It’s been over a year since the global pandemic known as COVID19, changed the globe, disrupted global economies, and took the world by storm. It not only impacted the way we live, but also how we live our lives every day.
Amidst lockdowns and shrinking economies for developing nations, several categories of people have been affected, and while the impact; cutting across race, color, and nationalities have often been explored, how has this changed the lives of persons living with disabilities? In the documentary “Still struggling”, Babatunde Okunlola explores this underreported topic in two communities in Kwara state, Nigeria.
“I prefer the corona period to this moment. I swear to God. At least then we had to stay at home, our food was guaranteed no matter how little from kind benefactors and the shared palliatives by the govt, but now, you walk all day, and nothing comes. Times are hard.”
Baba Mohammed Sani; a blind elderly man in his 60’s who has lived here for over 23 years with a wife and 8 children speaks to Babatunde Okunlola in Koro Afoju; a densely populated slum in Ilorin, which translates to “the Colony for the blind” on a cloudy, wet and dark Saturday morning where he and many community residents wait for the rain to subside.
Over the 150 years of its existence, Koro Afoju has provided shelter for thousands of the city’s beggars and a large population of the blind in North central Nigeria, with some having relocated to surrounding areas in the city, but with roots here still. Baba Mohammed echoes the minds of many residents here.
In this community, while most of them beg for a living, there are those who depend on even the beggars to earn their livelihood. Like Mama; an amputee; with 10 children. Born to blind parents, she makes a living selling food to residents. She says:
“We make sales but due to the corona virus situation, it has cut everything short. We depend on the blind to earn our living, but it’s difficult because they don’t make much. We depend on God’s mercies to live”
It’s an underreported story of PLWD and their survival in the covid era, and deep rooted issues the pandemic has revealed, and while the challenge faced by PLWD, might be complex in cities and metropolis areas, it isn’t much different in the countryside either, especially when the dependency for survival is limited by a disease such as leprosy.
For 77 years, the Leprosarium at Okegbala, which means mount of Redemption has been a colony tucked between Oke Onigbin and Omu Aran, headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, and this leprosarium in this countryside, has been a sanctuary for leprosy patients, many of whom are castaways expelled from their families and quarantined here, serving not just Kwara, but Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun and Kogi states; all surrounding states.
The residents here though cured, live with the complications of the disease, which has restricted tasks that they can undertake, as well as placed a limit what they can do to earn.
Baba Fabunmi an elderly man in his 70’s has lived here for over 40 years, speaks about the impact of the covid era on his life.
“Since the beginning of the Covid situation, a lot of individuals who used to come here no longer come. Some of them used to come twice a year, but they no longer come here to help us. They say it’s due to the economic hardship in the country. Those of us who stay here face a lot of challenges. The majority of residents here are old. We can’t do much of manual labor. A lot of people here have been abandoned by their families and friends. If you did a count of residents here, hardly would you find 8 people who don’t beg for their livelihood. A woman who lives here told me of how she had gone to Omu Aran to beg, but had to borrow money, so that she can return home. The money she got from alms wasn’t even enough to get a bike ride back here. She went looking for money, but spent even more on transport. She couldn’t bring a kobo back home. A lot of people have had their children abandon them here without looking back. We have a lot of challenges here”.
United Nations and World Bank researches reveal that persons living with disabilities constitute not less than 10% of the world’s population, and 20% of the population of underdeveloped countries. In Nigeria, the population of Persons living with disabilities is around 27 million of the nation’s 200m. The number of undocumented PLWD’s is presumed to be higher than the figures quoted.
According to the state chapter in Kwara, the state’s population PLWD’s falls under 4 clusters ie the visually impaired, hearing impaired, the physically challenged, and the amputees, and the registered number by the state association of PLWD by the state group stands at 3,756, while that from the ministry is 1,996. The reason for this disparity is said to be due to the different clusters used by both bodies. A challenge which has unveiled the issue of a data gap and representation, and the impact of inclusiveness on persons living with disability, especially in cases when life and death decisions are made about their care without them being represented at the table has raised concerns.
Mr Samuel Ogundele is the director rehabilitation at the Ministry of women affairs and social development, which works directly with PLWD in the state, says while speaking to me about challenges faced by the ministry in dealing with the situation.
“Some of the challenges we have, is inadequate data. We don’t have adequate data ie how many people belong to the different clusters. We are just making steps based on the directives from the governor recently, based on the recent security challenges. They recently attended a meeting where we discussed the way forward. Covid 19 has affected the general community at large, and not just persons living with disability. We haven’t neglected them. If we don’t attach any importance to them, we wouldn’t engage them”.
On steps being taken towards inclusion he says:
“A committee has been set up and I’m a member of the committee as are they alongside other groups. We just constituted this last month”
While these are promises that could change things, and the PLWD community eagerly awaits these changes, their challenge is compounded with the emergence of new variants amidst efforts by the government to curb street begging. Seriki, the king of the blind community in Kwara state who is visually impaired and has ruled the community for about 15 years, says;
“Even if I tell my people that they should sit at home and that help will come, what they will get will not serve them more than 3 days. Who will provide for them afterwards? That’s the concern. As a leader, I must be proactive and foresee any trouble ahead. The politicians know this. The last time that palliatives were brought, they said our names weren’t included. What’s the problem? How do you say that? How do I then tell my people to desist from begging with such questionable behavior?”
In the documentary “STILL STRUGGLING” Babatunde explores the impact of the covid era on PLWD in kwara state Nigeria.
The documentary “Still struggling” was produced by Babatunde Okunlola and supported by the Innovation for change African hub through the BudGIT Foundation.
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