•Nwafor• Photo: The Sun Publishing
Living index
For those who suffer one disability or another and hopes to make a mark in the society, the story Mrs. Gloria Nwafor would serve as a testimony that there is ability in disability. Mrs. Nwafor has gone through thick and thin, but ended as a success. She is a graduate and now runs a non-governmental organisation, which caters for the physically challenged people.The journey to her current feat is tortuous and rough. When Mrs. Nwafor was three years old, she was struck by polio, one of the deadly diseases among children. In the cause of treating the illness, she was deformed by an injection administered on her. From then, the story of her life changed. Her parents, had enrolled her into primary school, but stopped the sponsorship when she was in Primary 3. Her family felt that it was a waste of time and resources to train a physically challenged child. She said of this: “I was dumped by my parents, without education. They said I cannot achieve anything in life as a physically challenged. They felt that training me in school would be a waste of time and resources. Then I asked myself, if this was true. I never believed it.”With her resolve to prove her family wrong, Nwafor braced up for the challenges of life. She succeeded in completing her primary education, made possible by the free education programme of government. Thereafter, she took up the challenge to train herself in skill acquisition. She had learnt how to plait hair and made money doing that. With the proceed from this, she sponsored herself to secondary schoolTelling Saturday Sun her story, Mrs. Nwafor revealed that after her secondary school, she got a job at Orumba North Local Government Area, as a social welfare officer. She, thereafter, obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in social work, from the Federal School of Social Work, Enugu, in 1995.When asked what life was when her parents abandoned her, she said: “It was horrible. Things were not going fine for me because I took care of all my needs. Nobody cared. None of my relatives cared. I was left without any assistance. But I overcame them by the grace of God. He was all and all. I decided that I will not give up nor surrender myself to be used and dumped by any man. I dedicated myself to God. God was my only hope and I relied on Him, not man.”Despite her educational attainment, Nwafor had a major hurdle to scale. Her desire to get married became a subject of controversy, as her husband’s relatives kicked against their marriage. “Their reason was that I would not be able to get pregnant and have children, because I limp, following the effect of the injection at childhood,” she said.However, her husband insisted on marrying her. And they got married. Today, their marriage is blessed with three children, all through normal delivery. Mrs. Nwafor has also gone to the university, having got a scholarship from Orumba Local Government Area authorities. She studied Adult Education and Economics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, and has become the only graduate in her family. She is proud of her accomplishment. “Now that I have achieved my aim, people admire me. In fact, I am almost talk of the town. They see me as a role model and I’m seen as a woman to emulate, an achiever.”Talking about her immediate family, Mrs. Nwafor said she did everything to ensure that none of her children has the bitter experience she had. “None of my children is physically challenged. I was extra careful. I normally take them to the best hospitals, when they are sick and immunise them at the appropriate time to avoid what happened to me. I don’t want them to be embarrassed the way I was.” Recounting her embarrassing moments, she said: “At times, drivers refuse to stop to carry me, because they feel I waste their time. Some of them even say that I would bring them bad luck or cause accident for them. I feel so bad because most times I wouldn’t be able to get to where I wanted to at the right time, as a result of this ordeal. When I was seeking employment with my qualification, I was supposed to be placed on GL 04, but I was told to manage grade level 03 because of my disability. During my school days, especially at the university, very few students feel free to associate with me because they were feeling shy when others castigated them for associating with a physically challenged person. “All these challenges made me take care of my children very well and also prove to the world that there is ability in disability. I also decided that I must prove to the world that nothing is wrong, in the reasoning and thinking of a physically challenged.” Despite all her ordeal, Mrs. Nwafor does not have any grudge against her parents, who refused to train her in school. Rather, she saw their behaviour as a challenge in life. “I don’t have any grudge against them because I believe that one’s destiny can’t be wiped out. I believe that it is what God has destined for me. If my parents or relations had helped me, I may not be able to become what I am today. I see what I passed through as a challenge, which I have overcome. I advices my co-physically challenged not to be discouraged.” To help other people, who may be in her shoes, Mrs. Nwafor established an organisation called Care for the Physically Challenged and Destitute Foundation (CAPCAD). “It was after this that I knew that I can achieve things even without the help of anybody. I took it upon myself to go and encourage the physically challenged, who are helpless. It was after my experience that I discovered that there is ability in disability. So I have to encourage my co-physically challenged to identify their talents and develop it for their self-actualisation.” According to her, care for the physically challenged is an idea she nursed when she was experiencing discrimination. When she became a staff of the social welfare unit of Orumba North Local Government Area, she was convinced that she should go into the programme without delay.“As I interacted with them, and came face to face with their numerous problems, the urge to establish a foundation for the physically challenged, to compliment the efforts of the government became almost irresistible,” she said.Does she look forward to a time when a physically challenged could be the president of the country? Why not, she declared, adding that if a physically challenged becomes president, things will be better in the country. She would, however, want the government to give physically challenged incentives to participate in politics.On the achievement of her NGO, she said: “We have gathered more than 300 physically challenged. The NGO started her sensitisation in Orumba North Local Government Area and we have visited 16 communities. We have visited more than 50 churches in the communities to sensitise the public on the need to project the physically challenged and destitute in our midst to the world and to enable them realise their God-given talents and to actualise the purpose for which God created them. “We have acquired and surveyed five acres of land at Umuonyiba village, in Ufuma, Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State. We have produced the architectural drawings of all the buildings to be erected in the proposed International Rehabilitation Centre to be built by CAPCAD. We started meeting and having seminars and symposia aimed at changing and re-directing the minds and psychological disposition of the physically challenged. We made ourselves understand that contrary to the notion and opinions of people, God has not finished with physically challenged, and that given the necessary education and direction, the physically challenged can make meaningful contributions to the development of the society.“I want to eradicate illiteracy among the physically challenged, poverty and begging culture by the destitute. We will promote literacy and skill acquisition among the physically challenged.” Mrs. Nwafor urged interested individuals, groups, parastatals, government, NGOs and international donors to assist her in her quest to make lives of physically challenged meaningful. “We want partnership. I promise that the messages to the physically challenged and destitute will be properly delivered and accounted for. Support us to actualise our vision and objectives. We can be reached on 07034532170 or capcadf@yahoo.com, www.capcadf.org.”
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