Blind couple, blind children but with clear vision

It was at 10:00am on a Friday, when I set off from the Old Taxi Park, aboard a Katosi-bound taxi. Getting off at Ntenjeru trading centre, I took a dusty road, over 10 rough villages of Mawoto sub-county in Mukono district.

Negotiating corners through tea plantations and forests, coming across despondent village peasants and stomping through bushy pathways, I reached Mawoto village, my destination. Boda boda is the only means of transport to reach this village, about 20km off the road. 

On a very frustrating journey on pot-holed murrum road, I could not help wondering how this family trudges this route.

However, there is an alternative to getting to Mawoto — through Luzira or Gaba landing sites — crossing the lake by boat. It is a two-hour journey.

Sembatya was not at home when I got there. He had taken the morning boat to Mukono for a meeting.

“Sorry to make you wait,” Angella Apuuli, Sembatya’s wife, apologised as she put down what she was carrying. “I had gone to tend to the pigs,” she said. The rat-hole of a kitchen and the mud-and-wattle pit latrine just a few metres away that lets out a foul stench, are pointers to the misery and poverty the family lives in. 

Despite being visually impaired, Apuuli is a good-natured woman with a personality that puts others at ease. She is sociable with a high sense of humour and also speaks fluent English. 

Measles attack 
Seated on the veranda of their two-room house, Apuuli reminisces how she lost her sight. Her birth on December 11, 1982 in Kumi district was normal. She had her sight, but at only two years old, she lost it after suffering a life-threatening measles attack. 

She attended Madera School for the Blind for her primary education, studying all the subjects taught in a conventional school. The only difference was the use of a braille machine to read. She dropped out of school in S4 when her education was interrupted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel attack on Teso. 

How they met
Apuuli’s mother took her to Mbale Vocational School for the Blind in Nabumali, where she acquired skills in handcrafts, knitting and basket weaving. It was here that she met her husband. 

“I was about 20 years old then. Sembatya approached me and proposed marriage. I did not take him seriously.

After training, I was bound to return to Mawoto to take care of my sick mother.

I gave him the directions and asked him to come and meet my mother if he meant what he said,” she said. 

Apuuli was surprised when Sembatya, barely two weeks after she had left the institution, made the trip.
The couple's three children are visually impaired

Two things struck her; a visually impaired Sembatya coming all alone and by water via Luzira landing site. 

“He pleaded with me, saying he wanted to marry me since both of us were visually impaired. He said we could take care of each other and told me that his mother had died and he was staying with a stepmother, who was mistreating him,” she said. 

Sembatya’s emotional plea moved Apuuli to believe that he was truthful and serious. Her mother gave him a condition — to take good care of Apuuli. He had just returned from the institution in Mbale and was jobless, staying with a relative in Mbiko. 

“He visited me a number of times,” Apuuli says. 

After her mother’s blessings, the duo rented a room at Mawoto trading centre in 2001. Two years later, they managed to build themselves a small house. Apuuli describes her husband as caring, supportive and loving.

Blind children
Her first born came in 2003 and brought her the happiness of being a mother. But her joy was short-lived when the child’s eyesight started getting dimmer. He eventually lost his sight. They went to many places for treatment, but nothing could be done.

As if that was not bad enough, their second and third children were born visually impaired. Innocent Kabogoza, the first born, is now 11 years old and is in P3, Tito Muganga, 8, is in P2 and Timothy Jemba, 6, is in P1. They all go to Salaama Rural School for the Blind in Mukono. 

The children were taken to Mengo Hospital where they were operated upon. Muganga is now partially blind. 

Apuuli says visually impaired children need the support and encouragement of their parents and it is important that they are given opportunities to explore, discover, learn and grow into responsible people. 

“I am grateful to my parents for never discouraging me from doing anything based on my visual impairment. I was encouraged to do anything I wanted, including riding a bike, engaging in sports, cooking and studying braille,” she says.

Apuuli’s typical day
I have a wake up prayer in the morning. If I have somewhere to dig, I do so until about midday. Then I mop the house, prepare breakfast and fetch water and food for my pigs. Then I chat with my friends. 

Most times, her husband is not at home to have meals with her as he leaves early by boat. Being a musician, he spends most of his time rehearsing or going around churches and functions entertaining people. 

Apuuli is good at farming, but lacks land to cultivate. She has turned to piggery instead and a bit of digging. She sells the piglets and potatoes to supplement her husband’s income. 

“Someone may deny me a job because of my blindness, yet I can do almost everything. I can bake cakes, but I was shocked when I tried to sell mandazi at the trading centre but people refused to buy from me. I had to bring all of them back. Fortunately, my children were on holiday and they ate them.  I can do any business if I get support,” Apuuli says.

Sembatya was born blind
Sembatya, 32, is the fourth of eight children born to Musoke Senkungu of Mbiko in Buikwe district. He believes measles could have robbed him of his sight, though his parents still insist it was witchcraft. 

He went to Spire Road Primary School (section of the blind) in Jinja up to P7. He then had to live a quiet life helping his parents rear pigs and chicken to get more income for his family. He joined Mbale Vocational School for the Blind, courtesy of Father Keveti, a Catholic priest, where he studied braille. Being intelligent and studious by nature, he quickly grasped special skills in handcraft and agriculture. 

It is here that he met Apuuli, who offered him her heart and care. Sounding philosophical, Sembatya says: “Each one of us values certain things in ourselves. We look for complementary characteristics in each other.”

“We always have to dig deep within ourselves to ensure that we are not making assumptions based on our condition and letting those prejudices spill over into our interactions. Obviously, blindness is a part of our lives,” he adds.

Seeing his future in music
Sembatya is a humble, average man, who undertook an extraordinary feat — singing gospel music. The Bible passage in John where Jesus says: “We must do the works of the one who sent me, while it is still day...” inspired Sembatya to preach the gospel through music. “My condition has not stopped me from pursuing my dreams.

I see my future in music. I write my own music, drawing inspiration from real life experiences. I sing about Jesus because there is nothing greater to sing about,” he says. 

You can sing about love, he stresses, but there is no greater love than the love of God. He started singing in 2005 and recently recorded a six-track album Fena Twagale Yesu. 

Community life
Sembatya is loved and respected in and outside his community. He says people are truly nice and supportive, understanding and helpful in a constructive way. He feels happy about himself and his family, their good health and their ability to move on. 

He says visually impaired people move by instinct. 

“Every day, we are changing what it means to be visually impaired. The sight of a blind person crossing the street independently, grocery shopping, travelling long distances and the thousands of other things we do really make a difference,” he says. 

Sembatya is grateful to the Lillian Foundation, a charity organisation based in Mukono that pays part of school fees for his children. Each child pays sh200,000 per term. 

He also thanks the RDC of Mukono, John Kasenge, who often invites him to perform at district functions, where he gets financial assistance. 

Appeal
Sembatya’s greatest desire is to record music videos, but lacks funds. He also calls upon Good Samaritans to finance the construction of a bigger house since their family is growing.

The family also needs more land for cultivation. He calls upon corporate organisations that support local artistes, businessmen and well-wishers to help him fulfil his dream. He can be reached on 0712865380. 

Expert opinion 
Dr. Ada Kakembo, an ophthalmologist with Paragon Hospital, says there are many likely causes of blindness and, thus, advises the family to seek medical attention from Mengo Eye Clinic for a proper diagnosis. 

She explains that for any eye condition in which a genetic origin is known or suspected, a thorough examination will be needed to establish the diagnosis of the eye disorder.

Dr. Moses Sebalamu, an eye doctor with Eye Care Centre in Wandegeya, says if one of the parents is blind, there is about a 50-50 possibility that the child will be blind. If both parents are blind, chances are even higher.

However, he is quick to point out that genetic blindness is classified according to the type of genetic abnormality. 

“Some people get blind because of sickness or accidents. Others get blind because of a gene abnormality or an underlying problem with the parents such as diabetes and unfortunately that gene could be passed on to the child,” Sebalamu explains

“Sight problems can develop before a baby is born. Sometimes, parts of the eye do not form the way they should. The child’s eyes might look fine, but the brain has trouble processing the information they send. The optic nerve sends pictures to the brain, so if the nerve does not form correctly, the baby’s brain will not receive the messages needed for sight,” he explains.

Sebalamu, however, says there are many causes of blindness. In children, it may be due to birth defects, often a result of prematurity. Optic nerve damage, injury of the eyes and trauma to the part of the brain that controls vision may also result in blindness. Another possible cause of childhood blindness is bilateral congenital cataract. 

This is a condition that causes extensive clouding of the lenses of the eye so that light cannot pass through. Certain visual impairments, such as cataracts and glaucoma, can be treated or corrected if detected early.  Experts call for the need to be vigilant.

“Normally after a week, you should be able to tell that your baby sees by pointing in his eye. If he does not blink, this is an indication that something is wrong,” says Sebalamu.