Niewidomi masażyści z Rwandy - AFP

Immaculee Karuhura, a visually impaired massage therapist, gives a massage to a client at Seeing Hands office in Kigali, Rwanda, on March 18, 2022. - Immaculee Karuhura lost her sight at the age of 3. After her training at Seeing hands she managed to get an employment in a hotel as a professional massage therapist. Since 2017, Beth Gatonye has trained dozens of visually impaired women, and some men, in the art of massage, with a view to creating jobs for a community that faces deep discrimination in Rwanda. Even today, demand for the massage services offered by her company Seeing Hands is limited to foreigners. "Rwandans say that they don't want their bodies to be touched by a blind person, that it can be a sign of bad luck," she told AFP. "It is as if Rwandans think that being blind is contagious." The stigma is widespread across the East African nation, with visually impaired citizens struggling to access educational or professional opportunities, according to the Rwanda Union of the Blind (RUB). (Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP)