Volume 1, Issue 3 / February 2009
Anonymous poem written by a disabled refugee in Kakuma Camp
There is no application form
To be disabled
If there were
I do not imagine myself filling one.
It is difficult to live in this world
Some people look at me
As a useless creature
Yet they do not know.
They do not know
That they are lost
That I do things they can’t.
In the streets
Their attention is drawn
They stare
As if I’ve come from heaven
Some look with merciful faces
Some with the eyes of ignorance.
Don’t judge by my appearance
A wheel-chair and a pair of crutches
Are but a means of transport
They are not part of my body
I’ve got legs with blood and veins.
So if you see a disabled person
Do not laugh
It may happen to you
Because there is no application form.
If there were
I do not imagine myself filling one.
