VISTA -- Godwin Ubani pretty much works on the honor system. And he says he knows if the rare unscrupulous customer is trying to get one over on him.

"From their mouth, you shall know them," he said. "I have that hunch when someone is cheating, fiddling with the money. Even the bad ones, they tell me the truth."

It's a helpful quality when he is behind the register at his coffee and snack shop at the Vista courthouse.

Glaucoma has left Ubani, 51, legally blind for the last two decades.

He relies on people to tell him not only what they are buying, but the denomination of the bill they hand him.

Most folks, distracted as they are with whatever brought them to the courthouse, don't realize at first that he is essentially sightless. So when Ubani asks what they are buying, they will often say "this" or "one of these" and wave a candy bar or bottle of water.

It takes a second to dawn on them that Ubani can't see. Then comes their "aha" moment. And, though Ubani may not realize it, that moment is often marked with either a big grin or raw awe. Customers throw knowing and amazed glances at each other, then smile at Ubani as he hands them back correct change.

"It is impressive that he runs that stand without the ability to see," Deputy District Attorney Keith Watanabe said. "I only stop by every so often, but he recognizes me by my voice. That is impressive. It really is."

Here's the thing: Ubani doesn't just work at the coffee and snack shop; he owns it. And he also runs all the vending machines in the courthouse, as well as the large cafeteria just outside the doors of the south end of the building.

He says he is doing so well that he has been able to get he, his wife and their three young kids totally free of any government support. No more disability checks, no more housing assistance.

Ubani came to the U.S. from his native Nigeria on a student visa when he was 23, and has since become an American citizen. He met his wife, Jane, during a trip back to Africa; they have now been married for about 10 years.

"I am proud of him," she said, her accent adding a musical quality to her English. "Not everybody can do this."

She works at the stand with him. They also have two employees at the cafe.

Ubani lost his sight two years after getting a diagnosis that his blindness was inevitable, a medical finding that he said ended his short stint in the U.S. Army.

His right eye is completely without sight; his left eye can make out not much more than shadows. Yet he is a barrista who can make a steaming cup of vanilla latte without a hitch, and can stock the cookie and candy shelves with ease.

In 2000, less than a decade after he lost his sight, Ubani earned a political science degree with a minor in economic at San Diego State University. It empowered him.

"Having graduated, I said 'I can't fail now. I can do anything,'" Ubani says, his Ibo accent curling and rolling his words.

He credits his success as a businessman to the tough and competitive Business Enterprises Program, run by the state's Department of Rehabilitation. The mission of the program is to teach people who are blind to run cafeterias, vending stands and snack bars.

"In Nigeria, I would have been almost a beggar," he said. "Here, I am doing something, challenging myself. And I am so fortunate to have the opportunity.

"And I have the willingness to do it."

Ubani arrives early every weekday at the courthouse, sometimes by 5:30 a.m., and works until 5 p.m. or so.

His paperwork -- payroll and the works -- keeps him up until as late as 1 a.m.

No vacations, no sick days. His schedule has been that way for about three years now since he took the gig. But his work, and that of his wife, have turned a once-tiny coffee stand into a thriving and growing enterprise, one that feeds jurors and attorneys and deputies and parolees alike.

The lines at the stand can get seriously long, as deep as 50 people, on trial-call days when jurors pack the courthouse. But he moves quick.

Ubani said learning how to take the bus -- something he had never done when he could see -- gave him his freedom, physically and mentally.

Yes, of course, his blindness left him heartbroken. It almost broke him entirely. Now, he is philosophical about it.

"If not me, who then?," Ubani says. "Yeah, I can handle this."

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442.