Valerie Olesia Busaka was not born with a visual impairment. It all started with a series of migraines in her third year of high school. Then, she was a top-performing student and the migraines, written off as exam fatigue, affected her studies. Her grades took a nosedive. So bad was the situation that she had trouble using the calculator during math class. The headaches worsened, and Valerie was compelled to stop attending classes to seek medical attention.

Unfortunately, Valerie was diagnosed with a brain tumor after several consultation visits at various hospitals across Kenya. The tumor was pressing her optical nerves affecting her sight. Time was of the essence, and she was thus scheduled for five-hour brain surgery.

While the surgeon successfully removed the tumor, regrettably, Valerie lost her sight in the right eye and was left with low vision in her left eye. Despite the resulting vision impairment, Valerie believes she is a living miracle. She was the only survivor out of the five people booked for similar surgeries that day.

Understandably, Valerie had difficulty accepting her new condition. It took productive counseling sessions to help her come to terms with reality and to change her mindset from sadness and self-pity to a more hopeful attitude, especially about education and future aspirations.

She enrolled at the Nico Hauser School for the visually impaired. She learned to be independent again and gained valuable computer skills through the inABLE’ Computer Schools for the Blind program. After high school, she interned at the inABLE computer lab stationed at St. Odas School for the Blind. This experience, she says, taught her invaluable leadership and computer skills that came in handy while undertaking her undergraduate degree.

“I could comfortably attend online classes, communicate with my lecturers and classmates through email as well as do my assignments; all thanks to the training that I received from inABLE’s computer labs,” she says.

Today, Valerie holds a Gender and Development Studies degree from Kenyatta University. She is also one of the instructors at the Thika Schools for the Blind. She loves to mentor and inspire young people. During her university years, her leadership skills landed her the Congressperson for Special Needs Students position. She enjoys giving back to society. She was a volunteer at Do It with Boldness (DIWB) organization and served as an Ambassador at the Gifted Community Centre.