Sometime around March 2011, I was approached by Bro Osaretin Ikhuiwu as we stepped out of Sunday Service at Christ Embassy Erediauwa Benin. We exchanged pleasantries (the first time we spoke), and then he said something along these lines to me…
“Fantastic talk show you guys delivered today, Bro. Bugie. It was really inspiring. There is a group I belong to made up of physically challenged people. Because of their condition, many are usually discouraged, in despair, and lack the motivation to move ahead due to many obstacles on their way. Please, I would like you to come and talk to them if you can. I believe you can say things that would motivate them and give them some hope…”
I gladly accepted, and we agreed that I would meet with their president, who was a visually impaired lawyer, so I could understand what they wanted to achieve.
As planned, I met with Barr. Melody Omosah, a few days later, and the one hour I spent with him changed my life. In that hour, I came in contact with one of the most intelligent, passionate, and compassionate minds I have ever met.
Most striking for me was his selflessness. Nothing he was fighting for directly benefitted him in any way (unlike many who lead non-profit organizations).
He talked about builders being conscious of people in society who can’t use a staircase;
He talked about scholarships for children whose parents had decided that spending the family’s scarce resources on a ‘disabled’ child was a waste;
He talked about boarding facilities in schools for children whose parents had decided to send their physically challenged children to school but couldn’t sustain their daily transportation costs;
He talked about advocating for schools (private and public) to make provision for Braille materials to encourage more parents to send their visually impaired children to school;
He talked about empowerment programs for physically challenged individuals to care for themselves and their families;
Most importantly, He talked about fighting for the ‘RIGHTS’ of the physically challenged community rather than continuing the tradition of ‘CHARITY’ with which society relates them.
It was all about others.
He told me, “Mr. Bugie, what happens when the rice pack you give them this Christmas finishes? How do they survive until the next Christmas when society remembers them again? It is so bad for the physically challenged that even the one who chooses to be a deviant and wants to take to crime cannot even succeed in it. How does a blind man rob? How does a man with a walking disability steal? That tells you that a physically challenged person with no help or support is almost totally hopeless and has to resign himself to whatever life throws at him or her. We want to be that support they need. We want to be the hope to that physically challenged person who has no one or nothing.”
The reality of how bad the situation was dawned on me deeply. I knew then that my engagement with these special people would be wider than one speaking meeting. That day started my journey of advocacy for the physically challenged community- a trip in which I have found so much joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction and in which I have met some of the most outstanding human beings walking the face of the earth- many of them non-physically challenged volunteers like me.
Days will not be enough to enumerate all the progress we have made on those objectives in NAPVID (Network for the Advancement of Persons with Visible Disabilities) in the last 12 years under the leadership of Barr. Melody Omosah. In the previous 11 years, we have initiated and hosted unbroken ‘The Annual Rights above Charity Lecture Series’ that brings key stakeholders together to give attention to issues that affect the physically challenged in society. I remember organizing the first edition and getting the then Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomohle, to attend. It’s a story for another day.
At that event, the Governor was enamored by the sheer brilliance of a child who read an address from Braille, adopted her, and, to date, plays his role as a father in her life. See the story here-https://mazibugieokhuemoi.medium.com/the-true-story-of-a...
We have, in the last 12 years, successfully provided empowerment materials for several physically challenged individuals, funded education from primary to university level for many others, played a central role in working with national and international organizations in election planning to accommodate the community, facilitated employments for several in government and private establishments, and provided over 700 scholarships and educational supports in that time, among several other interventions.
The results we celebrate in NAPVID today have been largely due to Barr. Melody’s outstanding leadership, passion, and personality. Melody Omosah.
Today, I celebrate a man with a good heart. Selfless and passionate about people, one who has found his purpose in life, which is to give hope to the hopeless and contribute to changing the fortunes of those who have been written off. A man with uncommon determination and courage who only needs to be told “it can be done’, to get it done. Imagine overcoming various obstacles as a visually impaired child and rising to the height of the legal profession where he has found himself today.
In him, I have found a dear friend and a brother, and every day, I am amazed and privileged to experience the quality of his mind, honour, integrity, and personality. Knowing him has been a blessing to my family and me.
As I celebrate with him on attaining this milestone, I urge all my readers to pay more attention to issues that impact the physically challenged people around us. In 12 years, I have seen and heard stories that have astounded me that I would never have thought could happen. Can you imagine a physically challenged child locked up in a room for over 10 years by her family and not seeing sunlight during that time?! Due to NAPVID’s efforts, she was rescued and returned to school to continue the class she stopped 13 years earlier. She is now in her final year as an Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma law student. Many more such stories abound.
You may be surprised at how much impact your support will make in someone’s life, no matter how small. So many opportunities abound for you to participate as an advocate or financial supporter. You can put a physically challenged child in school; you can provide support for another; you can empower a physically challenged father with work to support his family. You can check the NAPVID page to see how you can join this noble venture. It changed my life positively, and I know it will do the same for you. https://www.facebook.com/officialnapvid?mibextid=ZbWKwL