Christiana, now a staff of the Lagos State School of Vocational Studies where she teaches handcrafts, recalls the circumstances leading to the gradual loss of her sight which started in 2011 and became full blown visual impairment in 2014.
By Ishaya Ibrahim and Eberechi Obinagwam
At a bustling gas station in the highbrow Victoria Island area of Lagos State, a visually challenged woman drew the attention of passersby to her merchandise. That was sometime in 2017.
The wares, which included footwears, Kampala (traditional African textile), antiseptic products and other stuff, were produced by her, even as she held them on one hand and used the other to navigate her way with the aid of a mobility cane.
An opportunity beckoned
A concerned passerby who stopped to admire the wares, asked if really, they were made by her. Her response moved him. He added: “Only if they would allow you into an event organised by the Lagos government to promote things like this (handcraft) tomorrow. But it is strictly by invitation.”
The event in reference was to be held at the premises of the Lagos State School of Vocational Studies in Mushin, popularly known as the Fashola School. The Fashola School earned the moniker because it was commissioned by the then Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola in 2011.
Christiana Akinrimade, the entrepreneur, would not allow such an opportunity slip. And she made the best of it.
“The following day I just took up my products and went to the venue. The programme was to start by 9am but I got there before the time. They asked me my invitation card. I asked them to wait. I brought out my products from my bag. When they saw it, they said madam you did all of these by yourself? I said yes and they said enter.”
More doors opened
Christiana, who left home with only N1,000, made more than N20,000 in sales.
She said: “When I got to the venue of the programme, I never knew that the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Lola Akande was coming. When she arrived, she just walked to my table. She bought my Kampala when I said it was N5000. People that came with her bought everything because when I was leaving, I discovered that my bags were empty. I went back home that day with more than N20, 000.”
Landed a teaching job with Lagos govt
An opportunity to interact with the commissioner presented itself at the venue and Christiana, who wanted a regular stream of income so as to support her two children in school, proposed to be a housemaid for the commissioner. But the commissioner had other plans after hearing her speak impeccable English with confidence. She asked Christiana her qualifications. Christiana responded that she had a Master’s degree plus a certificate in handcraft at the School of the Blind in Oshodi, Lagos.
“She sent one of her SA (Special Assistant) to come and collect my number so that I could come and see her in Alausa. When I went there, they did an interview for me that was around January 2017. By March 2017, they called me to come and work with them. So that’s how I started teaching here.”
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Tragic memory of losing her sight as an adult
Five years earlier, she could see clearly with her eyes. She had just retired as a banker who worked at Societe Generale Bank, Broad Bank, and Omega Bank (now Keystone) before rounding off her banking career with a Microfinance bank where she functioned as the Marketing Manager.
Christiana, now a staff of the Lagos State School of Vocational Studies where she teaches handcrafts, recalled during an interview with TheNiche the circumstances leading to the loss of her sight which started in 2011 and became full blown visual impairment in 2014.
After quitting banking, the highly mobile mother of two delved into estate agency and automobiles, selling different brands and models of vehicles until Glaucoma struck in 2011.
Two days to a surgery appointment to help remediate the situation, doctors went on strike. The strike lingered for months and by the time it was called off, doctors told her no need for surgery as the condition was beyond remedy.
She recalled: “A year after I left the banking industry, I was on my own as an Estate agent. I was also dealing in cars. I have been driving since 1998. But In 2010, I discovered that I always hit other cars on the road. The local bus drivers would scream ‘mama if you do not know how to drive you better go and take a driver.’
“I called my Optometrist that something was wrong with my glasses. After a month I discovered that I could not read my Bible nor see very well. So I went to the general hospital, Abule Egba. I was tested and told that I had issues with my left eye. I thought it was a joke when the doctor said I should stop driving. I was like it is not possible.
“They gave me eye drops until a particular time they told me that I had to go for surgery. I bought all the necessary things for the surgery. But two days to the surgery, I was told that the doctors were on strike. So, my doctor asked me to continue with my eye drops. By the time the strike was called off, I was told it was too late.”
Down to penury in search of help
Christiana refused to accept the reality of her condition, especially because she could still see albeit faintly with the eyes. Purveyors of hope also didn’t help matters as they kept thronging to her with information that her sight could be restored.
“I said to myself what will I do? Will I now become a liability? Before then they introduced me to traditional healers, telling me that I would regain my sight. And nothing happened.
“I was moving from one hospital to the other. I went to different countries, Like Togo, Ivory Coast, etc, thinking I would receive my sight. Then, I wanted to travel to India, I discovered that the money with me wasn’t enough. And people around me were also exhausted at that time.”
Accepting the hard fact
Christiana fought hard with the reality of her condition. By 2015, she was told about the school of the blind in Oshodi. She quickly enrolled hoping that could somehow lead to the restoration of her sight.
She said: “I took all my bags and I was thinking that when I got to the school of the blind, they were going to help me regain my sight. But they said no, that it is rehabilitation. After the interview I was told to resume by January 2015.
“When I got there, I was happy at least leaving my house, trying to do things I could not do before like my laundry. That was where I learned how to be creative. They taught us so many different skills. I learned how to make, shoes, bags, textiles, tables, and Kampala. I was rehabilitated and I saw that I can make it in life.”
By 2016, Christiana had become an entrepreneur, taking her wares to offices, filling stations and other public places to market them
An encounter with an able-bodied woman beggar
Christiana’s eyes are not closed, hence it’s difficult to tell she is blind on first glance. So, on a particular day in 2019, a woman bumped into her and begged for alms. She dipped her hand into her handbag and gave the woman some money. But when the woman suddenly found out that it was a blind woman that gave her alms, she screamed: “Chineke,” please take back your money.
“She gave me back the money and I said no. I told her she chose to be a beggar. I told her with my impaired vision, I would never be a beggar.
“The woman was challenged and collected my number. The following day she called me. I trained her into different skills. Today she is in Calabar doing well there. I trained her six months.”
Christiana said there is no excuse for one to be a liability. “You can still be self-reliant, independent and financially independent. It is based on the mindset. Once the mindset says no to begging, you will not beg,” she said.
Christiana now has a foundation, Hope Builders for the physically challenged where she trains members of this community with skills to make them stand on their feet.
Although she said funding has been a major challenge, she is still pushing on with a major project by June this year. “Let’s see how to impact our people with self-reliance. Let’s see how to unlock our potentials, and maximize our potentials and contribute to the society and the country at large. To prove to them that we are self-independence.”
She appealed to kind-hearted individuals to reach out with assistance to make her vision of eliminating begging among people living with disability a reality.
She also invites Nigerians to attend a product exhibition on June 27 in Mushin where members of the disability community would be showcasing their art.
Christiana, the entrepreneur
Christiana Akinrimade is an entrepreneur, a motivational speaker, who first bagged an OND in accounting at Kwara State Polytechnic 1988 and proceeded to the Lagos State Polytechnic for her HND in 1997.
In 2001, she went to the University of Calabar, Lagos Annex for a postgraduate diploma and also a master’s degree.
In 2014, she had a diploma in radio production. By 2015 she was at the school of the blind, Oshodi, Lagos.
By 2018, went to Lagos Business School for a course in entrepreneurship.
On account of her industry and dexterity, the Triune Biblical University in the USA conferred her with a PhD in Entrepreneurship and Humanity.