Dreams might be crushed by many reasons, we may feel its the end of the world for us and eventually give up. unusual things happen within a blink of an eye. But, then what can we do when we are unable ?

This is a story of Sarah Luwaya 14 years of age born from a family of 8.

Sarah lives with her parents in mbambo village of Manyinga district, North western province Zambia who depend on small scale farming for a living.

She started school in 2011 and has always been very good at school. Her dream is to become a doctor.

Teachers, family and many others in her village believe in her as one of the girls who can pass with flying colours at all levels of education and become someone in life.

Sarah got sick while attending class in 2016. It was a headache that led to serious pain which continued every time she knocked off from school.

She was taken to the clinic in her village where she was given pain killers(panado) which did not help her.

Sarah then blackout one morning and sadly, when she regained consciousness, she was blind.

“i was confused , i felt like someone had switched off the sun and the world was in total darkest.” Said Sarah

“i felt invisible and alone trying to comprehend what happened to me only to discover that i was totally blind. I couldn’t believe it neither did my family. At that time we had nothing to do but just cry and pray to God for his intervention.” She said

Sarah was then taken to loloma hospital where the doctor declared her blind. The doctor explained that, total blindness was caused by meningitis which is an inflammation of meninges that protects membranes of the brain and spinal cord.

The inflammation happens as a result of an infection caused by a bacteria or virus.
The life of the intelligent Sarah now became difficult as a visually impaired person.

Most of the time she has been discriminated in her community because of the myth that people who are visually impaired can’t do anything .

Sarah doesn’t do anything on her own because she has been made to believe so. Everything has to be done by others. She cant walk, write or do anything without being aided.

She stopped school in 2016 in grade 6. Despite her parents wanting her to continue schooling, her teachers could not continue teaching her on ground that they didn’t know how to teach a blind person and they didn’t have teaching materials for her. To date, Sarah doesn’t go to school.

Her parents can’t afford to take her to school for the visually impaired which can only be found in Solwezi district in the whole Northwestern province.

Many people in her village believe she can still continue her education which is the only tool to help her scape poverty as girl child living with visual impairment, as disability is not inability.

Sarah is therefore, asking well wishers such as Government, NGOs, Churches and individuals to help her by taking her to a special school or inclusive school.

For more information you can contact Dihamba ward councillor Doris Ding’ombi on 0973773001 or 0961939721.Story by Kachongo Hope and kaumba chikenge.