Seeking a breakthrough

‘Well done Mahmoud,’ I said to my son as soon as I stepped into the sitting room and saw him, eyes glued to his laptop. ‘Sitting for your mock WAEC has made you such a serious student that you no longer look for food when you return home. You go straight from exam hall to your laptop. That’s admirable. But I hope you’ve made time to pray.’ I added, smiling at him.
‘Yes I did Mummy. I prayed both Zuhr and Asr in school today because our second paper lasted till 3.30.’ He replied, raising his head to look at me.
‘That’s good and is it against tomorrow’s exams that you are on your laptop? I often say it’s useless to buy you people school textbooks these days. You get everything you need by merely surfing the net.’ I observed, walking over to sit next to him.
‘That’s true Mum but what I am searching for now can’t be found in any text book, at least not right away. So I have no choice but to browse the web for it.’ Mahmoud answered mysteriously.
‘And what subject is this that has no textbook?’ I asked in surprise.
‘It isn’t a school subject and it has no connection with our mock exams. This morning, before I left for school, I picked your phone to alert the driver that I was on my down but I inadvertently saw what you were reading on your whatsapp page earlier. It was the story of that three year old boy whose eyes were plucked by ritualists, in Zaria, some months ago. I read about the visit to him by a man from Lagos who pledged to help and also appealed to like-minded helpers to come together and seek a solution that will enable the little boy to see again.
I was so moved by the boy’s plight and the man’s gesture that I shed tears all the way to school. That was when I promised myself I will search the internet for a documentary I watched last year, about some scientists who were trying to help blind people regain some of their lost sight. In place of total darkness some of the patients could see a bit of light and blurred images of people after their surgery.’ Mahmoud disclosed.
‘Oh how nice of you to care Mahmoud’ I said patting him on the shoulder, ‘Like you I shed a lot of tears when I read the heartrending story of that poor boy. In fact when the news first broke, I was too shocked to cry. I kept wondering at the sheer heartlessness and the inhumanity of those ritualists. How can anyone in his right mind inflict such harm on a poor innocent soul like that boy? Do they not have an ounce of human feeling in them? I wondered.
But it was not until I heard the boy’s first words to his mother, when he woke up blind, that I broke down completely Mahmoud. I read in the newspaper that the moment the boy became conscious, in the hospital, he turned to his mother and asked. ‘Mother why can’t I see you?’ This question broke my heart and drove me to serious heartrending sobs. I cried because it is a fate too hard for a three-year-old to understand.
How can he comprehend, from one day to the next, that his bright easy world of childhood and merriment has been turned into a cold dark world in which he could see no one? I also spent that whole day wondering how I could explain such a tragedy to him, if I were his mother. On the whole, I had a gloomy day going over the tragic situation of the boy and his mother. This morning, while waiting for you to finish getting ready, I received the pictures you saw in my phone.
Like you’ve seen they were of a man who travelled all the way from Lagos to sympathise with the boy’s parents and to lend his support. The note he wrote after the visit also got me thinking we should channel our energies towards finding a way to get that boy to see again, if there is any medical or scientific breakthrough that could ensure that.’ I concluded.
‘And that’s precisely what I am looking for now, Mummy. I googled up his story and saw that both his state government and some senators from the state as well as concerned individuals have offered to help the boy with medical treatments and scholarships for studies all his life. I felt that the least someone like me should do is to help with information on whatever treatment can make this boy see again. And in sha Allah, I won’t rest until I find the exact location of the research centre that was featured in the documentary. I will also write to them about him and see what they will say about his condition.’ Mahmoud pledged.
‘What a noble cause you have taken upon yourself my son. I wish you luck in all you are seeking. My only worry is that this boy’s eyes have been plucked out, unlike the people in the documentary who only lost their sight through the loss of their optic nerves. I wonder how much good that treatment will do to him without the eye balls to use them with.’ I lamented.
‘Oh God, Mummy, you are weakening my resolve by mentioning the issue of his missing eyeballs. There I was thinking all we needed was to find a medical breakthrough. In reality his situation is really worse than that of the others. But we can’t afford to lose hope now. Where there is the will there will be a way. If these doctors can find a way to revive the optic nerves of blind people and enable them to regain their sights a little, be sure that they will be able to make artificial eyeballs to go with them one day. Let’s concentrate on finding them and taking this boy’s case to them. Who knows, we may be taking to them the biggest challenge of their career and one that they will do put in their very best to conquer.’ Mahmoud enthused.
‘Yes, you are right. We must not be discouraged by the gravity of this boy’s peculiar tragedy. We will pray hard for him to find a cure and see again. And we will pray even harder for Almighty Allah to expose his attackers so they can meet the worst fate of their lives in this world and meet with His wrath in the hereafter. Indeed we must continue to pray that all ritualists, wherever they are and whoever they are, should meet with all kinds of evil fate so that the world will be rid of them.
In their unhealthy desperation to get rich or high political offices they sacrifice fellow humans and use them for evil rituals without sparing a thought to the victims and the families they left behind, such people deserve every imaginable evil end in this world and the worst of God’s punishment in the next world.’ I prayed.
‘And I say amin to that Mummy.’ Mahmoud replied, his hands outstretched in prayer.