Alfred Rogers was seated on a stool next to a tiny wobbly wooden structure that was laden with an assortment of snacks. A handwritten sign placed just behind the stall read.
“Kindly assist this blind man’s stand – Alfred Rogers”
For over 40 years, Alfred was like any other sighted person, active in his community and had a steady job.
But one day in 2001 – Glaucoma, the thief of sight-robbed him of his vision.
It was a hot December afternoon in 2010 when we ventured into the village of Agricola, three miles outside of the capital of Georgetown.
This is the area Alfred calls home.
“In 2001 I was working at a company, while at work we had a morning session which was good, I had lunch and then went to lie down. When I got up my eyes started to get hazy. From then on they send me home. The Doctor told me it was Glaucoma and they started treating me from then on”
The diagnosis came as a shock, after all, like so many others stricken with Glaucoma, there are no symptoms and in an instant your world is enveloped in darkness.
Alfred believes that the lack of the prescribed eyedrops used to treat Glaucoma resulted in the rapid deterioration of his vision.
“What I really feel cause the blindness is that I was supposed to use drops in the eyes. Most times when I went to the hospital for the drops I didn’t get them. They would give a prescription for me to get the drops outside. After a time I didn’t have any money to buy them and so by missing the drops I eventually got blind”
So he did the next best thing – and prepared for the inevitable.
“So even before I got totally blind, I prepared, I started changing my entire style towards life, I started to adjust, so when I got blind it wasn’t all that strange to me. One of the things I started doing was to blindfold myself in the house and start to move around. I was thinking that if I became totally blind I would not be too frustrated”
“I also asked myself if I could live with my new situation and the answer was yes. Once you have life there is always hope”
Today Alfred not only runs his small business, he proudly revealed that he can wash, cook and clean. He is also guardian to his twelve year old (12) niece and eight (8) year old nephew.
“ I didn’t live around anyone who was responsible for me. So I had to take care of myself. As a matter of fact the people I live around I am responsible for them. I have my niece and nephew, they rely more on me than I rely on them. So I have to keep active and try everything for myself. Everything depends on me. I have to live with it. If I’m washing,I don’t know if I washing clean or not but I just have to deal with it.”
The process of rehabilitation is not always easy. While Alfred has managed the routine daily tasks, there is one aspect of adjusting to blindness that is a challenge. That of mastering the use of his cane. With the assistance of Adjustment to Blindness specialist, Nicole Forde from the Caribbean Council for the Blind (CCB), Guyana office, Alfred continues to progress.
“The difficult part is moving around on the streets by myself, so Nicole has helped me with that part and how to maneuver. I try to practice, in the yard or around the area, I’m getting accustomed to it but it’s hard, it’s really hard.”
While fiercely independent in his own surroundings Alfred fears being alone and the possibility of having to relocate from Agricola.
“I don’t have the training yet to move in areas that I don’t know yet, so it would be difficult if I have to move. Eventually if I get into a new environment I would have to start learning it all over again. I may have to move from here and that would break my heart, it don’t know where to go, I don’t think I would have the children again and then I would be all alone. When you’re blind you can’t live on your own. That is the one thing that bothers me when I think about the day when I have to move”
But in spite of the challenges he had a message for those faced with the possibility of losing their sight to Glaucoma.
“The situation is not something easy to live with, you have to understand that because you’re not seeing anymore. You have to change your lifestyle. The first thing you have to do is to accept it and if you accept it, prepare to live with it. If you don’t accept it there can be problems, you might even feel like ending your own life…but then remember life has to go on, it must go on. Don’t ever get frustrated.”
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