Friday, March 29, 2024

I’ve been paralysed for 31 yrs, but I’ll never beg – Physically challenged cobbler

Many able-bodied persons, who have taken to alms-begging as a means of eking out a living, would, no doubt, question the propriety of their own action if given the opportunity to listen to a physically challenged shoemaker, Morenikeji Gbotolorun.

For the 32-year-old cobbler, begging is a venture that puts those involved in it below their dignity and so remains a most embarrassing way of livelihood.

The time-tested maxim of dignity in labour, for him, remains his watchword and guiding principle in life. Gbotolorun, who is currently running a bachelor’s degree programme in Biology/Chemistry at the National Open University of Nigeria said that he was constrained to engage himself in shoemaking because of his dislike for the contemptuous and scornful manner with which he had seen people treat beggars in the society.

The physically challenged cobbler explained that he decided to learn the shoemaking trade while he was awaiting the release of his West African School Certificate Examination results in order to get himself fully engaged during the period and also to fully prepare himself for the financial challenges that were likely to confront him in the nearest future.

He said that at the end of his two-year apprenticeship under a master-cobbler, he purchased a metal container and with it, he set up a makeshift shop for himself at Ope-Oluwa Street, Ita-Oshin, Abeokuta, Ogun State, because he did not want to waste his time doing nothing at home.

At the end of his apprenticeship, he set up a container shop for himself at Opeoluwa Street, Ita-Oshin, Abeokuta. With the proceeds from his shoemaking business, the cobbler disclosed that he proceeded to the Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, where he enrolled for a course and eventually obtained the National Certificate in Education. Armed with his NCE qualification, Gbotolorun said he picked up a teaching appointment at a nursery and primary school in the city to augment what he was making from his shoemaking business in order to be financially independent.

He stated that he decided to acquire his shoemaking skill and his NCE qualification to enable him to make a decent living without being dependent on anyone or going to the streets to solicitfor alms. He said, “Why should I beg?

Why can’t I use my two hands? I have two hands that I can use to work. So, why should I go into begging? I see begging as the most embarrassing thing.

So, I’ll be grossly embarrassing myself if I choose to go that way. I can’t even imagine myself opening my mouth to say please, give me money. How would I even do that?” He, however, solicited a sum of N200,000 from the administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun to enable him to purchase some of the machines still required for his shoemaking business.

Gbotolorun said that his current lack of equipment such as industrial sewing machines had greatly hindered his ability to his shoemaking business with ease. He explained, “I need a sum of N200,000 because I still need some machines that will make my finished products neater.

I need an industrial machine. When you sew a leather with an industrial machine, it is always very neat than when you use ordinary machine that I’m currently using. “An industrial machine is capable of handling thick leather and this ordinary machine can’t sew thick leather.

So, I always have to go out to look for those shoemakers that have industrial machines to finish up with my work. Therefore, this is a very big stress for me to go about doing this.” Recounting how he became physically challenged, Gbotolorun said that while he was one year old, he was taken to the hospital by his parents for a treatment for polio, but a nurse gave him an injection, which resulted in his two legs becoming paralysed.

He said, “Right from my tender age, as my mummy told me, I was not like this. I was told that I became crippled shortly after my parents celebrated my one year birthday. I was taken to the hospital for polio treatment but the nurse, who took care of me, gave me an injection that paralysed my legs.

My mother came to realise this when she went to her office and returned home that day and was surprised that the child that she left home hale and hearty had become paralysed and could no longer move about on his own. I could no longer run to welcome her back whenever she was returning home from an outing. That was how they started taking me to different hospitals, looking for cure. It was the injection that paralysed my two legs.”

Gbotolorun, who is the first child of his parents, in spite of his physically challenged condition, would not rush into marriage, which he described as a “life time contract.” He, however, advised other physically challenged persons to learn a trade or find something to do instead of taking to almsbegging on the streets.

“My advice to people like me is that they should find something to do as a Yoruba adage says, “Atewo eni ki n tanni je,” meaning whatever you can do with your hands is the surest way of earning your living.

Expressing hope that God could restore his two legs to normalcy, Gbotolorun admonished the Federal Government to assist the physically challenged persons who have acquired certain skills by empowering or granting them loans to expand their businesses. He said, “My advice to the Federal Government, with the state of our economy now, is that it should help the physically challenged people.

There are some of them that have acquired skills but are looking for who to empower them in terms of money. The Federal Government should get them loans and they will pay it back. And for those who have yet to acquire any skill, if the Federal Government can help in training them, it will be okay.”

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