Charity Bright Kibisu, a Grade Two pupil at Joyland Special School for Persons Living with Disabilities in Kisumu has every reason to be grateful to God.
Born without hands 10 years ago at Lotego in Vihiga county, the differently abled girl has gone against all odds to make lemonade from the lemon life gave her.
When the writer visited Joyland Special School yesterday morning, Bright was bent over her books scribbling neatly during the literacy lessons under the watchful eyes of her teacher Hussein Hamisi.
She uses her toes to write.
Moving closer to where she was seated, Bright was not distracted by our presence but stayed focused on her assignment.
Hamisi confirmed she usually keeps her eyes on the ball aware that education was the sure way to a successful life.
He confided that the girl is well known across the institution and unlike most of her contemporaries, she exudes confidence in all that she does.
“If you meet her in the school compound, you will be tempted to think that everything about her was normal.
Despite her tender age, Bright has demonstrated some unique abilities such as calmness in and outside classroom,” he revealed.
Hamisi and the deputy head teacher Antony Opari said one of the challenges they always encountered is the difficulty in movement (mobility) by children with special needs especially when schools reopened.
This means that some learners reported late from home for as long as three weeks and in the process lost out on some of the key lessons.
“This is why we call upon parents with such children to have a change in mindset by prioritising the needs of these special groups.
It has always been the norm that normal children in the families have their issues addressed first before considering this group,” he explained.
By the time of going to the press, about 100 learners had reported back out of the total population of 255. This is less than half of the school population. –KNA
