The Gift of Reading
The AMPATH Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Program continues to expand and meet the needs of children affected by HIV in western Kenya. Currently over 16,000 children are enrolled in the OVC program, and their remarkable stories of resilience continue to astound the AMPATH staff.
Elizabeth Chester presents a braille book to Damarus.
One such story is that of 16-year-old Damarus, who is blind. Damarus was born HIV-positive and her blindness was the result of a rare side effect caused by the antiretroviral drugs she must take to save her life. Since Damarus is registered in AMPATH’s OVC program, AMPATH is able to support her tuition and send her to one of the few high schools for the sight impaired in Kenya – a boarding school located outside of Nairobi.
Elizabeth Chester, AMPATH’s Associate Field Director for OVC, recounts first meeting Damarus: “I was immediately struck by Damarus’s positive attitude and deft communication skills. She was so well-spoken and forthright. While chatting over a cup of chai (tea) served by her mother, Damarus told us all about school and what she had been learning. Unprompted, she took out her Braille ‘punch sheets’ to show us how she writes her lessons and does math. I was amazed and deeply impressed.”
Elizabeth learned from Damarus that while she has many Braille school books, her school lacks story books for students to enjoy. Through an organization called Seedlings, Elizabeth was able to obtain several donated books in Braille such as The Diary of Anne Frank and A Wrinkle in Time. When Elizabeth presented the books to Damarus, the first thing she did was to sit down and hold the book. She turned it around and around in her hands just to feel it, then she began to read the title. Elizabeth teared up with joy when Damarus turned to the first page of the story and read out loud, “It was a dark and stormy night...” Damarus returned to school with the promise to share her new treasures with her classmates, leaving those at AMPATH with a renewed appreciation for the gift of reading.