Out of the many conversations we have each day, the best ones to me are the long conversations sprinkled with evocative life anecdotes and peppered with easy laughter.

It was just such a conversation that Kwa Cheng Choo, 66, who lost her sight at a very young age to a degenerative eye condition, and I had this week. Her lack of sight has done nothing to rob her of a bright personality and an optimistic view of life. Even the blouse she wore, picked out for her by her older sister who is sighted, reflected her sunny nature. 

But Kwa wasn’t always this cheerful.

At the Singapore Blind School where she had boarded as a primary school student, the Varsity Christian Fellowship would regularly come to conduct Sunday school. However, her first reaction to the Good News was one of anger.

“I did not believe that God is love. I felt He was unfair to give my parents four blind children,” said Kwa.  

Her two younger brothers and a younger sister are also blind, but the four siblings ahead of her are sighted.

Never one to give up in the face of obstacles, Kwa Cheng Choo passed her PSLE and ‘O’ levels, which were miracles given the obstacles, she said. Photo by Karen Tan.

Eventually, it was the songs they sang that changed her heart. “I loved the Sunday School songs. When I sang, somehow I felt very good. They taught us how to pray, and my prayers were answered.”

Those lessons of prayers and simple faith helped Kwa journey through her first big challenge — the milestone Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

She was in the second batch of visually impaired students who sat for the PSLE.

Miracles

“I passed and got the chance to study at Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School,” said Kwa. “It was a school for sighted students and the teachers then were not trained to teach the blind. So during the four years I prayed a lot. It was not easy to cope and I could not see what the teachers were writing on the blackboard.”

But her faith and determination kept her going and, four years later, with an ‘O’ level certificate tucked under her belt, she found work as a typist and telephone operator, first in a ship repair firm, then at an international hotel.

Kwa has been ministering at the Gospel Mission to the Blind for 38 years. In this 2007 photo, Kwa collects a donated cheque from the late President SR Nathan. Photo courtesy of Kwa Cheng Choo.

As she recalled her life among the sighted, she referred to her experiences as “miracles”. It was a miracle that she passed her ‘O’ level examinations, and a miracle that she found a job soon after, even before she had completed her typing course.

In the late 70s, being employed despite visual impairment was rare.

Even as she talked about the miracles, she also recalled her journey as “quite difficult”.

“What kept me going? I believe it was the Word of God and my personal relationship with Him,” she told Salt&Light.

“At the church where I attended as a teenager, the pastor had brought a Braille Bible from America. It comes in many big volumes, and he used to teach us the Word of God.

“It’s not just head knowledge; you study the Word of God and you experience God for yourself. It is a personal relationship.”

“I choose not to be angry”

The faith battle can be a tough fight, sighted or not.

“Once, I got angry with God about my condition and didn’t want to go to church or read the Bible. But I found that it’s not worth it! I became so miserable. It’s like you have no peace or joy, you know?

“So I choose not to get angry with God. I want to have that relationship with the Lord.”

“I wanted to be trained to serve the Lord somehow one day. Even though back then I didn’t know how or what I was going to do with that hope,” said Kwa on why she enrolled in the Singapore Bible College. Photo courtesy of Kwa Cheng Choo.

Kwa went on to be the first blind graduate from the Singapore Bible College, in 1980.

“After working (in the marketplace) for about four years, I decided that I want to know the Word of God more. I wanted to be trained to serve the Lord somehow one day. Even though back then I didn’t know how or what I was going to do with that hope.

“I did think: ‘How can a blind person serve the Lord?’ But I also felt the need to get myself prepared.”

With that thought, she enrolled in the Singapore Bible College. But the next three years were fraught with obstacles.

“It was very difficult because there were no Braille textbooks. All I had was my Bible and typewriter. I had to depend on sighted friends to come in and read to me. I listened and recorded the readings. It was a very stressful time but, thank God, He saw me through the three years.”

Soon after her graduation, Kwa, together with a group of both sighted and blind friends, launched Gospel Mission to the Blind. Kwa still serves at the Mission full time.

Proclaiming God’s sovereignty

Despite the obstacles, her journey was also full of blessings.

Kwa met a visually impaired young man, Cheong Chee Kong, at a lunchtime Bible study class and eventually he asked her to “go steady”.

The couple got married in 1981. Their sighted daughter, who teaches in special education, is 35. Kwa and Cheong are now grandparents to their daughter’s toddler. 

Despite having help from sighted family and friends, parenthood threw up its share of difficulties for the couple. 

“Once, when my daughter was still very young, she was not well,” remembered Kwa. “I carried her and walked along the road, not knowing how I would bring her to the clinic.

“Out of the blue, a friend suddenly appeared and said, ‘Hello Cheng Choo, where are you going?’ and offered her help.

“This is God’s guidance and provision. Psalms 23 is one of my favourite verses: He is my Shepherd. I live my life asking God for everything – I ask God to open up the way and guide me. I ask Him to show me love and for help.

“I don’t know if people think I am a bit crazy. I talk to God and ask Him for big things and small things,” she added with a smile.

Sixty-six years of blindness has not stopped Kwa from praying for a miracle.

Her faith is built upon Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”

Kwa and her husband, Chee Kong, during their courtship days, celebrating Christmas at a friend’s house in 1980. They have been married for 38 years. Photo courtesy of Kwa Cheng Choo.

“Jesus read the Scripture from Isaiah 61:1, but in the Book of Isaiah, the verse did not talk about recovery of sight to the blind. You go read, and compare the two verses,” she urged.

“To me it is precious, because when Jesus read it, He added and proclaimed recovery of sight to the blind. As I get to know the Scriptures and God better, I know that Jesus did come to give sight to the blind. He gave sight to Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), the man who was born blind, right? So why should we be excluded?”

She chuckled as she recalled all the advice she has received. “Some even tell me, ‘It’s okay to be blind, at least you don’t see the evil in the world!’

“I thought to myself, ‘How would you like it if you were blind?’

“There are others who say, ‘Aiyah just accept your blindness’.

“Then there were people who had prayed for us and said, ‘Oh, you got no faith so you didn’t get healed’.

“It’s not for us to explain why people do not get healed because then you may assign blame and hurt that person.

“I kena before!” she added. But God is a God of Grace (John 9:1-12).

“I think, for too long already, we have sort of not dared to hope for healing and just accepted that it is our lot in life. We didn’t want to be disappointed anymore, so just don’t pray for healing. But we should be bold to believe that He wants to give sight to the blind. To me, I’m going to press in for my creative miracle.

“I think we should trust that Jesus did claim to be the one who gives sight to the blind (Matthew 9:27-30) and I should believe who He really is.”

“Some people get so angry when I encourage the blind people to trust God for healing. They say, ‘Oh, you’re raising their hopes too high, giving them false hope. And when they don’t get it and they’ll be so crushed’.

“I think for those who want healing and you don’t stand with them to pray, they will also be very crushed.

“Who knows? The healing breakthrough might just come soon.”

And if healing doesn’t take place?

“We preach the Gospel that none should perish (John 3:16), but that doesn’t mean nobody’s going to perish. Eternal life is given to you — whether you receive it or not, is another story, right or not?” Kwa said.

“Just because people don’t get healed doesn’t mean we cannot proclaim His sovereignty!”