Seeing Beyond Sight

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On Friday, July 11^th, 2025, fourteen young, visually impaired, college graduates completed the Employability Training Program sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in conjunction with Kilimanjaro Blind Trust Africa (KBTA) Home | Kilimanjaro Blind Trust Africa (Kenya), and other sponsors. This program provides a vision for a much brighter future for these capable new graduates. 

KBTA is a charitable trust, based in Nairobi, Kenya, that works in six countries, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, and Ethiopia, to find solutions for persons with disabilities with, according to Executive Director Suparna Biswas,  “a very important focus on those with visual impairment, because they get left out, because people think that if you can’t see, you can’t do anything else… which is completely wrong.” 

In the year 2005, founder of KBTA Paul Polman, Chairman of the Board and Global CEO, Unilever, discovered this truth when he joined a group of 28 members, eight of whom were blind, to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.  After 18 hours of hiking, covering 13,200 feet of climbing, they reached the summit and then their final campsite.  Almost the entire team made it to the top, including all eight blind members, making it the largest number of blind people to reach the summit. 

Paul’s interaction with these climbers drove him to visit local blind schools around Kilimanjaro and connect with blind children, where he saw the great need they had for supplies and materials.  From this experience, KBTA was born.

KBTA provides much more than employment training for graduates.  Beginning from grade three, KBTA donates electronic devices to assist young, visually impaired, students to learn alongside seeing students, allowing them to integrate into traditional schools, as well as providing training for their teachers.

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Church funds help KBTA to provide these devices, specifically, Orbit Readers 20 and Orion TI 84 calculators, which allow students to read, write, perform math functions, and interact with the digital world. This technology provides a way for them to use their braille skills in all aspects of life, making it possible for them to learn and function in everyday situations, living independently, as well as opening fields of education and employment to them that were unattainable with previous, limited technology.

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The high costs of these digital Braille assistive devices are unaffordable for 90% of the learners in Africa. However, with donations from the Church and other partners, they have equipped over 3,000 students across 250 schools and colleges with the essential tools needed to succeed as independent adults.  This work is ongoing, as over 5,000 youth still lack access to inclusive education and employment opportunities in the region.

The Church supports KBTA’s goals to empower learners through, as stated on their website, “comprehensive programs that span digital literacy, educational support, career orientation, employability skills development, and research and innovation”, connecting education to employment and offering “specialized training and partnerships with inclusive employers”.  They also collaborate with innovators across the globe to develop “practical, affordable assistive technologies, ensuring no one is left behind in the digital age”. 

With the Church’s focus on education, self-reliance, and serving those in need, and KBTA’s mission of empowering each student to learn and receive essential tools they need to be successful in life, the partnership, which began in late 2022, is one that works. Of the Church’s involvement, Executive Director Biswas states, “…we are so grateful that we’ve had that support from the Church, because it has been a game-changer”.

The future of these 14 graduates is significantly brighter now, because of the help of KBTA, the Church, and their partners.  Students are now empowered to go forth into the workplace and compete with their sighted counterparts, and they are ready and eager for the chance.   In his presentation to the group, new graduate Dan Erick Thuranira stated, “It is time for us to move from the shadows and into the spotlight”, and Sharon Kariuki added in her address to her classmates, “Let’s go out there and show the world what is possible when ability meets opportunity”.

Former graduate, Evans Onyango, who now works as a compliance analyst for an insurance company, also spoke to the graduating students urging them to, “Be bold, be courageous, and fight for your dreams”, and they are now equipped to do just that. 

Executive Director Biswas congratulated the graduates and stated, “Well done.  There’s still a journey ahead of you and a long journey, but you will be successful, and you will do it well.”