|
John Odour, age 22, who has limited use of his left arm, was born in central Kenya. When WiRED International opened the Community Health Information Center in Mombassa in 2002, he was one of the orphans trained as a local resource coordinator to assist members of the community in using the CD-ROM collections. He has spearheaded WiRED's Disabled Outreach Program to bring HIV prevention and AIDS treatment information to disabled people who struggle with their disability, special challenges, discrimination and the threat of HIV and AIDS. His journal entries describe some of the situations he faces daily.
WiRED Makes a Difference
Believe you me, this is a true story from our outreach program to disabled people. A young lady, 27 years old, came to the Center on a wheel chair. As I watched her wheel her chair towards the computer using one hand I wondered whether she could operate the computer.
She was courageous. I talked to her and took her through the steps on how to retrieve the health information on HIV and AIDS. She took around fifteen minutes to hold the mouse and started navigating as she opened and clicked the mouse button. She made it, with difficulties, to the end of the program. Her mother couldn't believe her daughter could make it.
The young lady stammered as she explained her situation. Her health problems began with an accident back in1995 when she was a first-year student at Egerton University. She had a bad head injury and a broken spinal cord that sent her into a coma for two months in Kenyatta National Hospital's ICU ward. When she became conscious, she was transferred to a spinal injury ward for about five months. Since then she has been attending orthopedic treatment regularly.
Due to the accident she was involved in, she is now disabled and confined to a wheelchair. She developed memory problems due to the serious head injuries, and she stammers a lot as she talks. She understands English but she's unable to speak consistently. The right-hand side of her body is paralyzed.
The amazing thing is that she can operate a computer with all of these difficulties. Her main concern is learning how WiRED could help her find the information she needs to handle her health problems.
Reaching the Unreachable
In March 2004, I met a man, sixty-three years old, in one of the disabled groups in Kiambu District. His fingers were missing. They had been eaten up by leprosy, a deadly and disabling disease in Africa.
When he was a teenager he started feeling numbness and pain in his arms. The pain persisted until the young man couldn't bear it any longer. Unfortunately, he came from a poor family and they could not afford medication. There were no district hospitals; there was only Kenyatta National hospital. His parents took him to the herbalist instead. The pain became worse and worse to an extent that the upper limbs lost feelings and sensation. After some time his fingers started to develop wounds, which dried very fast. They became larger and larger as they dried up. Then, the fingers started falling off. That is when his parents were assisted by a missionary. The missionary attended to the young man and referred him to Kenyatta National Hospital. After taking treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital, he finally got well. Unfortunately he lost his fingers.
The amazing thing is that the man can operate computers without any assistance. After a brief introduction to the operating system, he is able to do it alone. He holds the mouse with the two hands at the wrist and navigates the mouse to quickly open the HIV and AIDS CDs alone without any assistance. Richard, my colleage, could not believe what he was seeing. Even his disabled colleagues were wondering how he could do it.
As that was not surprising enough, the man drives regular motor vehicles, without special equipment, and ploughs the land using a tractor. He is a farmer and a driver by profession.
He told us that his visit to the Center was his first time to touch and operate a computer. Like most of the people who come to the Center, it was also his first time to get to hear the facts about HIV and AIDS. He promised to be there on each and every day we bring Health information to their group. He commented, "I have a story to share with my three children about WiRED and health matters."
Cheshire Home Sharing Responsibility
I met a 17-year-old girl at Cheshire Home and was impressed by the way she was struggling to access HIV and AIDS information on the computer. In our first visit the young girl was not sure if she would be able to get the information by herself. However, in her second visit she took the mouse to point the curser to the icons on the monitor and clicked it to open the tutorials on HIV and AIDS. I could see a broad smile in her face, showing that she had made it at long last.
It's my wish you could see that smile from the young lady, speaking louder than the words she was trying to stammer out. The smile showed how joyous she was to get the HIV information from the latest technology. The young girl was grateful for the opportunity, and said it was first of its kind in her lifetime. Viva, WIRED.
The Real Silence
On April 13, 2004, I attended a workshop organized by GRACE Africa, an organization that helps to improve the education standard of Deaf people in Kenya. My attention was drawn to a young girl in her late 20's. She was deaf and explained that she was living with the HIV virus. As she explained her story in sign language to me through the translator, her colleagues folded their hands and paid intent attention in sadness and disbelief of as they learned about her situation.
She was infected in her first marriage or, perhaps, the second one. Her first marriage lasted four years, and they were blessed to have a baby boy. As her colleagues asked her the cause of separation, she bewailed, her husband had an affair with another woman. Like anyone else would, she felt cheated and walked out of the marriage. Soon, she was engaged with another man.
In her second marriage, her husband became ill and started coughing. As time went by, the cough persisted and they were forced to seek medication. After some time, the husbands TB smear tested positive. He continued with medication but his condition grew worse. The doctor then advised them to have an Elisa test, which also tested positive. She did not know what Elisa meant, but her doctor told her that it was an HIV/AIDS test.
She could neither believe nor accept what the doctor was telling her. It took them quite some time and thorough counseling to come to terms with the reality, she explained sorrowfully. She told us that they still live together and believe that one-day her status will be negative. I also found out that she really needed HIV and AIDS information cause she believed that the retroviral drugs she is taking will change her status to negative, which is not the case. It really took us, the interpreter and me, quite some time to explain that the retroviral drugs they are using, only boost a persons immunity and also hinders the virus multiplication at a high rate.
In sign language she requested, "WiRED International, if you could help, assist me with the proper information on HIV and AIDS. Really I am in need of your assistance."
A chill went through me and I wondered how she would cope with the virus and the disability. "What a Big challenge in life she has! What a double silent-life experience she is going through!" I thought to myself.
^ Back to the Top
|
