Rise Up and Seat
Dapo Oriola
Remember the story of Peter and John in Acts 3? These duo saw a lame man at the entrance of the church begging for money. The record in the Bible says: “And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” Act 3:2-6.
Would you believe that we too met two lame men recently, not in Jerusalem but on the road between Ibadan and Ile-Ife, in Nigeria; not at the footstep of a church, but in the middle of a freeway; yes, you heard me right, at the middle of a freeway where drivers dangerously speed.
I wasn’t thinking of Peter and John, but was surprised how two grown men (a third man later joined walking on crushes) would be crawling in the middle of a dangerous highway with little regard to their personal safety. There was this set of pot holes in the middle of the road, the lame men anticipated that normal drivers will slow down to drive through the pot holes and take advantage of this few seconds to ask for alms.
On seeing the men, I asked myself a series of questions, “why are they doing this on this dangerous road?”,
“Can’t we do something to change their stories?”, “ These are lame but sounded bright and able to earn living through legitimate labour and with diginity, is there anything I can do?” Nobody was stopping, the best a few motorists were doing was dropping some change on the ground for them and speeding off. As we passed these fellows, something in me disagreed with the idea of passing through without doing something. I was in a minivan behind a big van carrying medical equipment and supplies to a clinic Grace Project International was helping to renovate. I knew we had some wheelchairs in the van and something told me to stop and chat with these complete strangers.
I told the driver to reverse back and look for a safe place to park on this busy highway. Like the lame men who met Peter and John, I was expecting a welcome glance, and a request for alms from these beggers. To my great surprise, these men started moving away from us. The third on crutches, moved even further away from us. “Hello my friends,” trying to calm their fear. “Do you guys have any wheelchairs?’
“No”, they responded.
“Will you like to have one each today?” I asked. By this time the third man on crutches had crossed to the other side of the road with great limping. The two remaining men, keep saying…
“We won’t follow you to anywhere. We will not go with you to anywhere” That was not the kind of response I was expecting. I tried to calm them, open my wallet and gave them some money. How wrong was I, the generous amount I stretched out to give them did not help my case. With careful hesitation, one of them stretched out and took the money. “Thank you so much” chorused two of them.
“No, that is just for one person,” as I took out more money and gave to the others.
“We have wheelchairs to give you free of charge, we think that will help you and maybe you can find a trade and stop begging on this dangerous motorway.” I explained. Their spokesman (this guy was full of life and very articulate) responded.
“We know its election time when your politicians try to kidnap and kill lame people for Voodoo to win election, we won’t follow you to anywhere.” Bingo! It occurred to me they could not believe someone would be this kind to them: stop to talk with them, be generous with money, and then want to help them by donating wheelchairs. They were sure there must be a catch, certainly we must be looking for lames to be used for rituals. My heart sank in me,no amount of explanation, no amount of storytelling will change their minds.
“How can we kidnap you in a broad day light on an open road where cars are passing? “ the minivan driver asked. Their response was a big blow to me. “If you guys decides to kidnap us right now, no single car will stop to help, this happens almost all the times and no one care that much for the cripples.”
Waaao, these men’s fears were real and unfortunately, legitimate, and I needed to clear the air otherwise, they will take us for kidnappers. I made a decision and called the big van (the van had gone miles ahead of us by now), to turn back. I had wanted to help them take the wheelchairs to their residents, but that won’t happen today.
The van turned back and as soon as they saw the big van, you could see the fear in their faces. Now they moved to the most dangerous part of the highway, far away from us. They were very sure that we had plans to pick them up and drop them in the big van. The third man watching from the other side of the road disappeared into the tick forest. As soon as the van stopped and we opened and pushed out the first brand new wheelchair, the “magic moment” occured, their face changed in great disbelief. The two crawled towards the van, breathing sighs of relief. “Come on this is for you”, I told the one in front. He asked for permission to sit on the chair, we told him it was now his. He sat on the chair and was filled with gratitude. The second man came and got his own chair too. Instantly, they started talking to us as friends, what a relief I felt. These men who had refused to allow us to take their pictures suddenly wanted us to take their pictures with the chairs. “We are now International Cripples”, joked the leader of the group.
How I wish I could say with Peter and John, “ In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazarett, rise up and walk.” I could not, but you know what, I am thankful for the little we were able to do that day and I am sure they will put those wheelchairs into good use. Grace Project International in partnership with Free Wheelchairs, and Babcock University partner to bring over 1,000 new wheelchairs to people like these two disabled men in Nigeria and beyond.
