- His is a story of struggle, determination, hope and resilience
- Hinga talks passionately about people who helped him after he lost his eyesight. He says they are the reason he gives his time and resources unconditionally
Image: KNA
Corporal Stephen Hinga folds his cane four times, making a perfect square.
At a glance, the 42-year-old may pass as a normal police officer discharging his duties at the Anti-Stock Theft Police Unit headquarters in Gilgil, Nakuru county.
But on a closer look, he uses his hands and feet to make his way.
"I lost my eyesight, not my vision" is a strong mantra that Hinga says guides him.
His is a story of struggle, determination, hope and resilience.
Hinga talks passionately about people who helped him after he lost his eyesight. He says they are the reason he gives his time and resources unconditionally.
When we visited him at the ASTU customer care desk, we found him executing his tasks with precision and dexterity.
"Don’t be shocked. This is my world. I have been doing this for the past eight years because life has to go on,” Hinga said as he ushered us into his office.
It is not everyday that you meet someone who has gone through adversity and remains optimistic about life.
He says he does not regret what befell him.
“Losing my eyesight was a blessing in disguise. Ever since, I have been able to do many things for my community. I thank God for my affliction,” Hinga says.
“God blessed me with blindness. It is through this misfortune that I was able to assist my community and see the benefits.”
Towards the end of 2016, Hinga started having headaches. He initially thought the headaches were driven by change of environment since he had been transferred from Marsabit to Nakuru county. Though he visited the Nakuru Level 5 Teaching and Referral Hospital and was put on medication, the headaches persisted for several weeks.
On the morning of December 27, 2016 at the Bahati police camp’s motor vehicle workshop, Hinga unexpectedly turned blind.
He raised a distress call to his fellow officers telling them he had lost his eyesight, but they at first dismissed him, saying he was joking.
He was referred to Kikuyu Hospital for a CT scan. The scan showed that he had a brain tumour.
Hinga was later flown to India where the tumour was removed but he never regained his eyesight.
The police officer says doctors in Kenya and India traced his condition to a marijuana smoking habit he picked in primary school aged 11.
“Though marijuana has been touted as a herb with medicinal values, new studies including the one conducted by the University of California’s School of Medicine have suggested that using the narcotic drug can accelerate development of certain types of cancers,” Hinga says.
His doctors told him that Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main ingredient that causes euphoria and changed behaviour in bhang users, can speed up growth of tumours.
THC is at least one of the 13 cannabinoids identified in marijuana which can cause changes in user’s including appetite, heightened sensory perception, relaxation, impaired memory, blood pressure and impaired concentration and coordination.
Hinga says he is lucky he go0t a second lease of life after he was enrolled in rehabilitation and training at the Kenya Society for the Blind by the National Police Service.
The rehab centre helped him overcome the denial stage and accept his new situation albeit with a lot of difficulty.
He says his new condition nudged him to start campaigning against drug and substance abuse among the youth.
The Police officer who joined the service in 2007 is thankful that his superiors stood with him.
The then Deputy Inspector Administration Police Service paid for his rehabilitation.
He, however, lost many friends with some mocking him and others claiming he is feigning his blindness.
“Some friends associated my blindness with begging and saw me as a burden. For almost two years I was in a state of denial but God lifted me,” Hinga said.
After the tragedy, Hinga could no longer do his job of pursuing stolen livestock. He, however, works at the gender desk.
“The commandant at ASTU held my hand and gave me fatherly advice that this was not the end of my life. In August 2018, after accepting that I could not change anything, I donated a third of my salary in an attempt to uplift the lives of persons with disability around my home,” he says.
Last year, he graduated with a Diploma in Community Development and Social Work at Mt Kenya University, Nakuru campus.
Immediately after turning blind, Hinga started a community-based organisation that helps people with disability access assistive devices such as wheelchairs and walking canes.
His Bahati Walemavu Pamoja CBO has brought together more than 1,000 PWDs. The CBO helps persons living with disability get assistive devices such as wheelchairs and white canes.
Hinga says he bought a laptop and a smartphone fitted with Job Access With Speech – a computer screen reader programme for Microsoft Windows that allows blind and visually impaired users to read the screen.
His CBO also teaches PWDs how to use computers to pass information. With only three computers, Hinga says he has achieved a lot.
The CBO has also acquired a 120-capacity incubator from Nakuru government, which Hinga uses to hatch and distribute eggs to PWDs.
The CBO has 100 registered members living with disability who meet once per month.
In 2019, he started an adolescent girls' empowerment programme to mentor young girls. He says they have reached more than 3,000 adolescents since 2019.
They donate sanitary towels and sensitise girls on the dangers of early marriage, teen pregnancies, HIV and drug and substance abuse.
The father of four said his family has been his biggest support system.
The CBO also has a Savings and Credit Cooperative Society whose aim is to economically empower its members.
Frida, Hinga’s wife of 14 years, says their life changed after her husband became blind.
However, his blindness has made their love grow stronger.
“If it reaches a time God deems fit to open his eyes, we will thank Him; but if God chooses that my husband remains blind, we will still continue praising Him,” she says.
Esther Waithera, Hinga’s mother, says she was heartbroken when she heard that her son could not see anymore.
She says she prayed for him and was happy to see him accept his condition.
“I knew God wanted him that way so that he sets an example. He is my firstborn son,” she says.
National Police Service Spokesperson Resila Onyango says they are committed to working with officers and offering them counselling and support.
“We are proud of the officer for his positivity. He is a motivation and a good example to other officers who might be going through challenges,” she says.