Blinded after shot in the face from stray bullet: A new world for Raquel

Debbie Jacob

RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ sits in the gallery of her Couva home and talks about plans to complete her degree in pre-medicine at the College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of TT (COSTAATT).

Stylish, large sunglasses, a gift from her husband Mark, cover her eyes.

“He always liked buying sunglasses for me,” she says.

Once, sunglasses were a fashion statement. Now, she says, “I wear them to protect my eyes and my family. I don’t want them to feel distressed when they look at me.”

Rodriguez, 42, has been blind for the last two years. Darkness came out of the blue on September 10, 2022 when she took a break from preparing extra lessons in human and social biology for her students. A relative had come to visit, and neighbours had congregated in the front yard.

“Something told me, ‘Don’t go outside,’ but I didn’t want everyone to feel bad that I didn’t greet them,” said Rodriguez.

She was playing with a child when a car pulled up and a man inside the car began shooting into the crowd.

“My eye veered left, and I saw a guy tapping the side of a long gun that had stuck.”

Realising she was shot, Rodriguez thought “'Oh my God, this is death. Father, Lord, take me.’ I heard a loud, strong voice echoing and it said, ‘No, you’re not going to die. I want you to do two things: humble yourself and focus on me.’”

Time stood still. She heard her husband voice as she fell backwards and lost consciousness.

Church-going people from her neighbourhood in Barataria congregated at the hospital to pray for Rodriguez. Her husband tied three water bottles on a string he secured to the bed so she could reach water whenever she wanted.

The bullet had entered above her left eye, travelled diagonally through her face and broke her right cheekbone when it exited.

“My face was swollen like a balloon so doctors couldn’t stitch up my cheek. My mother rubbed wonder-of-the-world leaves on my face and had me drink some she boiled. The swelling went down the next day.”

Rodriguez said she never felt any pain from her injuries.

“I just had a slight headache,” she says. “It felt like a curtain came down over my eyes.”

Lying in the hospital with bandages on her eyes she asked herself, “‘Why did this happen?’ I was a charitable person. The area where I lived was underprivileged, and I gave free lessons. The people in the community knew me.”

On the fourth day after the shooting, Rodriguez walked out of the hospital. She could only see pitch black. She knew she would never see again.

“I told myself, ‘The creator still has me here.’”

During a symposium at the TT Blind Welfare Association (TTBWA) Rodriguez met executive officer Kenneth Suratt.

“I didn’t know a community of blind people existed. He said I could relearn everything, and that motivated me.”

Rodriguez learned methods for the visually impaired to navigate the web, write e-mails, use a cellphone and “watch” movies by using the visually impaired captions that explain what is going on. She’s learning Braille.

“I read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (a children’s picture book). That made me feel independent,” she said.

One day, after the family moved to Chaguanas, Rodriguez called her husband, a small engine repair specialist, and told him she had cooked chicken pelau. He rushed home.

Shocked at how good the pelau tasted, he wondered how Rodriguez had browned the sugar perfectly.

“I felt the texture of the sugar changing as I stirred it. When your sight goes, your other senses intensify. For me, it’s mostly about touch. A new world reveals itself,” she says.

Rodriguez learned to measure her steps – count the number – and eventually developed a memory for space. Her cane swinging from side to side helps in avoiding collisions. She is keenly aware of objects around her. "I feel vibrations in objects," Rodriguez says.

She bakes macaroni pies, sponge cakes and chicken for her husband and three children, Sarah, 21; Selena, 18 and a son, Israel, 14. She cleans the house and does laundry.

Rodriguez has two physics classes and one chemistry class to complete her pre-med degree. The TTBWA has teamed up with the US-based Torres Foundation, which provides educational tools for the blind to complete their education.

She has a goal of returning to COSTAATT in September, 2025 and becoming a general practioner (GP) specialising in nutrition, healthy lifestyle and Ayurvedic medicine, which she hopes to study in India.

That love for natural medicine came from her grandmother who passed away at 92.

“I always loved herbs. When I was small, my grandmother sent me to pick them for her,’` says Rodriguez.

Her current rental home in Couva reminds her of those carefree childhood days.

“I grew up in a country lifestyle and never liked living close to people. Here, the two girls can have their own bedrooms. There are trees, fresh air – a sense of security.”

She had always been active and health conscious.

“I did lots of exercise; walking, running. My husband and I loved playing basketball. Now, Goal Ball has me intrigued.”

Goal Ball, a game for the visually impaired, uses a ball with a bell in it. Players throw the ball across a court to score points. Rodriguez has joined a team, and her goal is to represent the country or the region in the 2028 Olympics.

She enjoys going to the beach, building sand castles, listening to the waves and people talking. "I like sleeping on the sand," she says.

Rodriguez runs 5k marathons with her husband.

“We hook his right arm and my left arm together. He warns me of humps in the road so I lift my foot higher while running.”

Her curiosity leads her in unexpected directions. Three months ago, Rodriguez took a broadcasting class. She listens to pre-recorded news reports on the Internet, pausing them to practise reading as a newcaster would.

“I would love to read TV or radio news or be in parliament. The disabled need a representative, and the elderly too. They are often treated like the disabled,” she says.

Rodriguez is naturally upbeat and optimistic; curious and driven, but some days are harder than others.

“Sometimes I wake up and say, ‘What are you getting up for? You can’t see anything,’ and I just put that voice aside. You have to fight it.”

At night, her dreams offer full sight. “Recently, I dreamed I was eating a pomerac. Sometimes I have no sight in my dreams; then it opens up like a flower.”

Every day brings new ideas, new revelations and new challenges – especially financiall – now that Rodriguez isn’t working. The government disability allowance is only $2,000 a month. If you work for more than $1,200 a month, you lose that allowance.

“Many of us are well-educated and want to work,” she says. Rodriguez had attended St Gabriel’s Girls RC in San Fernando and Pleasantville Secondary School.

“I have strength, a good education and I’m still kind of young. I could help the country and the disabled,” she says. “Most people with disabilities stay inside. I want them to feel safe and happy to go out more. I would like to see a more inclusive society. I’d like to say to the disabled community, ‘Don’t give up. There are so many possibilities. Don’t live in a box. Think outside of the box. Enjoy life. Keep going. Keep doing things. Keep living. Life is about challenges, and that’s the beauty of it.'”

The police have never called Rodriguez to follow up on the shooting.

“I heard most of the guys from that day are dead,” she says.

Several butterflies darting about the gallery distract me. One of them remains as the others fly off.

“There’s a butterfly circling your head,” I say.

“Really? What colour is it?” Rodriguez asks excitedly.

“Yellow,” I say.

Rodriguez smiles and imagines the butterfly she can’t see.