On February 15, the day after Twitter streets were awash with valentine romance and the oppression that the concept of people in love poses to the single hearts, Oluwatimilehin – an entrepreneur and shoemaker who also happens to be living with a disability that affected his mobility – posted a tweet/prayer on his Twitter account with a picture of a N450,000 wheelchair that he needed to be able to move around.
Within minutes, his prayers were heard as benevolent Nigerians began donating generously to his cause. He received sums from as little as N1,000 to as much as fifty thousand naira at once. Currently, he has received over N100,000.
This isn’t the first time that Twitter or other social media platforms have recorded this type of goodwill. Still, every time it occurs, it never fails to elicit a little more hope in the human race, Nigerians, and Nigeria in the heart of those who witness it.
In a country where hope is a slippery thing to hold on to as a non-disabled adult, I imagine that it is even more challenging for people living with disabilities, especially since their needs are rarely taken into consideration on any front: Roads, houses, schools, churches, mosques, malls, etc., are planned without them in mind, thereby making their daily life something of an obstacle course that they need to overcome to get through the day.
The government may not have disabled people in mind or make any provisions to improve their lives, but we as individuals can do our small part to ensure that they don’t always have to be forgotten. So next time you think of buying new shoes or slippers, you can contact “Oluwatimilehin D Shoemaker,” as is his Twitter display name. He promises to deliver quality work that will keep you coming back. He is also yet to receive the total amount for the wheelchair, so you can still pitch in.
Timilehin is just one out of the thousands of Nigerians living with disabilities. Many of them have been rendered hopeless not because of the disability itself but the unfavourable odds that come with being a Nigerian living with any disability.
Now is a good time for our focus to shift unto people like this who, just like everybody else, have dreams and desires that they want to fulfill but need to work ten times harder than everyone else because of where they were born. Nothing speaks louder about the values of a country or society than how they treat their children, the poor, and the disabled.