Perpetua Mugure, a visually impaired Kenyan tailor, is preparing to leave for Japan after winning a scholarship from the Tokyo-based International Association for the Visually Impaired to study acupuncture.
The scholarship enables gifted and promising young blind people from around the world to study acupuncture as well as moxibustion and massage for three to four years at an institute for the blind in Japan.
Mugure, 27, will spend six months studying Japanese and Japanese Braille before starting the acupuncture course, which begins next April.
"It is a dream come true, and I'm sure I will have a new experience of life once I arrive in Japan," Mugure said in a recent interview. "This is also my first time to fly, which is a bit inspiring."