A Hazel Haven

Chapter 34

"Today on our special guest series, we have Mrs Nwachukwu Oyinyechi. Hello, madam."

"Hello, Helen,"

"I must say, it's an honor to have you on the show."

"It's an honor to be here,"

"Now, listeners, Mrs Oyinyechi Nwachukwu is the president for the International Project for the Less Privileged and People with Disabilities, Nigeria. For those of us who don't know about it, It is a non governmental organisation set out to alleviate the difficulties encountered by these person so that they can better adjust to the society we live in. Mrs Oyinyechi Nwachukwu is visually impaired, and has been so for quite some time. It's not an easy thing, losing one's sight. Today, she'll be giving us an insight into her life, her journey and the challenges she has gone through to get to where she is now. "

Huma was at the reading table, busy with some papers. The radio was on the bookshelf. The show had fast become a favourite.

"So, Mrs Nwachukwu. The floor is yours, by the way. Congratulations on your second child."

"(Laughter) Thank you. Well, it's not been easy. I lost my sight about eight years ago. It was during my first year then, accounting. I remember it being sudden and very painful. I was in class when it happened. I was scared and helpless, and all I could do was shout because I was having this serious headache, I was vomiting from time to time. We didn't have a hospital so it took the nearest hospital."

" By the time I was examined and they discovered it wasn't a brain problem and I had me treated. I had lost my sight. I had had several attacks earlier but it had never been that bad, and I told my parents whevlnever they occured. They said it was works of the devil and took me to the church to be prayed for. Anyway, the doctor said it was angle closure galucoma I had suffered."

"Wow and that was it?"

"Yes, that was it."

" It's hard to imagine what you must have gone through after that."

"Of course, school ended. Depression set in. From time to time I did think of killing myself. Back then, I used to have people tell me that it wasn't the end of the world, I should be grateful that I was still alive, mentioning the likes of cobams asuquo. A very easy thing to say when you have your sight. No one understood. I tell people, it's better to blind from birth and never know the beauty of life than have that sight taken away from you, because you can't miss what you don't know."

"So how did you cope, how have you been coping? Today you're a successful woman who is also a wife and a mother- things you went on to achieve despite your short coming "

"My sister, it wasn't easy. At all. But I had my family. It would have been very easy to blame them because the could have taken me to the hospital when these things started but they were all I had. I had no choice but to forgive them. Then there was my husband,then boyfriend. We were secondary school sweet hearts. He was there for me, with the word of God, with encouragements. Therapists were hired. So many things happening you know. But he never left my side. His love saved me. I think he was sent to me, knowing something like this would happened ."

"It's what love should really be about. Not this love when money dey thing or when beauty fades."

"You're right, Helen."

"Since you didn't finish school. What did you do with yourself?"

" I discovered I had a talent for talking to people. I could make them feel better, guide them through some hardship as someone who understood their pain. So after I bounced back from years of misery and self pity, I put myself to work. I own farms, plantations, poultries. I'm very invested in the agricultural sector, something my husband and I immersed ourselves in later on. I gained more confidence as I navigated my environment better. I attended conferences, you know, went out to ones I was particularly interested in."