Ahmed, a refugee from Somalia, lives in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya with his wife and nine children.

Inclusive Futures partner Humanity & Inclusion provides him with training and mentorship on business skills. This supports him to grow his retail shop and improve his livelihood. It has also given him access to rehabilitation services and equipment, including crutches for his post-polio paralysis.

He sells common products that are frequently used by residents in the zone and dreams of having many branches of his business in the camp.

“Movement has been affected in and out of Kakuma, so products from suppliers that I used to get from Nairobi at a cheaper cost now have to be bought locally which is expensive.”

Ahmed has been supported by Humanity & Inclusion with information and advice about COVID-19 to keep his business safe and open, including putting hand washing facilities in place for his customers.

Wairimu has a speech impairment and limited hearing, and communicates through sign language and lipreading. She is the official sign language interpreter in her community.

The masks worn by people to protect themselves from COVID-19 prevent lipreading and muffle voices so Wairimu struggles to hear and communicate with others, including the deaf community around her. She was having to ask people to lower their masks when they spoke so she could read their lips, making her (and them) more susceptible to catching the virus.

Inclusive Futures partner Light for the World and Tuleane Africa collaborated with Limuru Cheshire Home for girls with intellectual disabilities and Ear Trek to make an inclusive mask. This has a clear transparent rectangle patch in the centre to enable lip reading and more visible facial expressions, making communication possible again for Wairimu and other hearing-impaired people.

This videos featuring Sightsavers' disability inclusion specialist Razak Adekoya talking about how blind people can take measures to prevent contracting COVID-19 has been watched by more than 34,000 people.