In Uganda, persons with disabilities often face daily struggles that go unseen, poverty, stigma, and limited opportunities make even basic survival a challenge. Yet amidst these challenges, stories of zeal and empowerment emerge and one such story is that of Kigenyi Rashid.
When you meet Rashid, you don’t just meet an accountant, you meet a warrior of life. His journey is not one of comfort or privilege, but of sweat, tears and a burning determination to prove that disability is not inability.
Rashid was born healthy, but at the age of six, he fell gravely ill, almost losing his life. Doctors discovered a small missing bone in his waist, a condition that gradually weakened his muscles over time. From then on, life became a daily struggle. As a child, he felt the bitter sting of stigma. In Uganda, many people with disabilities are treated as invisible, deemed unworthy of education, dignity, or even belonging. Rashid often heard the painful whispers: “He will never achieve anything… he is a burden.”
Yet where the world turned away, one woman stood tall, his mother. A single parent, she bore the weight of raising a child alone, carrying the crushing burden of raising a child the world had already written off. She rose every morning, selling bananas in the market, her hands rough from work, her body tired, yet her heart was never shaken. Every banana she sold was not just food on the table, it was another day her son could stay in school.
Rashid’s school journey was a battlefield. His body often failed him, but his spirit refused to break. He walked long distances with weakened muscles, faced constant stares from peers, and endured discrimination that cut deeper than any physical pain. He studied under dim light in his wheelchair when his mother could not afford electricity and sometimes went without meals so tuition fees could be paid. Her sacrifices became his greatest source of strength.
Against all odds, Rashid triumphed. He proudly graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance from Busitema University, a dream many thought impossible. That graduation was not just a certificate, it was a testament to determination and a victory for a mother who refused to let poverty and prejudice define her son’s future.
Today, Rashid volunteers as an Accountant at Child Care Foundation, but his work goes far beyond numbers. He is a mentor, a teacher, and an inspiration. Despite his struggles, he has devoted his life to empowering fellow persons with disabilities. He trains them in the art of creating necklaces and bracelets from recycled paper beads, turning discarded scraps into treasures of hope.
Every bead tells a story: of hands that once trembled but now create beauty, of individuals once rejected but now finding dignity, of a community slowly learning that disability does not mean inability. Rashid’s workshops are more than skill training, they are safe havens where people with disabilities rediscover their worth, strength, and voice.
Rashid’s story is not one of pity. It is one of power. From the dusty markets where his mother sold bananas to the classrooms where he proved himself, from the discrimination he endured to the empowerment he now spreads, his life reminds us that every child, abled or disabled, deserves a chance. Behind every success is a sacrifice, behind every bead is a story, and behind Rashid’s smile is a lifetime of struggle transformed into purpose.
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