Driven by her passion to overcome stigma that people with disabilities are not able to do anything on their own, the visually impaired Juliana Samuel is here to tell a different story after running a kindergarten successfully for 15 years.
“Mine is to create awareness and to change the mindset of people; our minds are not disabled hence there is nothing stopping us from realising our dreams,” said Samuel.
Having started out in her rented apartment, making use of her living room and one of her bedrooms with only 17 learners, Samuel now has 76 learners.
From the rented apartment she erected a shack and continued to teach from home and a few years later Samuel expanded her staff and moved to a bigger place.
Last year alone she had 112 learners altogether, but after graduating a big number to grade 1 last year she was only left with over 70 learners. The Smiley pre-grade and day care centre now has four operating classrooms and five teachers, taking in children from as young as three months. Her first cohort from 2008 at the Smiley pre-grade and day care centre are now in their third year at various institutions.
Prior to setting up the Smiley pre-grade and day care centre, Samuel ran a kindergarten at her home village at Elombe in Onayena constituency between 2004 and 2007. Samuel says she started the kindergarten after voluntarily resigning from Shoprite after she started losing her sight. “I was running into trouble with the customers because I would leave some of their groceries behind and that is when I realised I had to pack up,” said Samuel. »
She completely lost her sight in 2009.
A few months before losing her sight the doctor had informed her that she only had three weeks before becoming totally blind.
“That was the darkest chapter in my life. The news was too hard to bear. I isolated myself from the world and locked myself in the room.
“There were times I wanted to commit suicide in that room, but the fear of leaving my children behind kept me going,” narrated Samuel. “As luck would have it, three weeks later I could still see.”
“The fear then just disappeared and eventually when I lost my sight completely I was prepared for the journey ahead,” said Samuel. Thereafter she was rehabilitated and went for Braille classes and the rest is history, she explains smilingly.
Samuel said her journey to thrive in her endeavours was full of thorns especially because she can’t see.
At the beginning some parents were sceptical about her inability to see and removed their children, but she remained undeterred.
At the back of her mind was the thought of serving as an example for other people with disabilities as well to provide for her children and that of her siblings as she is the breadwinner.
As years went by her school became known for the good education it offered and the number of learners grew, forcing her to expand and move from the initial place of operation. Although she cannot see, she does the talking while an assistant writes to demonstrate her thoughts to her learners on the blackboard.
“I work with an assistant to arrange the learners. But I am the voice behind the Bible stories, songs and poems in the class,” Samuel says.
She walks through the school without any assistance, but her little angels, as she describes them, paves the way when they see her coming.
“When I pass the door, they all rush to assist me. I have many guiders,” Samuel says. Like any other teacher Samuel knows her learners’ names and calls each by name when they approach her. Samuel’s love for teaching evolved long before she was totally blind.
While residing in Walvis Bay she assisted at her neighbour’s kindergarten when the teachers were absent.
“And that is where I got the name (Smiley). Today the two sister schools share teaching materials.” As the country celebrates 30 years of independence, Samuel’s plea to people who live with people with disabilities is to assist them in realising their dreams.
“Without a strong support system, people with disabilities will continue to be shunned from opportunities and subsequently becoming anything in life,” said Samuel. ◆