zanzibar, helping her fetch firewood and work in the kitchen. Khadija’s sudden visual impairment affected everyone.

    Initially, Khadija faced her challenges alone. Her mother reacted with disbelief, occasionally trying to beat the lies out of her. “All of us thought she was lying and making excuses not to work,” her mother says. Family members and villagers remained unconvinced until Khadija began stumbling over dangerous objects – firewood and large pits in the field. For Khadija’s safety, her chores dwindled to just caring for her siblings at home.  

    When Khadija began school at age nine, the school teachers reacted to Khadija’s blindness much like her family had initially. Teachers punished Khadija for poor academic performance, oblivious to her physical handicap. “No matter how much I expressed myself with words and deeds, they wouldn’t believe me,” Khadija remembers.

    In 2005, our Foundation started a project to improve education in Zanzibar. One key component of the project was to sensitize teachers and school administrators to special education needs of children. With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, teachers are trained to create a learning environment that welcomes all students, including those with special needs.

    In Zanzibar, only 2% of children and youth with disabilities go to school. There are many obstacles preventing them from attending:  a shortage of special education teachers, a lack of teaching-learning materials and equipment for learners with disabilities, and inaccessible school buildings (no ramps, narrow corridors and doors, and poorly designed toilets). Long distances from home to school, negative community attitudes and low sensitivity by government policymakers make it considerably challenging for children with disabilities to attend school.

    The Zanzibar government selected Makobe Primary School, Khadija's school, to be one of the ten schools receiving AKF assistance. With an "Education For All" approach, the program places special emphasis on addressing needs of children with special needs as well as training teachers to create a learning environment that welcomes all students in all aspects of school-life.