EASTERN PROVINCE

RWAMAGANA — The blind people are prone to being infected with HIV/Aids, because most Aids campaigns do not cater for people with impaired vision, an official of Handicap International said. Handicap International has embarked on training the handicapped people on HIV/Aids.

During the training ceremony, last week, Jack Sindayigaya, Handicap coordinator in charge of programmes, told The New Times that the handicapped have often been neglected and therefore are at a risk of contracting the virus.

The handicapped especially the blind are often neglectedbecause most of the HIV/Aids messages are transmitted through news papers, brochures, magazines and quite often are written on placards which the blind do not read,” he said adding, this is the core reason why the organisation targeted the blind at Gatagara.

He said during the first phase his organisation focused on HIV/Aids but will later include others with other disabilities like people suffering from leprosy, which he said is another neglected group. Others to be considered in the near future are the mentally disabled, he said.

He urged the group to utilise the knowledge obtained from the training. He also called on students to guard against HIV/Aids which he described as a killer disease.

"Where there is light there is a way; you have been given light so make your way through by fighting the HIV/Aids virus. Do not submit to sex for material offers. Go for voluntary counseling and testing in order to know your HIV/Aids status,” Sindayigaya told pupils at Gatagara.

Frédéric Gisanura, the director of Masaka Handicap Training Center, who is also an experienced teacher for the handicapped urged the trainees to adopt the training in their day-today lives.

"The handicapped have feelings like other normal people, they need to live a life like other people live and they also have sexual desires like normal human beings. But they are quite often not informed of the dangers of HIV/Aids virus
and therefore subject themselves to a lot of risk,” he said adding, other people may take advantage of their ignorance and infect them with the virus.

Gisanura appealed to local communities to always guide such people with disability. He also noted that since they are now aware of the deadly virus it is their sole responsibility to take care of their lives. You must maintain your credibility for society to respect you; you can maintain this by taking lessons learnt in the training as vital, he said.

The ceremony was punctuated by several touching pieces
of poems presented by the pupils. Reciting the poems, they argued that being blind doesn’t impair their hearing and reasoning capacity.

Tears started rolling among the audience after listening to tales of one blind woman. Only identified as Domitilla, 40, she narrated how she went for VCT and tested HIV positive. She has since started antiretroviral drugs [ARVs], she said, and looks after her family and siblings.

"Many people used to think that when someone tests
HIV/Aids positive, he or she is going to die. This is not true. I tested positive four years ago but immediately started taking ARVs and I feel strong now unlike before when I had started falling sick time and again,” she said.

"I lost my husband in 1994 followed by one of my two kids. I started falling sick; when I went for HIV/Aids test, I tested positive,” Domitilla lamented.

She added: "Despite all that, I am blind but I look after my old grand mother, my own kid and four other adopted kids.”  When asked how she earns a living, she explained that she is a farmer, a trader but also a shoe maker.

Gitagara training center trains handicap pupils in primary education according to the national education curriculum. The center also trains handicapped students in Physiotherapy and tailoring as professional courses.

A total of 150 pupils and 10 teachers attended the HVI/AIDS training in different groups. Handicap International started in France in 1982 but started operations in Rwanda in 1994.

It works in 60 countries world wide especially in post -war countries to provide relief to victims of war.

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