When Liz Agbayani looks back at her 50 years as an educational assistant, one of her favorite memories is of Gensen, a little boy who she says taught her as much as she taught him.
Gensen was blind, a kindergartner lost when outside the safety of his parents’ house. Agbayani had never worked with a blind student. Together, they figured out how to build pictures in Gensen’s mind of all the things he couldn’t see.
“My first meal was bacon and eggs. I was so proud. Before that, I didn’t know what made the sizzle.”
Gensen Rabacal
Leeward Community College student, who is blind, talking about learning to cook
Gensen Rabacal is 26 years old now and about to become a teacher himself. He is finishing up coursework at both Leeward Community College and Chaminade for his bachelor’s degree in English.
“One of the most important things Mrs. Agbayani taught me was that with students, it’s not really what you do or what you say, but that you’re there,” Rabacal said.
“She wasn’t the typical instructor who just told students what to do while she watched them do it. Whatever it was, she did it with us. She made herself vulnerable that way.”
Rabacal keeps a busy schedule. In addition to his own classes, he has a job as a note taker for college students who have disabilities. He goes with them to class, types the lecture into his Braille computer and uses an app that emails the notes, translated into written English, to the student.
He is also very active in the Grace Fellowship Church, leading youth groups and performing as a singer.
Rabacal lost his sight when he was 6 months old due to a rare cancer of the eye. He describes a childhood blessed by wonderful teachers, starting with his mother, who put bells all over their Christmas tree so that he could experience the beauty of the holiday.
After graduating from Pearl City High School, he studied for a year at Hoopono Services for the Blind. He lived in an apartment, practiced crossing busy streets using a cane, took wood shop using regular tools and learned how to cook.
“My first meal was bacon and eggs,” he said. “I was so proud. Before that, I didn’t know what made the sizzle.”
Rabacal is excited to start student teaching, and is thinking ahead about things like how to take attendance. He figures a seating chart will help. He’s already decided his students must call him Mr. Rabacal. “If they call every male teacher just ‘Mister,’ I won’t know if they’re talking to me. If you’re sighted, you can tell because they’re looking at you.”
He talks about the time he’s spent observing veteran teachers, leading church groups and teaching summer programs for blind students — how sometimes, the most challenging moments bring the biggest miracles.
“I remember this one time so clearly. Mrs. Agbayani took me outside and she put a flower in my hand. She said, ‘This is a bud,’ and I remember she picked it so perfectly. I felt the bud open up in my hand. She said, ‘This is an adult flower.’” He shakes his head and smiles. “I remember that. It really happened.”
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
