The white cane plays a vital role in enabling visually impaired people identify obstructions in their way and get around them easily and safely.
But they are hard to get because they are costly – one costs as much as KSh2,000 – and many of the more than 1 million Kenyans that are visually impaired or have low vision cannot afford one.
Last week, Safaricom partnered with AYUDH Kenya, a charity, to distribute white canes to 20,000 visually impaired and blind people.
The first 10,000 children and youth that have identified by Kenya Society for the Blind and Kenya Union of the Blind will receive the white canes.
The remaining 10,000 identified by AYUDH Kenya will be distributed by the Safaricom Foundation.
Through the partnerships, Safaricom hopes to enable the visually impaired increase their ability as doing that would enable them get to school and their places of work with ease as well as to access public services.
The white cane campaign was started by Safaricom in 2018 as part of the company’s Diversity and Inclusion agenda.
The campaign is part of Safaricom’s work to deliver on its commitments at the Global Disability Summit to eliminate stigma and discrimination and empower persons with disabilities by facilitating access to affordable assistive devices.
It is also part of the company’s efforts to meet the needs of its customers, especially those that need this kind of support to make their lives easier.
In the last three years, Safaricom Foundation has distributed assistive devices to more than 500 children with visual impairment across the country to over 50 schools.
