The time is 10: 20 pm. I’m just finishing a plate of spaghetti when I look up and see the opening montage of a new programme, (at least one I’d never watched before) being run on AIT. It’s titled “Against All Odds”. It turns out to be a programme highlighting the travails and sufferings of certain Nigerians and how they coped and survived against all odds.
Particularly moving was the story of one Chuks. He was born with a physical disability which effectively left him with what I could describe as half of an arm. That is to say, the right arm is just a few inches long; his left arm is missing the whole upper arm. Every other part of his body is apparently normal.
Indeed the sight of him is sure to provoke some concoction of emotion. However one just needs to hear him speak. The eloquence and intelligence his speech exuded was in stark contrast to the appearance of his body. In fact I was taken aback and had to put aside my nearly finished plate of food. This was really interesting. Not only did he sound so intelligent, he also sounded so confident, so full of life and so devoid of the self pity that one would expect.
This young man, it was subsequently revealed, had lived his life like any other normal human being. As a child he would run around with his mates, play football, stomp around in puddles. His disability left him wanting in the coordination and balance required for such activities, so he was always falling. And those falls were really bad for he had no hands to break his fall.
Yet, surviving a very transient period of depression, he went on to attend mainstream schools like Yaba tech, Unilag, pursuing and completing courses in Fine and Applied Arts, and Urban and Regional Planning. He didn’t stop there but decided to go beyond the bounds of his academic achievements and really pursue his dreams.
Today this young man hosts his own TV show that focuses on the challenges the disabled face in Nigerian society. This is a very remarkable and indeed inspiring story. I mean I had to take a good look at myself and see how I had so far under achieved by comparison. I had to ask myself, “What are my perceived disabilities?” - A chronic lack of funds? If my young man (just a year older than me actually), could overcome the lack of two good hands, then, my dear reader, I have no excuse. Neither do you. Mind you overcoming his disability doesn’t mean he got his two hands back. But rather that in spite of being handicapped, he was living a life of achievement and fulfillment.
Therefore stand up today and be determined to survive against all odds!
