Blind mother  praying for miracle of sight for her family

Toiling to fend for the visually impaired family.  Harriet Nalubega,61, is the hope for her family because she ensures they get  tilling jobs despite their visual  defects. Nalubega  tells Dan Wandera about her  experience.

Harriet Nalubega is a 61-year-old woman living with visual impairment.  Unlike some other people living with similar disability who expect charity, Nalubega would rather earn her pay and is furious with people who refuse to hire her due to her disability. 

As we start chatting, she is anxious to emphasise that she is capable of working in every garden contrary to the rumours about her prowess in bean gardens. Nalubega says she was born with a complex visual defect which worsened as she grew older and has now left her completely blind. 

The resident of Yandwe Village in Butuntumula Sub-county is a mother of four children who are also visually impaired. The family survives on hiring themselves out to whoever has garden work in exchange for food and on lucky days they are paid in cash. 
Surviving by touch
Her daughter, 28-year-old Rachael Naligwa who is also blind claims the family has mastered the art of gardening relying solely on their sense of touch.  

“We can weed and dig in every garden except the bean crop because of its delicate nature. It is now known to whoever hires us that we cannot weed a garden of beans,” Naligwa says.  
To demonstrate the family’s ability Nalubega invites me to witness their skill at weeding using the maize garden near her home and I am impressed at how thorough she is.

Whenever the family lands a job, they rely on Naligwa’s son who fortunately has been spared from the illness to map layout of the plot, the type of weeds and the best way to get rid of them. 

“We resorted to tilling people’s gardens because it was the only option for us to earn a living. We tried our hand at poultry and piggery but people stole them.  Our urgent concern is about bringing food to our family and being able to afford some of the other basics such as buying soap and medication when needed. Fortunately some of the people that we work for are very kind and they give us the food and some money to buy the home basics without us tilling their gardens,” Nalubega narrates.  

Nalubega was not born blind but admits that she had a visual complication where she could only see objects that are very close and at times had difficulty telling colours apart. She completely lost her sight  at age of 41. 

She reveals her father and brothers too had almost similar visual-related complications. 

“The difference is that they were not totally blind like me. And unlike me, my daughter and some of my grandchildren’s conditions have worsened at a tender age,” says Nalubega.
While she has lost hope for the recovery of her own sight, Nalubega prays her daughter and grandchildren will in the future recover their sight.

 “In our interaction with a team of medical officials who delivered the white canes that had been donated by Sight Savers Uganda, I was told that the sight of  my grandchildren can be restored although the surgical operations are very expensive. I still trust in God that a miracle is on our way,” Nalubega shares.

Mercy of the farm owner
Before the family deteriorated into destitution, Nalubega says they owned and cultivated their own plot of land but were  evicted because the land belonged to the National Forestry Authority. Hers was among the more than 300 households that were squatters on the government land.
 
“Before we lost our land, we never lacked food. We could cultivate food for the family. It is also unfortunate that even the small plot that we own as a family,  a landlord wants us to pay money before we can retain it permanently yet we have the purchase agreement for the land (kibanja),” says Nalubega.  
Others say

  Abdallah Ssemugabi, a Local Council defence secretary at Yandwe village in Butuntumula Sub-county believes that Nalubega is among the unlucky parents that need both material and psycho- social support from both the community members and the well-wishers. 

It is also true that I have seen Nalubega being guided by one of her grandchildren to the different gardens where she works for pay. 

“Nalubega does not seek to be hired as a farm worker out of passion but she carries a heavy family burden as the breadwinner, ” Ssemugabi says.

“ It is unfortunate that she is not the only member of her family that is visually impaired but has four other family members with visual impairment that need support. I helplessly look on when I see Nalubega holding a hand hoe with her condition. I have always tried to send some food to this family just like many other well-wishers. I would not get excited about the fact that Nalubega gets hired to work in a garden by anybody in exchange for food and money,”  he adds.  
 Norah Nantaba, one of the residents of  Yandwe Village, explains that Nalugwa can do the garden work with little supervision and does excellent work. 

“It is unfortunate she has no alternative source of income, that partly explains why she decided to try gardening. I cannot deploy her at my garden but instead give her some food and some little money,” says Nantaba.

“It appears very unkind for one to hire an elderly person with visual impairment to work in a garden. Persons with physical bodily impairment need to be loved and possibly helped out of hardship at all times.” 

The expert take        
Dr Naome Nsubuga, an optometrist at Brien Holden Visual in an earlier interview with the Daily Monitor, described congenital blindness as a rare and often neglected visual complication that requires much attention in terms of rehabilitation. The cases are rare but real and can take a toll on the general livelihood of a particular family.

“At an early stage congenital blindness can be corrected through surgical operation which is a bit expensive but can be successfully conducted. It is also true that at the age of 60 years it is likely the nerves surrounding the eye may not support a successful operation targeting the correction of the sight. 

“For the case of this particular family, they need psychosocial support and total rehabilitation. The children need to go school and get medical care,” Dr Nsubuga said.

Symptoms
The symptoms of visual impairment in young children can include:
Constant Eye Rubbing
An extreme sensitivity to light
Poor  focusing
Chronic eye redness
Chronic tearing from their eyes
A white instead of black pupil
Poor  visual tracking, or trouble following an object with their eyes
abnormal eye alignment or movement after  six months of age
--healthline.com