Born blind, Iyete Majuma is a joy to her mother. Iyete is a 6-year-old girl with total visual impairment born to a Congolese refugee family in Uganda’s Lobule Refugee Settlement. She is the 3rd child of Atayi Mauzu, a 45-year-old single mother and the head of a family of six.
Majuma’s condition has been medically proven to be due to a lack of an eyeball in the socket. She cannot play, eat, dress, or move freely without the assistance of her mother or siblings. Other children sometimes misled her into stepping on dangerous items during her playtime. Although Majuma hopes to attend school with her friends someday, the local schools lack the necessary resources and facilities to make education accessible to her. While other children attend school, Majuma is cared for by her mother, who devotes so many hours to her at the expense of economic activities. As a result, her household, which relies on a monthly budget of $36 to meet their basic needs, has become more vulnerable and in desperate need of livelihood support in the form of business skilling and start-up funds to assist the family in supporting itself.
Majuma’s case had been unknown to partners and authorities for 6 years until April of this year, when CECI’s team discovered her during our COVID-19 awareness campaigns in the settlement. Since then, CECI has provided her with a white cane for mobility, conducted a case assessment and presented it in protection meetings, and referred her case for case conferencing with OPM, UNHCR, and other protection partners. Now, CECI is working with TPO to provide ongoing psychosocial support to the family.
Just as her name Iyete means “Thank You” in English, we thank individual donors like Patrick Chandiga Justine, whose generous donation enabled us to provide her with a white cane.