DON’T LET ME DIE OF FRUSTRATION, PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED MASS COMMUNICATION GRADUATE BEGS FOR JOB

Enjoy the excerpts below:

Can you please tell us about yourself?

My name is Abiodun Omoyaiye Soyeri, I am a graduate of Mass Communication, from the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY). I stay at Isale-Oja, Kuto, Abeokuta in Ogun State, Nigeria.

It can be noticed that you’re physically challenged, what led to the situation?

Actually, this happened about 28 years ago, I wasn’t born like this, I was walking but this happened, when I was  two years old then as I was told by my Mum, I have a brief illness then, they took me to the hospital, gave me an injection and the injection damaged some of my joint muscles, and since then I have been on mobility aides, which is crutches and calibres since then.

For some times now that you have been using crutches till now, what are some of the challenges you’ve faced since then?

The challenges are very enormous. I can remember that going around then was a big challenge for me, there are a lot of limitations before me, I could not do what my friends are doing, I am limited to some things, and also while I was in school, there was a lot of limitations too.

When my friends are going out to play, I will go out, but will just sit down in class, there are a lot of things I loved to do with them too but due to my predicament, it could not afford me the opportunity to do that, I could also remember when I was in MAPOLY, the stress in MAPOLY is very cankerous and a big one, but with God on my side, I was able to surmount it and I was staying at Kuto then, and I will have to take a cab to Panseke, from Panseke to Ojere, then it was big one and in the midst of that, I lost my Mum, who has been the bedrock and my pillar, and given me a tight life then, and I have been coping with friends and acquaintances, who has been responsible for my upkeep and then some of them paid for my school fees/

Some of them pay for my day to day activities, some of them paid for the food I eat, they paid for my house rent because I stay alone, I used to stay with my mum before her demise, so now I am alone, I am hustling for my life alone, there is no family, though I have a father but he’s very aged, so I can’t say an aged father to be catering for someone like me, who is in his early 30s, and I have to find a way of making my life work in my own little sense.

Aside these challenges you mentioned, what are the other challenges you faced when you’re in school?

Yes, like I said earlier, the challenges I faced while in school was actually mobility, moving from one place to another was a big challenge for me, and when we have to have lectures, and in our timetable, which was scheduled to have a lecture in one class, another lecture in another class, so we have to arrange for a cab to take me there and this is an extra fee for me alone inside the school, which will also have to take me back home and I don’t have money and I have to source funds from friends, I have to beg them. Let me say basically during my school time, during my higher institutions time, I beg my way out, I begged my friends to pay for all these transportation, feeding and all that, because there was no one to help, except God and people.

Now, on the issue of your mobility challenges, I can see that even for you to walk with the crutches, its a challenge for you, what do you think are other means which can make you walk faster?

There are tremendous innovations these days, you know technology is evolving everyday, so there are wheelchairs, there are stimulant plants, surgeries that can be done, and if you don’t have money you can’t enjoy these innovations, there are powerful wheelchairs, which can ease my pains, in moving around from one place to another, but my fear is the Nigerian roads even the community roads but still there are rugged-powered wheelchairs too from China and Germany, and there are ones which are being conditioned with the rugged roads, the Nigerian roads, so I think all these can ease my pains if I don’t use crutches and calibres.

So you would have preferred a wheelchair to a surgery?

Yes, I would prefer a wheel chair to surgery but as I said earlier it all depends on money, at least for me to survive on my own I have to source for funds from people, so I can’t engage in the astronomical amount in purchasing all those powerful equipment myself.

What has been your source of income now after you left school, since you depends on your friends then?

One thing about me is that I have never cut off my relationship with my friends since  then, we are still together and thank God for social media, some of them are still in touch with me, some of them still send me funds, and some still check on me when they come to Abeokuta, because they stay in Lagos, at least to spend some days with me, we laugh, we joke and still put something in my pocket, so majorly my friends do put something in my pocket.

Won’t you prefer being financially capable on your own?

Infact, that’s what I craved for when I was serving at the Ogun State House of Assembly, so during my service year, I make a bold step then, I spoke with the Speaker, Honourable Suraju Adekunbi, we met and discussed, that I need a job and he told then  that it’s only the Governor that can give job to the people ,that he doesn’t have power to do that, so in my own wisdom, I wrote a  letter putting my pictures, my credentials, and submitted it to the Ministries, including the Governor’s office, which I have a copy with me.

But I was told in one of the Ministries that the letter got to their table and they need a nod from one of the powerful individual, which is a politician or a direct link to the Governor, which I don’t have and since then I have been trying my possible best to get a job because I can’t keep depending on people, I don’t want to be a burden to anybody, at least I went to school and managed to get myself educated and being educated is really painful even isolation is wrecking my life off.

 Imagine someone being indoor all the day, not having anyone to talk too, what you learnt in school you can’t put it into practise, even if you want to, there are no funds, though people will say, you can start something on your own but without anything, you can’t start nothing, at least with the little I have, I still have to feed my self, pay house rents, pay NEPA bills, put clothes on myself. So that’s what I am trying to do all these while, I even wrote it on my Twitter page and Instagram page at least for people who are of good minds to assist me in getting a good job, and since then I have consistent in doing that and I believed that one day God will turn His good eyes on me.

So aside all these challenges you’re facing now, is there anything other thing you will like people to assist you with?

Yes, I would want the people to assist me. I know that no matter how hard the country is, we still have some good people at heart, who really want to help someone who is in need but they don’t know how to get to such people, so I am using this opportunity PenPushing Media is giving me to reach out to them.

I need a good living condition because the house I am staying at Isale-Oja, Kuto, is not that conducive for me because I used to go to the bathroom with my bare buttocks, and this has allowed fungi infections to crept into my buttocks, so I was advised by Doctors, because I am always in and out of hospital, getting drugs, getting injections, to prevent these infections from damaging me, so Doctor advised me to at least for me to prevent myself from these infections to get a room-self contain, that I can manage my toilet myself, my bathroom myself and put antiseptic.

So since then I have been trying all my possible best to get this  accommodation, at least a room self contain, that can be accessible for me to the road, it won’t give me much problem, social amenities would be there like water and other things, very close to the road, where I can be moving in and out, without calling people for assistance, because when you start calling people for assistance today, tomorrow, the third time, they won’t answer you because they expect you to have fashion a way of doing things on your own. So I am using this opportunity to reach out to the people to please support me, nothing is too small.

Penpushing further reports that, for assistance and support, you can reach Abiodun Onayeri via: 0703-321-9924 or contact the management of Penpushing Media on 08073463653, as well as email [email protected]