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• My young children are out of school, doing menial jobs for our survival, she laments
From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
In May, 2025, Modester Nwawuru, a 35-year-old widow in Obegu Ohatekwe, Enyibichiri Alike community in Ikwo, Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, sat quietly in the corner of her thatched house when her right eye started itching her.
It was a mild eye irritation and she scratched the eye. After scratching the eye, water dropped out of it. Few days later, blood started coming out of the eye.
Gradually, total darkness took over her world and she lost her sight. She never imagined the issue could be an obstacle to her means of survival.
The widow, a peasant farmer, has since then been unable to go to work to provide for her four children because of the eye issue. She now depends on her young, tender children, who have been forced to drop out of school, for survival.
Her children do menial jobs for people and use the proceeds to care for their blind mother, even as her eye problems continue to worsen. The eye has completely become blocked with a lump.
She said she had ignored the problem because of the lack of money to seek medical care.
“Since I lost my husband in 2007, life has not been easy for me and my children. We have been suffering a lot
“In May, 2025, things worsened for me and my children. We now depend on neighbours for food because I can no longer go to the farm or do anything on my own to care for them because of this eye problem.
“Life has not been easy for us since this eye problem began that May 2025. My children have even dropped out of school because there is no money to continue training them,” she told Sunday Sun.
She continued: “No one asks of me and my children. I had six children and two died. The four of them that are alive were schooling but they have dropped out of school because there is no money for them to feed let alone attend school.
“This eye problem, as I said earlier, started in May, 2025. It started itching me that month and I started scratching it. From there, water started coming out of it. Then later, from water, blood started gushing out of the eye.
“From there, it started increasing, it started swelling till this condition it is now. I want help. I want to be taken to the hospital for surgery to know if I can start seeing again.
“I was going to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, regularly for this eye problem, but I stopped going because of lack of money and that’s what worsened the problem. There is no money to continue the medication, no one to assist me financially, no one to ask of me.
“Things are very difficult for me and my children. My children have been the ones caring for me since I started having this eye problem. They are out of school, they are now doing menial jobs for people for us to be surviving and they are too young to be passing through this difficult situation.
“I am in pain. I am helpless. No one cares for me and my children. I have to stop them from schooling for us to be surviving. They stopped school and are now doing menial jobs for us to survive this difficult condition these eye issues have put us into.
“I am a farmer. I am hardworking, but this eye problem has rendered me incapacitated and I am now experiencing this type of condition. I need to regain my sight to train my children.
“One day, I was in serious pain when this man who came with me for this interview saw me and told me that he would take me to a hospital where I access medical care and I was very happy and thanked God for it.”
The widow said restoring her sight means restoring her dignity, her livelihood and her ability to guide her children towards a better future.
She called on government officials in the state as well as the lawmakers in the State House of Assembly, the Speaker, and all the federal legislators from the area, religious leaders, and other compassionate individuals to come to her aid and help her access the medical care she desperately needs.
Michael Nwele, a sympathizer, said the weight the widow has been carrying is more than the pain of the blindness she is passing through.
He said her children still rely completely on her for feeding, clothing, and shelter.
Nwele, a staff of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic in the state said doctors have recommended immediate treatment to restore her sight, but that the cost is far beyond what she can afford.
He explained that when the widow started having the eye issue, he took her to a patent medicine dealer who prescribed drugs for her. He said he bore the cost. He said when it became serious, he wanted to take her to the hospital, but she objected on the ground that his wife might be very angry over that.
Nwele described Modester as a good, hardworking and caring woman who appreciates what someone does for her.
He called on government at all levels and public spirited individuals to come to the aid of the widow and know if her sight could be restored.
“She is not my relative, we are just from the same village and she has been of immense help for my farming activities before being in this present pathetic condition.
“If not that she objected, I would have taken her to that Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki where she was accessing medical care.
“But when it worsened, she agreed to be taken to the hospital by me and at that time, doctors were on strike. Her children have not grown up, they are still kids and her condition disturbs me. This is why I took it upon myself to seek help for her. If you see the type of place this woman lives with her children, you will shed tears. You will pity her.
“Like I said before, I took her to a patent medicine dealer when her eye problem started and I vowed that I must bear the cost of her treatment. But she said my wife would be annoyed that I am spending money on her. I told her no, she would not. She said she would not like anything that might cause problems between me and my wife.
“Now, this thing is above me and that’s why I am calling on public-spirited individuals, government and organisations to come to her aid. The glory will go to the person and me who linked the person to her. This woman has stopped her children from schooling just for them to be surviving and these children who are very small, are now doing menial jobs for people for their survival. Nobody is asking after them. Her husband’s brothers don’t care about her. They don’t care if she exists or not. They don’t show any concern about her.
“This woman is a very nice human being, an honest human being. She is very honest, appreciative and hardworking. This woman appreciates things people do for her. She is a good woman and that’s why I am pleading for help from all quarters to know if this her eye problem can be tackled,” Nwele said.
A resident of Obegu Ohatekwe, Enyibichiri Alike community in Ikwo, Ikwo Local Government Area, Mary Mbam described the condition of the widow as very pathetic.
She said the woman has been struggling to survive since the demise of her husband in 2007.
“This woman is very industrious. She is a workaholic. She has been the one caring for her children since she lost her husband that year and her children are now out of school.
“She had to stop her children from attending school because of her condition. The children are now doing menial jobs for people as a means of survival and I want to ask, for how long will they continue to do this? These children are too tender to be engaging in hard labour for survival.
“Ikwo people are blessed with well-to-do individuals who can take care of this woman’s eye case.
“I am calling on these people to come to the aid of this woman. This widow is suffering a lot. You can see the way she is looking. If you go to where she is living with her four little children, you will shed tears. The house is not where a human being can live. It is a goat pen and she is living in it. More pathetically, she is now blind,” Mbam said.
