Stories from Asubende

Akwasi, aged 70, moved to Asubende 30 years ago. He used to be a yam farmer, but had to stop working when he lost his sight.

He lives alone, with very little support. When we asked Akwasi how he earns a living, he says: “For now, I depend on help from other people. Sometimes friends visit and give me food – anyone who feels like helping me and giving me food.”

Akwasi’s daily activities are very limited. He says he cooks, but this clearly comes with an array of dangers and challenges, particularly burning his hands. Yet he has little choice. “If you are blind, you are not supposed to cook. But if you don’t have anybody to do it for you, you have to do it yourself.”

Akwasi says he would have liked to get married and work, but blindness has stopped him. He also highlights the physical risks of being blind in Asubende, such as crossing the road. He describes how scared he can be when taking these short but risky journeys. When asked if he ever falls, he tells us that he had fallen in the gutter several times. “Once I fell down and I thought my leg was broken until people came to lift me up.”

Isaac, 63, has lived in Asubende his whole life, and used to be a farmer until he began losing his sight to river blindness about 15 years ago.

When people began to leave Asubende because of the fear of going blind, Isaac didn’t feel able to. “This is the only place where I can get help,” he tells us. “The only people who can help me are in this place.”

Isaac’s brother-in-law, Penya, and niece, Bridget, now look after him. Penya told us: “Because he cannot see, if he needs something, he needs to send me to collect it for him.” This is even the case for food and water.

Bridget explains how she feels when she sees Isaac struggling with blindness. “It hurts me – it’s painful,” she says. “When he could see, he could do it for himself, but now if he needs something he has to wait for us to come.”

When talking about the treatment distributed in the community, there’s no doubt in this family’s mind that they should take the medication to protect them from river blindness. They have seen the devastation river blindness has caused in Asubende and the effect it has had on people like Isaac.

Mary is a local community volunteer, and is the kind of person who gets the job done. She is well respected, and her passion for helping her community is obvious.

Mary’s hard work was celebrated in 2014, when she won an award for her work as part of the river blindness programme.

Mary went out to distribute medication while we were with her, and we saw how seriously she takes her role. She cajoles the crowd into an orderly line and everyone jumps to attention – they clearly know the drill. Mary says the community is very accepting of the drug distribution, and no one questions or challenges her when she gives them medication. “For my community, I don’t have challenges. When it is time to take the drugs, they come with a cup of water to take the drug.”

Mary speaks passionately about her family and grandchildren, and how she educates them on the importance of taking the medication. “What I’ve been telling them is that the drugs protect their eyes. And in life, if you don’t have your sight, there’s a lot of things that you cannot do. So take it to protect yourself.

“If river blindness is eliminated, I will be happy, the community will be happy and my family will also be happy for the fact that I have helped to make it happen.”

Shaibu is the headteacher of the local school. He came to Asubende to work, but was uncertain whether he should stay when he heard about the river blindness that had devastated the village.

Asubende’s history of river blindness was seen by many people as a ‘curse’, and Shaibu says this reputation made it difficult to get new teachers to come and work in the village. People believed that if you live in Asubende, you would go blind. It was a big challenge for Shaibu, as they couldn’t even encourage newly qualified teachers to join the school.

When Shaibu and the other teachers started to think about leaving, Mary had to reason with them. She told them about the treatment she was distributing and how it protected the villagers from river blindness. It’s because of Mary’s support that teachers from outside Asubende have remained and the school has been able to stay open.

Shaibu has even been able to encourage three new teachers to join and, in turn, the school now welcomes more children from surrounding villages. He told us: “I’ve learned a lot from Mary. She has been encouraging the teachers. She’s the one who has helped us continue the work here. We’re very grateful.”