ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s a blessing to turn passion and what you love into work.
And for one Brevard County man, continuing to do the job he loves despite incredible obstacles has given him great perspective and gratitude.
What You Need To Know
Halim Urban and his wife started their “Village Food Tours” of Cocoa Village in 2018
Urban says he’s guided more than 2,000 people since then on his two-hour walking tours of food and history
Two years ago, doctors diagnosed Urban with eye disease which leads to vision loss
Resources via ara non-profit allowed Urban to continue his work as a tour guide
“I am just blessed to be able to continue to do it, to meet more people, have more people on tours,” said Halim Urban. “Just to be able to do it.”
Urban guides visitors through the history and eats of historic Cocoa Village, taking guests on two-hour walking tours weekly.
After spending 17 years in the restaurant industry, Urban’s passion for and knowledge of food grew. And following a honeymoon with his wife Jessica to Colorado, checking out various food tours out west, they launched their “Village Food Tours” company in 2018.
The pandemic proved to be a setback, though surmountable for the couple, they pivoted, Urban explained, turning tours into a combination of food pick-ups and Zoom get-togethers.
Though business picked back up, and in-person tours resumed, two years ago something else stopped Urban in his tracks: he began to lose his vision.
It all came to a head one night as he headed out to pick up one of his children from the bowling alley.
“It was raining slightly out, my wife was home sick. And as I hopped onto I-95, I literally was like, ‘I can’t see,’” he said.
Doctors diagnosed Urban with Retinitis Pigmentosa, an eye disease which leads to the breakdown of one’s retina over time. Urban now has tunnel vision, zero night vision, uses a white cane to navigate and no longer drives a car.
The night of his dire diagnosis, Urban said that he went into his room, stunned. But, then he made a choice, as the sounds of his kids playing and laughing elsewhere in the house shook him from his spiraling thoughts.
“In my head I was deep diving, upset, taking it all in,” he said. “It was like a switch went in my head, ‘I can do this, laying in my bed, or I could do that and go and be with my kids.’”
Urban reached out to The Brevard Association for the Advancement of the Blind, or BAAB, and connected with Cynthia Jackson, who runs a program centered around teaching independent living skills for those experiencing vision loss.
“We teach mobility, how to use your smart phone, computers and they actually cook lunch for everybody in the class,” she said. “When you learn you’re losing your vision, it’s almost like a death you have to go through and realize, ‘This is my new reality. And how am I going to live without this new reality?’”
BAAB helped Urban submit paperwork in order to access state-funded resources, like a mobility instructor, and both technology and white cane training.
Once the tour guide graduated from the organization’s five-week course, he said he felt better equipped to continue food tour business.
“He’s an example of how losing your vision doesn’t mean you have to stay in your home. You can go out and do and enjoy all the things you did previously,” said Jackson. “It’s just a matter of gaining a little bit of confidence and knowing all the tools available to you.”
For the experience, Urban said that he’s grateful. After all, he doesn’t just do the tours for the love of food or history, but for family. His four boys look up to him, proud of his journey of overcoming.
“Guiding people around while losing my vision has given me a lot of empowerment to live a full life,” he said.