Finding her true vision in music

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Dec. 18 (EMN): Despite being visually impaired, Nzano Shitiri, a 19-year-old girl in Kohima, dreams of becoming a musician.

A class 10 student at Cherry Blossoms School in Kohima, she not only sings well but also plays the piano. Music is a ‘passion’ she started pursuing when she was nine, Shitiri told Eastern Mirror recently.

For a while, she was taking piano lessons at the Symphony School of Music in Kohima in 2016. But these days, she has started taking music lessons at home.

After matriculation, she has plans to pursue ‘music training to realise her dream’, Shitiri shared. Her visual impairment, she said, often attracts “unpleasant comments in public places.” However, she chooses to “ignore” such discrimination.

Shitiri’s talent is not limited to music. In her leisure, she weaves baskets; make dream-catchers, and other handicraft items.

Interestingly, she learned how to make paper-baskets from a friend who is visually impaired. Some of her handicraft items were put on sale during the recent Hornbill Festival.

Also, she is a good runner and has won quite a number of sport prizes in school. She is the youngest among four children.

In a message directed at people with disabilities, Shitiri said that hiding from people ‘won’t help.’ Rather, be expressive and ‘show your talent so that people will know,’ she said.

The principal of Cherry Blossoms School, Purnima Kayina described Shitiri as a “smart and very talented” student. “She is a good singer and can play the piano really well, while her elder brother Mhonchumo, who is also visually impaired, is good at harmony,” Kayina added.

The principal went on to say that Shitiri is ‘good at running too and has won lots of prizes for that.’ She also cooks for the family and fetches water from a stream, located a quite a distance away from her place.

‘She is one of the best students we have,’ according to the principal.

Kayina pointed out that children, particularly the physically-challenged, “should be empowered with education to know their rights.” That’s the reason the school is trying to promote education in the first place, she said.

The principal felt that government should give ‘lifelong’ assistance to the PWDs in the form of jobs. Although there are reservations for people with disabilities, the children have to be educated to claim that reservation, she added. “It should really go to the right person,” Kayina said.