By Moses Abeka
While everyone else is excited at the prospect of viewing the solar eclipse, one Odongkara Nobert, resident of Pumit village, a few kilometres from Owiny village, the vantage point of viewing the nature’s spectacle, is preparing himself emotionally to live as a blind man after the eclipse.
“I have seen enough problems, this is a blessing to get away with everything”, the man is reported to have confessed.
According to a top government official and Nasa, viewing the eclipse with a naked eye or any optical device could lead to permanent eye damage or blindness. Pin hole projector and other high tech glasses have been recommended for eye safety.
The aging man in his 70s lives in abject poverty and not amused with growing number of people flocking the remote village to ”see the sun fighting the moon”, something he has witnessed since he was a kid.
”Nobody will stop me from opening my eye”, he retorted when his sons threatened to lock him in the hut as they enjoy the breathtaking view of the moon rotating in its axis come between the earth and sun, blocking sun rays from the reaching the earth for a few seconds or a minute.
”I want to die after seeing something beautiful in this world. I wake up to hunger and nagging wives. The ‘war between the sun and moon’ is the last beautiful thing I will have memory of”, he explained.
However, when threatened that no one would come to his help if he became blind intentionally, the man said he would close one eye and view the eclipse with other till one eye is blinded.
”That would make me king among the blind, at least I would die a royal”, he bragged.
By the time, I left to book my accommodation in Pakwach, he had showed signs of not fulfilling his threat after he was informed that whites were coming to see him.
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