LocationsFrom Braille to Bytes: Abel Simbani Is Opening Digital Doors for Others
September 1, 2026
Abel Simbani using a computer
Abel Simbani is teaching Malawi to see digital inclusion differently.
A primary school teacher at Mbambawa Primary School in Kasungu District, Abel has built his career around helping children learn. As a person with visual impairment teaching at a mainstream school, he understands both the promise of education and the barriers that can prevent people with disabilities from fully participating.
For years, Abel relied on manually produced Braille and a typewriter to prepare teaching materials and carry out his professional responsibilities. These tools remain valuable, but producing, storing and sharing information can be slow, costly and demanding.
I used to hear about computers and how computerised Braille books were improving efficiency in learning,” he recalls. “Braille written manually is a very slow process. I was told that the computer is fast and makes printing documents very fastAbel Simbani
What began as curiosity soon became determination.
Refusing to let limited access define him
Abel previously worked at a school where he could use a computer. When he moved to Mbambawa Primary School, where computers are not currently available, that opportunity disappeared.
But Abel refused to allow the absence of equipment to end his journey.
He began using an internet café to continue practicing; learning whenever and wherever he could. Each visit became an act of courage: a quiet refusal to be excluded from a world increasingly shaped by technology.
“I believe that, with continuous practice, I will be able to sharpen my skills,” he says.
For Abel, digital skills are not simply a professional advantage. They offer greater independence, faster access to information and new ways of preparing and sharing learning materials. They also create possibilities for people with visual impairments to participate more fully in education, employment and society.
“Braille is expensive and slow, but the computer makes life easier for everyone—visually impaired and sighted,” he explains. “Digital skills bring people together and enhance learning.”
Participants during the launch of the Introduction to Computer Basics for the Visually Impaired (ICBVI) in Lilongwe
In a country with more than 700,000 people with visual impairments, according to the Ministry of Gender, Abel’s experience reflects a much wider challenge. Without accessible technologies, assistive devices and inclusive training, too many talented people remain separated from opportunities they are ready to pursue.
Abel is showing that the barrier is not disability. The barrier is exclusion.
From learner to Master Trainer
Abel’s journey did not end when he learned how to use a computer. It grew into a bigger purpose: helping others discover the same possibilities.
Today, he is a Master Trainer under the Introduction to Computer Basics for the Visually Impaired (ICBVI) training programme. He is no longer only acquiring digital skills, he is preparing to pass them on.
“People with visual impairments need digital skills,” Abel says. “Once exposed to the digital world, there are so many opportunities awaiting them across the globe.”
The programme’s first cohort produced seven trainers, including four Master Trainers. These trainers can now support subsequent cohorts, extend learning to more communities and reduce dependence on external facilitators.
For Abel, becoming a Master Trainer means transforming a personal breakthrough into a pathway for others.
A skill learned by one teacher can reach another person with visual impairment. That person can support a colleague, a learner, a family or an entire community. In this way, digital inclusion moves beyond a single training room and becomes a growing movement of knowledge, confidence and independence.
Ms. Milca Manyozo making a speech during the launch of the Introduction to Computer Basics for the Visually Impaired (ICBVI) in Lilongwe
A new cohort and a growing movement
That movement is expanding through ICBVI Cohort 2, which is creating new opportunities for people with visual impairments to gain practical computer skills while strengthening the network of trainers who can support others.
Speaking during the training, Milca Manyozo, Director of Information in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, delivered a clear message:
“A digitally transformed Malawi is an accessible Malawi.”
She encouraged participants to take ownership of their new skills; not only to improve their own lives, but also to lift others.
Abel’s journey gives life to that message. He began with limited access to technology, carried on through persistence and practice, and is now becoming a source of knowledge and encouragement for others.
Ezekiel Kumwenda, Executive Director of the Malawi Union of the Blind, placed this effort within Malawi’s broader development ambitions:
“We cannot achieve MW2063 if people with visual impairments are excluded.”
His words underline an essential truth: digital inclusion is not simply about inviting people with disabilities into spaces designed without them. It is about removing the barriers that deny them access to information, education, employment and the opportunity to shape their own futures.
The ICBVI training programme is being implemented by UNDP Malawi through the Inclusive Digital Transformation for Malawi (IDT4M) Project, in collaboration with the Information and Communication Technologies Association of Malawi (ICTAM), with support from the European Union, Irish Aid and the Government of Norway.
More than learning to use a computer
Abel’s story is not simply about a teacher learning digital skills.
It is the story of a man who refused to let limited access determine the limits of his ambition. It is about courage expressed through continuous learning, determination sustained in the face of barriers, and leadership grounded in the desire to help others succeed.
From manually producing Braille materials to becoming a Master Trainer, Abel is opening digital doors; not only for himself, but for many others who will learn through him.
His journey reminds us that people with visual impairments do not lack talent, ambition or potential. What is too often missing is equitable access to the tools and opportunities that allow those qualities to flourish.
Give people accessible technology, practical skills and the confidence to lead, and they will do more than overcome barriers.
They will help remove those barriers for everyone who follows.
That is how digital inclusion becomes dignity.
That is how opportunity becomes independence.
And that is how Malawi’s digital transformation can truly leave no one behind.
#DigitalInclusion #Accessibility #DisabilityInclusion #InclusiveDigitalTransformation #IDT4M #ICBVI #LeaveNoOneBehind #Malawi
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