How an ‘unsuitable heir’ found his place in
the world

IGANGA, Uganda — When Nexiro Wilberforce caught measles at the age of seven he nearly died because his parents were afraid to take him to the hospital. By the time they finally took him there he was desperately ill and ended up losing his sight.

Mr Nexiro Wilberforce, Deputy Head Teacher in charge of the Blind Unit at the Bishop Willis Demonstration School, reads a Braille Gospel of Luke provided by the Bible Society of Uganda. Iganga, Uganda. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (UGA02DJ-85.JPG)

“There was a feeling in the villages that if you went to a hospital and received the white man’s medicine you would not survive,” he explains. “Many parents delayed taking their children there, and many died in the villages. Many children also died at the hospital.

“My blindness was an emotional blow to my parents because I was their only son. Later, when my brother was born, some people said, ‘At last your father has an heir.’ This really hurt me because they were saying that because I was blind I was not considered a suitable heir.”

Future

When his parents sent him to a school for the blind in eastern Uganda, about 250 kms (156 miles) from his home, however, the young Nexiro started to realise that he did have a place in the world and a future.

“I was taught to read Braille and it was exciting to meet other children like me at the school,” he remembers. “They were all quite independent and did a lot of things together, having fun. So within a short time I had settled in and felt quite contented.”

Unfortunately, his new-found happiness was short-lived. Concerned that their son was living so far away from them, his parents pulled him out of school and brought him home. The young boy was devastated.

“I did not think that there was any future for me,” he says. “Listening to other people, it seemed that I was forever going to be kept at home and looked after. They even had someone to look after me but in my heart I wanted to go to school.”

Nexiro was at home for six years. One day a Church of Uganda pastor helped set Nexiro back on the path to the future he wanted.

“He liked our family and gave them a lot of emotional support,” he explains. “He visited us regularly, and, one day he introduced my parents to the idea of sending me back to school. He said, ‘He is here doing nothing when he could be studying. Maybe he can even get a job.’”

Others, too, tried to persuade the young boy’s father that education is what he needed, but, unconvinced, he kept him at home for another year. Increasingly frustrated, Nexiro, by now a young teenager, considered taking desperate measures.

“I was talking with some friends, telling them how I was planning to leave the house quietly and get on a bus and go to school, far away. My mother overheard this conversation and asked my father, ‘Why don’t we just let him go to school? He is grown up. If things work, that is good. If not, he can come home again.’”

Nexiro went back to school, where he excelled, studying hard to catch up on several years’ work. He also started attending Sunday School, where the Bible stories he heard “affirmed the positive picture of God” that he already had. As a child, he used to listen to his mother talking about God and the blessings he had given them. At the age of 17, he decided to commit his life to Christ. Being a Christian and blind was not easy, however, because he could not easily obtain Braille Scriptures.

Friend

“I did not have any Braille Scriptures but I had a friend and I asked her to read the Scriptures to me,” he recalls. “She would read three chapters to me each evening.”

But he desperately wanted to read the Bible for himself. The school bought some Braille Bible stories, which he would read in the library for hours at a time, but he had soon read them all. He then wrote to an organisation in the USA which provided Braille Scriptures, and, eight months later, received the four Gospels in Braille.

“I would read deep into the night,” he smiles. “Unfortunately, they were printed on rather poor paper and because I read them a lot the words faded away.”

His search for Braille Scriptures eventually led him to the Bible Society of Uganda. A teacher at his secondary school gave him a “treasured gift” from the Bible Society – a Braille Book of Psalms. Eventually, when he could afford it, he bought a complete Braille Bible – something he had dreamed about for years. Unfortunately, this Bible was recently stolen, along with other possessions, when thieves broke into his home and attacked him.

Understanding only too well the frustrations of blind students, as well as their incredible potential for overcoming their disability to become productive members of society, Mr Wilberforce decided to become a teacher and is now Deputy Head Teacher of the blind unit at the Bishop Willis Demonstration School. In this role, he has actively encouraged the Bible Society to provide Braille Scriptures for the school library (see previous story.) (WR 379/15 - 9.03)