At Northern BUILD I got
the wonderful privilege to have two visually impaired students in my group.
Both 20 years of age,
Daniel became partially blind about six years ago and now can see shapes of
objects but lacks color and detail. Brian
on the other hand has been completely blind for two years due to nerve damage.
This post is about Brian.
Now I do not know what I
was expecting. I knew I would be responsible
for guiding him around and assisting in activities but little did I know how
independent he would be.
Brian was incredibly
active in every class; responding to questions, leading discussions, initiating
ideas, and leading the way. It didn’t
matter if he was learning a new dance, creating a sack garden, sewing up a tear
in a mosquito net, or learning to put on a condom, he did not let his lack of
vision inhibit him.
Plus Brian was the
funniest and most intuitive kid around.
Example include…
- Staff demonstrating how
to do an activity where you sit up and down together in a circle without
letting go of your teammates hands and Brian called them out for not sitting
down.
- When presenting about
taking pregnant women to the health centers for IPTp, intermittent preventive (prophylaxis) treatment
in pregnancy, he said, “Men. If you are
going to score the goal, you have to follow the rules.”
- As I took Brian and Daniel
to do the condom demonstration, I had them feel the wooden penis model. Daniel felt first and figured out pretty
simply what it was. I then had Brian
feel it and he goes, “Tara. Daniel is
wrong.” “Are you sure Brian?” “Yes!
The penis is circumcised! I do
come from Mbale, the circumcision capital of Uganda!”
- As we danced it out one
morning, Brian managed to pick up on the four, 8-count moves with simple
explanations and feeling the beat of the drums.
- Climbing the rock wall
like he knew exactly where every grip was.
- Watching him conquer his fear
of the zip line and navigate up the tree with the help of his team then fly to
the other side.
It was an inspiration to
see everyone, from Co-Directors, Counselors, Staff and other campers from
different groups, pull together to allow Brian the opportunity to shine.
Priceless
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