Florence was born in what she herself discribes as ’a very humble back ground’ to Mr. and Mrs. Kayizzi Francis in Mukono district in Uganda in October 1983.  She was premature and in an incubator for three months.  Having developed fully into a baby, her parents realized ten days later that she could not see. They took her to the hospital for medical examination. Following four operations before the age of four years doctors failed to help her cornea to develop.  Florence told me her story:

The Doctor advised my parents to take me to a special school for the blind because he believed that I would never see and some doctors made unhelpful suggestions about the cause of my visual impairment; they said that perhaps my mother took pills that could have caused the miscarriage or that both parents had STDS - on medical examination they found none.

My mother accepted me as a child who was God-given and she said that God had a purpose for creating me the way I am.  Although she faced several accusations from my family members contending that she had brought a misfortune to the entire family and clan, that did not discourage her at all.  She loved me so much and took good care of me.

At the age of five years, she took me to school to start my primary education. My mother was a housewife and did not have any money. She had other young children and she used to knit table clothes from which she gained income for providing my essentials while at school. My father too realized that I could study but I was never the first priority. My first school was Spire Road Primary School in Jinja and I was there for only one year.

From primary two to primary seven, I went to Bishop Wills Demonstration School in Iganga district. My parents would always take me to school but without enough money to pay the fees. I used to sing so well and with that, I got a sponsor who paid for my entire primary education. I completed my primary education in 1996 with top grades.

I joined senior one at St. Francis School for the blind Madera in Soroti district with the help of Father Widmyre the then parish priest of MBIKO parish where my parents lived. He paid my fees for two years and when he was living for Kotido, he referred me to Lilliane foundation who paid my fees up senior six.  I got excellent grades at O level and joined Iganga secondary school for A level. I passed and got government sponsorship for law.

I joined Makerere university faculty of law in 2003 and graduated in 2008. While at the university, I held several leadership positions. I was a commissioner for national youth council elections, guild representative for C.C.E constituency, deputy speaker Makerere university disabled students association, minister for disability faculty of law, female youth representative on the national committee of NUDIPU, the national disabled people’s unioin in Uganda. I received a presidential award for being the best affirmative action student. I also pursued a post graduate diploma in legal practice though I still have some issues. I did my clerkship at the parliament of the republic of Uganda with the department of legislative services and my work was commendable.  During the three months at parliament, I drafted petitions, notices of motion, summarized acts and bills, and gave legal opinion/advice during parliamentary committees.

I attained other trainings with the British council as a trainer of trainees on debate to action and the millennium development goals which included proposal writing, project planning and management, and marketing among others. I was also trained by the African Union of the Blind on knowledge on democracy and development and this taught me issues of advocacy and leadership. With this training, I implemented a project in the central region of piggery and goat rearing which was very successful.

I also facilitate in schools to help build students self esteem and I am currently employed as a programme officer lobbying and advocacy at the Uganda Society for Disabled Children in Kampala.

My work involves advocating for the rights of children with disabilities, developing policies for the staff and the parent support groups, simplifying the legal instruments for the child rights clubs and the parent support groups, sensitizing these groups about the fundamental rights of children with disabilities, popularizing the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities whenever required. I also attend important meetings and workshops for the cause of children with disabilities and also make presentations on deferent topics on different fora.

I think Florence’s story speaks for itself which is why I have used her words for most of this blog post.  Sadly very few disabled girls in Africa are able to excel like this.   The Canadian International Development Agency puts it like this, ‘Women with disabilities are the poorest of the poor around the world and in ever sphere of life, women with disabilities in the developing world experience a triple bind; they are discriminated against because they are women, because they are disabled and because they are from the developing world.  There are few educational opportunities for disabled girls.  When there are opportunities for education in special schools, boys usually recieve them.  Women with disabilities expereince a high incidence of abuse – physical, emotional and sexual.  Since most disabled women are hidden away in homes, this often happens within the family.  The unemployment rate for disabled women in developing countries is virtually 100%’.

So you see Florence really is one in a million, and that, is why her story is so vitally importanat to me…..

By supporting our campaign you can help us make sure that many more disabled girls have opportunities to excel like Florence has.  In November she plans to climb Kilimanjaro with our fundraisers to help make a difference, can you help us to by signing our petition or even signing up to climb Kilimanjaro yourself?

It was an honor and a privilege to be able to do this. I met inspiring and incredible people who are overcoming difficulties and barriers that no one should have to face.

I found out pretty quickly that the impact USDC has in the lives of disabled children in Uganda is dramatic. They literally offer a life line to children and families who are living lives which are simply unimaginable to me coming from England. I met physically disabled children who literally dragged themselves 5km a day in order to get to school and secure the education they knew would change their lives. I met parents who had given up everything to fight for the rights of their disabled children. I met school teachers who spent their free time going to the most remote of villages to find and enroll in school disabled children who were being hidden at home. In the areas where USDC does not yet work due to lack of funding people knew about the organisation and were pleading for USDC to come to their district.

In each of the districts we visited members of the Parent Support Group, which USDC supports. They took us to meet families whose entire family life had been changed. In Lira (North-East Uganda) we met a family who had nearly fallen apart when their little girl was born with club foot, something which would be corrected at birth where I come from. Left unchecked club foot can be completely debilitating. This little girl had stopped being able to walk, she was in huge pain, bullied by other children, and her parents were ostracised from the community where disability is seen as a curse. They had started to hide the little girl and had become desperate as they had no idea what the solution was. The parent support group found this family, USDC funded corrective surgery for her and counselled the family. They also work to change attitudes in the community by providing information about disability and are working with the family to get her into school when she is old enough. Without USDC this little girl’s entire life would have been very different.

I also made a point of visiting some of the districts where USDC does not operate to see if there was much of a difference. Uganda is made up of over 85 local districts. Currently USDC only has funding to operate in 15 of these. I noticed a dramatic and unnerving difference. In some of the districts where USDC is not present the levels of disabled children in school were shockingly low, the facilities were terrible if in existence at all and levels of health care and knowledge about disability were appalling. Human rights exist and Uganda has fantastic national policies on disability and yet people are still suffering. It is USDC’s hands on community based solutions that translate this into reality in the places where it can afford to work.

I met one 19 yr old visually impaired man who was studying with 7 year olds because his parents had refused to send him to school seeing no value in educating him. It was only when he reached adulthood and could openly defy his parents that he stared school. He was one of the most intelligent and determined young men I have ever met. Yet he has wished away his entire childhood so that he can make his own decisions and get an education. This would not have happened had there been a USDC presence in this district. Parent Support Groups would have been out in his communities finding and supporting him and his family. There would have been active work in local schools to ensure that disabled children get to school.

Traveling around Uganda showed me that a lot work still needs to be done. I also learnt that over the past 25 years USDC has worked up a holistic model of support which WORKS – where USDC is people’s lives are better; it is as simple as that. One of the parents put it like this “USDC came and brightened our lives. They have given us the power to stand for ourselves with our children and make things better.”