Top student sets his sights well ahead

ANTHONY NJOROGE | NATION
Zachary Muasya sits at a computer desk at the Centre for Adaptive Technology run by the Kenya Society for the Blind (KSB) in Nairobi. Muasya, who is visually impaired, is waiting to join the University of Nairobi’s College of Education this year.

When first year students troop to the University of Nairobi’s Kikuyu Campus, Zachary Muasya will rank high among those who have overcome unusual challenges to get there.

Zachary lost his sight growing up at Mavoloni, Yatta in the early 1990s. Yet advances in technology mean that he will keep up with the sighted students despite his handicap.
Six months after he was born, Zachary developed an abnormal growth in his right eye. It was this growth that eventually cost him his sight. It took two years for him to be referred to the eye unit at Kikuyu Hospital for specialised treatment, by which time the only option left for doctors was to cut off a vein in his eye to stop the abnormal growth. As a result, he spent his early years studying with fellow visually impaired students at Thika School for the Blind.

Zachary has not had a smooth ride to university. In primary school, his father, a mason, and his mother, a vegetable vendor, found it hard to bear the costs of educating him at the special boarding school. He spent a lot of term time at home for lack of fees. But he still managed to score 325 marks in KCPE that earned him a place at the secondary school for the blind.

Sponsors paid his secondary school fees, but he still found it hard to learn because books were scarce. Braille books are expensive, and it was hard for the school to provide books for every student.

“The Braille text books were few, creating competition for the few available ones,” he says.

Zachary singles out literature as one of the subjects in which he faced a major challenge. He says that Braille translations came in late and even then there were only a few copies.

“Compared to students in regular schools who probably started studying the books in form one, we got copies towards the end of the term in form three and we still had to catch up and complete the books on time,” he explains, adding that he enjoys literature and is perfecting his English language skills.

To go round the problem, students devised a method where the few partially sighted students could read out material for those who were totally blind. This enabled everyone to access all kinds of information from various text books.

However, as demand increased, the partially sighted began to charge a fee for their reading services.

“We (totally blind students) would pay at least Sh10 for a one-hour reading session,” he says.

But Zachary soon realised that he could not afford to pay for the services.

“Sought-after revision books like the Topmark series were not available in Braille, so we relied on the partially sighted with personal copies to read out loud to the rest of us who could not see.”

He came up with a clever method to get the reading service without paying for it. He would sit near the reader who was reading out loud to a group of totally blind students and eavesdrop while pretending to be doing his own studies.

“My ears were always on alert. Every time I heard someone saying there was going to be a reading session, I would plan to be in class pretend to be studying yet I was eavesdropping on what was being read out or discussed. That way I got the information I needed without paying,” he reveals.

This strategy meant that he had to stay awake till 2am to avoid missing out on the free reading sessions. One group would study for two hours from 10pm while another group would wake up from midnight for a different two-hour session.

Eventually he scored a C+ grade in KCSE in 2009, which got him a place at the University of Nairobi for a degree in Education. The 22-year-old will report for his first year in September.

He believes that his first degree will be the stepping stone that ultimately leads him to his dream of defending the rights of disabled people in Kenya and around the world.

“With my qualification I can get a job, and earn some money to pay for a Law degree,” he says.

Zachary has already completed a three-month computer course at the Centre for Adaptive Technology run by the Kenya Society for the Blind (KSB).

“Since I got computer skills, access to information and communication has become much easier,” he says.