Why children with special needs require your support

By FLAVIA LANYERO

He maneuvers through the school compound with so much ease that one would imagine he is able to see where he is going. But no, Iraril Senkumba has only mastered the maze in the school compound, demarcated with green belts, such that nothing suprises him.

Born without sight, Iraril has come to accept that he will never have sight and what keeps him going is the hope for a better life. An orphan since he was about six years, Iraril knows no motherly or family love. In his early life, he lived with his aunt who he says mistreated him and never took him to school.

Today at 19 years, Iraril is only in primary two.

“When my parents died, I was taken to live with my aunt but she did not like me. She did not allow me to go to school, she said that there was no one to take me there since I was unable to take myself,” Iraril says.

“Whenever people came home she could hide me away and tell lies that I was fine. In my condition I used to fetch water, firewood, banana leaves and even unearth sweet potatoes. It was difficult but I got used,” he says.

Iraril’s breakthrough would not come until two years ago when his grandfather realised the injustices the child was going through. His grandfather took him away and got him a school to study. Iraril currently studies at Nkozi Demonstration School in Mpigi district. This school has particularly been supported by World Vision Uganda to provide suitable education for children with disability.

Currently, there are 38 children with various disabilities in the school including; the deaf, blind, lame and those with development problems. World Vision has bought for all the seven deaf children in the school Braille machines and supplies the school with Braille paper on a monthly basis.

Also, World Vision has constructed stair rails and ramps, in various schools in Mpigi district, constructed latrines with facilities for the disabled as well as trained special needs teachers to attend to children with disability.

According to the Community Development Facilitator Charles Kabogoza for Mpigi Butambala cluster, children with disability are a key component in their programming. He said that the cluster always has a special budget to cater for the needs of children with disability and the joy of the cluster is to see an impact in the lives of these children.

“World Vision as a policy supports children with disability through what we call inclusive education. Children with disability also have the potential to excel in education and we partner with Nkozi schools to achieve this,” Mr Kabogoza said.

Indeed disabled children need special attention. In most cases, as Ms Kigongo Yudaya the special needs teacher notes, these children are from poor backgrounds that cannot afford to support them through school in any way.

“Most of them are orphans so they lack parental love and care. Access to medical care is a challenge as well as day to day supplies like toothpaste and bathing soap are a fallacy. They are very vulnerable,” Ms Yudaya says.

For the case of Iraril, once he is dropped at school, nobody visits or brings him any supplies. The only bedding he has is a blanket which he spreads on the floor and part of it he covers with himself. He has no uniform or shoes and only has a pair of shorts and shirt that he wears day in day out. Except the education he is getting, his welfare and that of his colleagues is really appalling.

“I wish I could have a mattress to sleep on and a uniform to wear,” says Iraril. He hopes to become a priest in future so that he can preach to fellow blind youngsters.