A life of poverty, disability, blindness

Iganga:
What does it mean to be an impoverished, elderly, disabled and blind couple?
Only Paul Tibaboneka and Theopista Babilaba, both residents of Naluko village in Nabitende Sub-county, Iganga District, can tell the joy or sadness that they have rode through the years. The couple is a signature feature for those seeking for direction of any place in the area surrounding their semi-permanent house.

It is not alien to hear people saying: “That place is just next or after the blind couple or bamuzibe [in reference to their lack of sight]”. At 60 years, Tibaboneka can just second guess how his wife looks now ever since he got a visual infection last year that gave him permanent blindness.

His wife, in contrast, does not have a single idea of how his husband looks like since her blindness is a childhood problem.
Their defects have spread through the family’s core and are visible among some of their children and grandchildren.
The couple spends much of their time seated helplessly seeming to wonder when their daughter, who does odd jobs, will get back home to whet their knurling stomachs. Their semi-permanent house seats on a small piece of land inherited from Tibaboneka parents.

Babilaba became blind at childhood when she was about eight months old.
Her husband who looks frail seems to be getting weaker everyday but holds onto her as a strong consolation that gives him the energy to push him on.

Tibaboneka got crippled after he fell ill immediately after he had married Babilaba, who was already blind.
“I became crippled at about 22 years shortly after marrying her. This is when we started suffering,” he throws us back into the couple’s youthful years.

The family seems to lack everything from food, medicine; beddings are scarce resources in their household.
To add insult to injury, the family has no pit-latrine but such reality is out of their reach as seem to blame their misfortune on evil spirits in their clan.
The couple had been blessed with three children but all had disabilities.

Two of them have since passed on but Alayisa Nanangwe, who quit her marriage to look after them now holds their hope together. She is 37 and has four children but three of these are physically disabled.
From her casual work, she looks after herself, her children and the seeming frail parents.

“Life is hard for us and as you can see, it is already lunch time but I have not yet got food to prepare. I am from working in somebody’s garden where I have been paid only Shs1,000,” she says with a twinge of poverty and sadness written on her face.
The misfortunes in this family seem to grow on and as we learn after the one-hour we have been talking that the couple has urinary problems but with no medication.

Babilaba has fistula while her husband can hardly pass urine.
Steven Mudhasi, who lives in the neighbourhood, narrates this families story with a sad face, saying it is really hard to explain what they go through.

“Most of the days they sleep on empty stomachs. It is their daughter who tries to look for food but nothing much is done given the fact that she also has disabilities,” he says.
But with a fighter’s spirit its only God who can change this family’s story as they seem to be held together by optimism that better days are probably ahead.

Nanangwe,the hope
Alayisa Nanangwe, 37, quit her marriage to look after her parents but she seems held down by eventualities that never seem to end. Three of her four children are disabled just like her.

However, she is the glue that current holds the family together as they sail through a difficult time of poverty blinded by their physical and mental disability.

About the couple
Paul Tibaboneka. Is 60 years old. He got crippled at the age of 22 and was last attacked by an infection that went with his sight. He is sick weak and frail and doesn’t not pass urine at the moment.

Theopista Babilaba. She has been blind since her childhood. She got married to Tibaboneka when he was 22 and they were blessed with three children, however two of them passed.

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