At just 19 years old, Nyasha is a shining example of courage, determination, and faith. A Form 4 student at Jairos Jiri Association School for the Blind, her journey has been anything but easy—but it is one marked by grace and resilience.
Nyasha was not born blind. She came into the world with perfect sight, the third of six children in a close-knit family. Her early childhood was filled with the same simple joys and everyday moments as any other child. But everything changed when she turned six. A bout of measles struck, and complications followed. Cataracts began to cloud her young eyes.
Her mother, heartbroken and desperate, did all she could. Doctor after doctor was consulted. Some tried to scrape the cataracts, hoping for a miracle. But nothing worked. Nyasha’s sight slowly slipped away, and with it came waves of sorrow. “My mother cried,” Nyasha recalls quietly. “Then she accepted that this was the new me.”
Despite the loss of her vision, Nyasha never lost her sense of purpose. She continued her education in mainstream schools, surrounded by sighted children. She never felt out of place. “I just wanted to learn like everyone else,” she says. “I didn’t want my blindness to stop me.”
Her turning point came when her headmistress referred her to Jairos Jiri Association, a school that caters for children with visual impairments from primary through secondary level. In 2023, at the age of 8, Nyasha began learning Braille. “It was like learning a new language,” she says with a smile. “But I was eager. I had dreams.”
And those dreams are big. Nyasha hopes to become a journalist, a storyteller who can give a voice to others who feel invisible. Part of what fuels her passion is her love for stories, especially those found in the Bible.
Thanks to the Bible Society of Zimbabwe, Nyasha receives Braille Bible portions that she treasures deeply. “Reading the Bible in Braille is one of my favorite things,” she shares with a glow on her face. “I enjoy the stories so much, especially about Job. He suffered so much, but God restored him. That gives me hope.”
Her favorite verse is Romans 12:19: “Do not take revenge… It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. It reminds her that justice and healing come in God’s time.
To other young people living with blindness or disability, Nyasha offers heartfelt encouragement: “God has a reason for everything. Sometimes we go through things so that His glory can be seen through us.”
Nyasha may no longer see the world with her eyes, but her vision, her purpose, her calling is clear. And with each step she takes at Jairos Jiri, with each Braille page she reads, she draws closer to the future she was born for.