Blind siblings
Babatunde Titilola
Though living in the dark after being blinded ‘mysteriously, four siblings share their life experiences and journies of uncertainties with BABATUNDE TITILOLA.
At noon on May 6, 32-year-old Jonathan Echefu was resting in his mother’s old room but his thoughts were detectable a mile away.
He adjusted his seat as tried to switch positions.
Traveling from Lagos State to Abia State to visit his mother after a long while seemed like a long journey but the warm presence of his 65-year-old mother made it all worth it. Besides, it had been a rough 20 years for him and his family.
Jonathan and his family are originally from Ebonyi. However, a series of incidents eventually made the family leave their hometown and sojourn to another land with the hope of safety and a better future.
Jonathan, who said he could not remember the year he went blind, said he noticed one morning that he could not see. Unable to determine what exactly could be wrong, his mind began to play every possible scenario in his head. Sadly, one thought that continued to torment the distraught young man was that he had gone blind.
Narrating his story to Sunday PUNCH, the 32-year-old said his vision became whitish as he struggled to stay on his feet. He said he was so overwhelmed by the shock that he staggered, ran out, and shouted for help.
Jonathan said he feared his life would change if he lost his ability to see. He was right. His life did change from that point onwards.
“The problem started when I was in secondary school. At that time, I was about to enter Senior Secondary School. I was in school one day when I noticed that I could not see. Everywhere was white. People had to take me home.
“I was heartbroken because I could not go outside to play with my friends or socialise with people. I liked to play football and my friends used to call on me to play. I had to lie to them that I was sick but eventually, they got to know that I had become blind. My secondary school education became difficult,” he said.
Jonathan claimed that he was denied admission twice due to his inability to see, but later got into a university after switching his choices before his third attempt at the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
“After that, I wanted to attend a higher institution to further my education. I took the UTME thrice before I finally gained admission. It was not that I did not make the cut-off. I even scored above 200, but the university I applied to did not give me admission. It was when I switched to the University of Calabar in Cross River State that I eventually got admission to study Political Science.”
But the journey to the university was a torturous one, said Jonathan with a deep breath.
“It was not easy for me at the university at all. If a lecture started at 9 am, I had to be prepared long before so that I could stand somewhere where I could find someone who would help me in the lecture hall. It was worse whenever the venue for the lecture changed as finding students who would help me back to where I was staying was also difficult.
“Some of them were too proud to associate with me. Sometimes, when I asked any of them to help me, they questioned my interest in education and asked why I was in school. Some advised me to return home because of my condition. It was not easy,” he added.
Medical experts agree that the sense of sight is essential in every facet of human life, yet often overlooked until it is compromised. According to them, eye conditions are inevitable, requiring timely care to prevent serious consequences.
The experts also noted that while conditions like cataracts received significant attention, issues such as dry eye or conjunctivitis should not be underestimated as they were common reasons for seeking eye care.
The World Health Organisation, in a 2023 report on blindness and vision impairment, said, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment globally. It said in at least one billion of these, vision impairment could have been prevented or had yet to be addressed.
According to the international health body, the leading causes of vision impairment and blindness at a global level are refractive errors and cataracts.
“It is estimated that globally only 36 per cent of people with a distance vision impairment due to refractive error and only 17 per cent of people with vision impairment due to cataracts have received access to an appropriate intervention. Vision impairment poses an enormous global financial burden, with the annual global cost of productivity estimated to be $411bn,” it added.
Four blind siblings
Jonathan was not alone in this predicament as three of his siblings – Ruth, Samson, and Anderson – are also blind and lost their sight while in secondary school, a situation he said could not be understood at several hospitals they visited. The other two can see but not very clearly as they also suffer from one eye condition or the other.
other-siblings
The 32-year-old said, “I am not the only one who is blind in my family. I have five siblings but four of us are blind. It happened to each of us while we were in secondary school.
“We went to many hospitals and they told us that they did not discover anything. My elder sister, who is the first child in the family, and my younger brother went for operations back when they started but instead of becoming better, their condition became worse.”
Partially blind at seven
Samson told our correspondent that losing his sight partially at the age of seven exposed him to the ‘dark’ side of life. The 34-year-old graduate wished he had lived a more comfortable life.
“It started in 1999 and I should be six or seven years old then. Before I had the challenge, I had never once complained of having any eye issues. On the day it happened, I came out that day and discovered that I could not see clearly with my left eye. I was living with my uncle who was a medical doctor then. I complained to him, and he took me to the hospital, but it was in that same year that I completely lost that eye.
“I could see with my right eye until 2003 when I went blind in Junior Secondary School Two. We went to two hospitals but we were different things. One of the hospitals said it was cataracts; I can’t remember what the other hospital said,” Samson said.
After dropping out of school in 2003 when he could not cope, was later enrolled in a special school to learn how to read and write in braille, a writing system for visually impaired people. His unwavering interest pushed him to return to complete his secondary school education and proceed to the university.
“I sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and gained admission into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study Social Works. I graduated in 2016,” he added.
However, despite his efforts to build a life of comfort, Samson has continued to experience what it means to be blind and unemployed. Life, he said, had been unbearable for people like himself and his siblings.
The 34-year-old who now lives in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, said, “Four of us who are blind are graduates but we do not have any job. It has not been easy for our mother because she is the only one. Our father is deceased. We are not finding it easy. Things are very hard for us. If we can get a job or something to do, we would appreciate it.”
My children’s blindness, spiritual attack – Mother
However, the pain of having four of her children go blind mysteriously is one that has turned Mrs Virginia Echefu’s joy of motherhood to sorrow. The 65-year-old, who lost her husband after they marked their 14th wedding anniversary, struggles daily to provide for her children as a crayfish trader.
“It is a long story. I believe it is not a natural occurrence. It is a spiritual attack from our village,” she told our correspondent without hesitation.
“Since I got married, I never quarrelled with anybody. Everywhere I had lived, I did not quarrel with anybody. It is just wickedness for someone to just want to hurt me and my children. When all these were happening, my husband and I went to different hospitals.
“When my husband died, they told me that it was a spiritual attack too. My children are great. The four of them attended higher institutions. I am only praying to God to help me and judge whoever is behind this.”
Like his mother, Samson is convinced that his condition is the handiwork of those who do not want the progress of his family.
“Exactly, it must be a spiritual attack because none of us had any eye challenge before we went blind. It just happened suddenly. For my younger brother, he was sweeping. Then, he started complaining that something entered his eyes. That was how he lost his eyes too,” he added.
Advanced glaucoma irreversible – ophthalmologist
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, a chief consultant ophthalmologist, Anthony Okpobrisi, said though there were a few causes of visual impairment, blindness could be hereditary.
He explained that the common causes of blindness in young people included congenital glaucoma, juvenile glaucoma, congenital cataract, juvenile cataract, developmental cataract, intrauterine infections, congenital abnormalities, and trauma.
“Blindness can be hereditary and also congenital. When we say a disease is congenital, it means that the disease is present at birth or someone is born with it. Hereditary diseases are inherited from one or both of the parents because of our genes; some hereditary diseases are not obvious at birth but only manifest later.
“In their case (the four siblings), it is likely to be hereditary due to their genetic make-up. If they have gone for treatment, it also depends on where they went for the treatment. They need ophthalmologists not medical doctors or optometrists,” he said.
Commenting on Samson’s claim that a doctor initially told him that his condition was caused by cataracts, the consultant said, “Almost all eye conditions are treatable, especially if the patient reports early. Blindness resulting from cataracts is treatable and reversible. Blindness resulting from late-stage glaucoma or advanced glaucoma is not reversible.”
Okpobrisi noted that preventing eye problems must be done early, adding, “the results of treatment of blindness from intra-uterine infections is always poor”.
“For these, prevention is better than cure. Regular checkups cannot be over-emphasised. Other measures would include early presentation for treatment, appropriate antenatal care for pregnant women, proper examination of the eyes of newborns, and use of eye shields while playing or at work,” he said.
However, the Association of Technology Inclined Visually Impaired Persons of Nigeria, said the government ought to provide funding to create avenues for the employment of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
The President of the association, Tolulope Aluko, said, “The government should make the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities more effective by providing adequate funding. For instance, there should be a rehabilitation school because someone who lost their sight suddenly needs to be rehabilitated and that can come under the commission which is supervised by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. Also, the commission should provide employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.”
“One thing the society should understand is that no one is above the other. When we cultivate that mental attitude, it will help society to accept persons with disabilities. What matters most is the brain. That someone is blind does not mean that the brain is not functioning. Even for visually impaired persons, the brain works harder. What they need is just integration.”
Govt working to address unemployment among PWDs – NCPWD
The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, in response to our correspondent’s inquiries through an email, said it was taking steps to check unemployment among Nigerians living with disabilities.
“That is why we are working closely with our partners to address the unemployment rate for Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria; we empower them through entrepreneurship. Recently, we empowered over a thousand persons with disabilities with point-of-sale machines and a start-up grant of N100,000.
“We have also significantly empowered women with disabilities by providing sewing machines. Acquiring skills and planning for life with skills go a long way in Nigeria, even for people without disabilities. We aim to do even more by establishing skills acquisition centres for persons with disabilities. These centres will train them in various skills like catering, sewing, shoe making, cinematography, and even set up a hub for persons with disabilities in tech,” it said.
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