Meet the man who introduced blind football to Uganda's visually impaired youth
Many Ugandan youths who are visually impaired have lost hope of carrying on their career in football. But the introduction of blind football by a 27-year-old Jagwe Muzafaru, gave them hope.
Jagwe was born in a family of eight children and raised in the central region of Uganda. He grew up with his siblings who looked after him as his mother eked a living for them. He lost his father at the age of three.
Losing sight
In 2003, aged six years, Jagwe lost his partial sight during a routine polio immunization campaign that was carried out in the country for children aged below 10.
“I was six years old then when an immunization campaign was carried out in my school. We all came out and got immunized. But after a few seconds, I felt uneasy and collapsed. Incidentally, there was a burning charcoal stove that burnt all my body,” Jagwe narrated.
From that moment, Jagwe’s sight became partial and he could not see objects properly. He was taken to the hospital and spent almost months getting treatment for the burns he suffered. “Eventually after staying in the hospital for almost two months, the doctor realized that my left eyesight could not be restored. But they managed to work on the right eyesight partially,“ he said.
Jagwe’s single mother was the only breadwinner of the family, though his distant relatives could come in handy once in a while to give help.
“Growing up, especially in primary school life was not easy. My mother rented and looked for work to earn a living on a daily basis. She was a single mother after the demise of our father at a tender age," he said.
Education
From his primary school at New Valley and secondary education at MIP College, Kawempe, Jagwe joined Makerere University Business School (MUBS), where he graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Computing.
At the university, Jagwe held several positions, especially in the disability movement. “I was a student leader (MUBS Guild) 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, I was the Minister for Students with Disabilities on the Makerere University Business School Student Guild Executive,” he said.
Other Responsibilities
Having been the founder of blind football, Jagwe is also a parasport administrator and a disability inclusion advocate. He is a volunteer in charge of Cerebral Palsy-Football Development in Uganda on behalf of the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) and Para Football organization, an international body promoting football for persons with disabilities as one of its personnel for football development in Africa.
Starting blind football
Blind football is an adapted form of five-a-side football played with an audible ball on a pitch surrounded by kick-boards - a physical barrier indicating the touchlines - and without the offside rule.
Jagwe developed the idea of introducing blind football in order to raise awareness about visuality impairment and Gender-Based Violence. “After participating in sports games at the university I realized that there was no football club for visually impaired persons. I went and I did research more about the sport if it’s registered with any affiliated sports body in the country,” he said.
Jagwe said that he officially decided to register Blind Football Uganda in 2021 after visiting several blind schools in the eastern and central regions where he enrolled visually impaired youths into clubs.
Through YouTube channels (where blind football matches are relayed and recorded), visually impaired players in Uganda are able to learn and master the game. Jagwe said that they held two (football tourney) competitions during the months of March 2022 and July 2023, which saw over five clubs across the region compete.
“The first blind club competition staged in March 2022 by Blind Football Uganda (BFU) attracted the attention of the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), the supreme body that governs blind sport in the world. This enabled us to be known worldwide and receive a certificate of recognition,” he said.
IBSA offers technical clinics, workshops and donations of sports equipment to its registered members worldwide, which Jagwe hopes would come in handy after being registered.
Jagwe said visually impaired players participate physically and even make new friends during the tourneys. He plans to move across the country and ensure that blind football is introduced in primary and secondary schools.
Challenges
Most of the blind players face many challenges including travelling to competition areas, and lack of rightful equipment to use on the pitches.
“The challenges we face include transporting players to competition areas, which has caused us to postpone some tournaments. We lack rightful equipment to use on our football pitches upcountry where such tournaments would be organized,” he said.
Many blind students or youths are now gaining recognition and offers following their participation in various blind football competitions. Over 140 blind youths are now actively enrolled in blind football clubs in Uganda.
Reaction from blind football players
Rogers Ojok, a student of Kyambogo University (who lost his sight in primary school) said that he started playing blind football last year. “I use my ears to hear the sound of the ball, then I have to follow or kick the ball. We knock each other as you see we are blind here on the pitch,” he said.
Ojok hopes with more training and participation in competitions, he will definitely be able to represent Uganda with other blind players at the regional and continental levels.
Ssemakula Rashid, a Makerere University student said that he joined the blind football league in December last year after a friend introduced him to the game. “I now have hopes that the sky is the limit for me. I got blind at an early age, though I had an interest in playing football. I am really happy and I have been training since last year. My hopes are that I go professional one day,” he said.
Mugume Amos, Chairperson of the Uganda National Association of the Blind (UNAB), said that the introduction of blind football helps visually impaired people to show their abilities within their disability. “As an organization, UNAB which oversees the blind people in the country, I believe such entities for visually impaired people need to be assisted and even get funding through the Ministry of Sports," he said.
