Pendo
We first met Pendo on our walks through the Mtanza-Msona village in Rufiji, Tanzania while visiting families for interviews. Pendo is an orphan who lived with his aunt and uncle. Born blind, he imprinted a map of his village in his mind over the course of 13 years by feeling his way along the paths. He knows every tree, corner, and building, and can identify any villager by their voice. Pendo would occasionally stop by our house and we would eat dinner together and let him listen to music on our iPod. When songs with fast beats and heavy drums came on, you could watch his face light up and he would smile as he moved his hands to the beat. On our trip to the Usambara Mountains in northern Tanzania, we came across the Irente School for the Blind, and thought of Pendo. In Dar-es-Salaam, we bought him clothes (he came with nothing but rags) and arranged an appointment with the national disabilities hospital. Then we brought him to Irente, where he began his first year of school in July 2008.
* UPDATE (October 2011): Pendo just transferred to Uhuru Mchanganyiko school in Dar es Salaam, where he continues to train to be a teacher to other blind students. The Perkins School for the Blind generously donated a Perkins Brailler to Pendo in October, and so he’ll be very busy typing away over the next few years.
