Strength by insight and not sight.

( Creative writing. My character and events i have used here are fictional.)

Victor Koshani was born to a middle class couple in Portsmouth. He was born a normal child with every ability and capacity to what any normal child could. At a tender age of three, Victor’s parents were on the verge of divorce. Victor cried heavily and persuaded her mother not to leave his father. Things moved well thereafter until he turned five. It was one of the evenings Victor came home after school to the sight of a tense moment between her parents. He started crying when he saw his father start fighting her mum. In the process he ran to go and protect her mum whom he loved much. Unfortunately his father threw him and he fell with his face in a container that had battery acid in it. That is how Victor lost his sight.

The day I visited my friend Victor at the Portsmouth referral hospital, I looked at him and cried. I was five years old. To me, I felt that that was the highest injustice to humanity. I was told that when victor was informed that he may not see again, he didn’t cry nor seem bothered. He kept quiet for some time and then asked her mother if it was true. His mother confirmed that it was true. Victor smiled and said, “I know everything has a purpose, if this one has none then I will make purpose out of it.” I kept quiet. I knew right there that he was a strong boy.

Things changed thereafter. Before he could leave hospital after three months, Victor asked his father and mum to come and take him together from hospital. While at the discharge desk, he asked his parents for a favor. He asked them never to regret that they caused him to encounter what he was facing then. Further, he asked them to live happily and stop the fights of which they accepted. I kept attending my local school as Victor got moved to a different school for the blind.

One day, Victor called me to their house which was a few yards away. When I arrived he told me, “Many things have changed. Some of my old friends laugh at me but I have learnt to move on. You know what? My strength is not by sight but insight.” I got deeply moved and shed a few tears though he didn’t notice. Had he noticed, he could have pity me instead. That was very emotionally courageous of him.

As months rolled by, I knew he was the friend I needed to keep. He kept telling me that the worst enemy he wanted to have was that of accepting defeat by subscribing to thoughts that he was disabled. Further he kept telling me that if he kept thinking about his blindness, he could live to hate his parents now that he didn’t become blind by choice. To him, this had opened a new page in his life to conquer and prove to the world that disability is not inability in way others had not done it before.

Victor Koshani started speaking publicly to other young people and even the old on the power of positive thinking towards attaining success. His dream of becoming renowned writer and motivational speaker seemed to have been accelerated by the accident he had encountered.

ndege
Moving on, moving forward ever.

Victor decided to celebrate his fourteenth birthday by visiting a team of physically handicapped youth in the United States of America to give them a motivational speech. He was being driven by his ambition to become a motivational speaker and writer. The same time he decided to launch his first book that discouraged intimidation of those people who are physically handicapped in any one way. At the age of eighteen, Victor was becoming a highly successful and strong willed motivator. I too became dependent on him for motivation and coaching.

His journey though was not a walk in the park. He had to learn to use new materials in learning and walking. Initially he had grown up wanting to be a diver in sports but soon realized he had to learn new ways to enjoy his free time. A young boy who used to help other old people and other blind people to cross the road too needed that help now. I became devoted to helping him as much as I could especially in sports, in walking and crossing busy roads. His point every time was that I train him to do those things alone. Sometimes I could to tell me him how hard it could be if he crossed the hall way alone but he could insist on learning to do it. That is how he championed for specific infrastructure to be allocated for people with special needs to use in crossing the road.

At the age of 21, Victor had written four books and was giving motivational quotes around the world. He had other challenges though like to find love. He wanted a really lady to love him. A lady who could put up with his condition. It became hard to find one. Though it was hard, he kept going until he found Kristeen at the age of twenty three. Kristeen learnt to keep with his condition and they became very great friends.

Now my friend is thirty five years. He has written nine books and given a lot of motivational talks around the world. He is also the president of the Special Needs Global Forum, a body that calls for inclusiveness and advocates for equal rights to all people. To him, it is an all lifetime purpose type of courage.

Copyright @ 2017.

 

Geoffrey Ndege

Geoffrey Ndege

Geoffrey Ndege is the Editor and topical contributor for the Daily Focus. He writes in the areas of Science, Manufacturing, Technology, Innovation, Governance, Management and International Emerging Issues. For featuring, promotions or support, reach out to us at info@dailyfocus.co.ke
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