Shadowing Thiemuku Koroma - Cell Phone Repairman

Nothing challenges your perceptions of people with disabilities more than spending the day with them.  What an amazing experience and gift it was to me.  

Thiemuku lives with his wife, Mankaprie,and their 9 year old son in a small, 8x10 foot room that they rent for about $30 a month.  The rent accounts for about 80%-90% of their monthly budget.  Thiemuku is bound to a wheelchair and his wife uses crutches and a three wheeled cart that she propels with a hand crank to get around.  Their home has no electricity or running water.  He baths himself after dark because the community bathing area is not wheel chair accessible; neither is the latrine so he has to drag himself across a small footbridge, and into the latrine in order to use the bathroom.  

They seem to be happy together though and Thiemuku is very proud of his small cell phone repair business where he uses a variety of make-shift tools to scavenge parts from irreparable cells phones to fix others. I sat with him for several hours talking with him about his life (his father died in the civil war and his mother went to the hospital and never returned), his challenges and the thing that gives him great satisfaction and joy - his cell phone business. 

I was amazed how he use a small, flattened piece of metal to open them, then a screwdriver that was left in hot coals to un-solder the wires and a razor blade to do the rest.  I learned a great deal from him.  

How often have we assumed that because someone has a disability that they have very little to contribute to society.  My experience with Thiemuku has shown me how untrue that is.  How many people have we written off because they didn't speak our language or had some form of impairment?  My challenge to you is to spend time with these people and see how they can open your mind to a whole new world of understanding.

Sierra Leone Adventures

It's hard to believe that I have been in Sierra Leone for over a week now.  It is the dry season which means, no rain, temperatures over 100 degrees most days and lots of red dust.  

The team uses a car to move back and forth from the guest house to the Women of Hope office where all of the training is taking place, but my preference is to take a "bike" or motorcycle taxi which is the main method of transportation here in Makeni. 

We've gotten accustomed to people shouting "Apoto" (white person) everywhere we go.  The children are especially animated and start chanting a-po-to, a-po-to as we go by.  

The women that we have been working with have been very patient as they try to learn new skills. One of the courses is making Christmas ornaments and they could not imagine why anyone would pay money to decorate a tree.  I thought it was a reasonable question.

Making paper has been more work than any of us could have imagined.  We are trying to use local resources (most of which are free) and of course they are different than those used in the U.S. so there have been a few challenges, but I have full confidence that Jillian and Renee will figure it out.

The women have really enjoyed the cooking class.  Every day they learn to make new food that we hope will be a big hit with the locals and create a steady revenue stream for the women in the program. 

I have been busy video taping the stories and testimonies of the women who are being served by Women of Hope and taking pictures that will document our time here and the great work that WoH is doing in Makeni, Sierra Leone. 

The philosophy of Women of Hope is to give women the tools to develop dignity, purpose and transformation.  This is no easy process and there aren't any quick fixes.  Women of Hope is committed to walking with disabled women until they believe that they are uniquely created and loved by God and know that He has a divine purpose for them.  

Why is it that so many of us are stuck in our striving instead of embracing this truth.  As Westerners we have a lot to hide behind.  These women are confronting their disability and finding freedom.  

What disabilities do we have that we are hiding?  Wouldn't it be better if we surrendered them to God and trusted that He has something better for us?

--
Tim Salmonson
Executive Director
INVISION GLOBAL NETWORK

ph. 630-708-6560
www.invisionglobal.org

  

http://youtu.be/VGj6a5tsJEU

Sierra Leone: Women with Disabilities

I've come to Sierra Leone to tell the stories of women with disabilities and they all have one thing in common.  They were told that they were cursed, half human, good for nothing and left to fend for themselves.  

Howa was child when she got a fever that was so debilitating that she could only move her head for several months and gradually regained most of her motor skills but lost most of the use of her right leg.  She was told by the village chief that there was no place for her in the village so she was cast out.

She lived a very oppressed life until she encountered the people of Women of Hope and was able to overcome her disability and now she is on staff.

Ya Yeabu woke up screaming one night when she was a child.  Her parents thought it was a demon so they called the medicine man and he confirmed that she was cursed.  It was in fact Polio and she would never walk without some sort of assistance again.  She was not allowed to go to school and eventually her parents said that she was bringing trouble on them so they sent her away. 

She eventually married and had a child but her husband left her because she was too much trouble.  She found a place for her and her daughter to live that was nothing more than a make-shift shack, but her landlord was very cruel and despised her and her daughter and refused to let them use the household latrine because they were not worthy. 

One day the children in the compound were playing and the landlord's son fell down and cut his head.  Ya Yeabu's daughter carried the boy to his father and when he saw his boy he was furious and said that she was responsible and he stomped on her body to the point she also would never be able to walk again without assistance.  

The people of Women of Hope found Ya Yeabu, taught her a trade and how to sign her name so she could give people receipts. She was very proud and was able to earn money for rent and for food.  Unfortunately, Ya Yeabu returned to begging because it was more comfortable.

I have heard many similar stories of tragedy and rejection from both men and women with disabilities here in Sierra Leone.  Each of them have broken my heart but the one consolation is that there is hope.  I'm seeing a community of Christians coming together to provide love, support, training and tools to help women with disabilities realize that we are all disabled in one form or another and that God has a plan for each and every one of us.  

My own disabilities seem to get magnified more and more as I walk with those who God loves and identifies with the most; "The least of these".  How are you identifying your disabilities and once you do what are you doing to address them?

--
Tim Salmonson
Executive Director
INVISION GLOBAL NETWORK

ph. 630-708-6560
www.invisionglobal.org

  

http://youtu.be/VGj6a5tsJEU

Sierra Leone - First Days

I arrived at my final destination Makeni, Sierra Leone some 30 hours after my journey began. Freezing rain delayed my flight from Chicago three hours and I did entertain the thought, "What if I miss my connecting flight?" There are only two flights a week into Freetown so missing my connecting flight would mean quite a delay in my arrival (four days!). Well, we were able to make up some time on the flight to Brussels where I met up with the small team of women that I'd be working with and we boarded the plane shortly after making introductions.

Now we were half way there but we weren't going anywhere... We sat on the plane for nearly three hours as they worked on fixing some unknown part. Passengers began to get restless and at one point I was wondering if we were going to have revolt as protests began to escalate. Finally, we got the plane fixed and we were on our way. We arrived in Freetown to be greeted by pure bedlam. Our two elderly members of the team were escorted directly to the customs agent, while the other two members found themselves in the line for diplomats and officials. I however, waited patiently in the throng of people pushing there way through to customs and to pick up their luggage.

Once we passed through the mass of transport drivers and porters (the guys who try to snatch your bags out of your hands to carry them 50 yards to your bus) we were warmly welcomes by Ottama, a blind woman who is the projects facilitator with Women of Hope International and a member of the city council. She took great care of us as we passed through dozens of check points where military guards asked for, "toll fees" none of which we paid.

One highlight of the trip was the ferry ride across the bay from the airport to Freetown. It was a welcomed respite as we were able to enjoy the cool night breeze as we walked around on the deck stretching our legs and getting the kinks out after sitting for 26 hours.

We finally arrived in Makeni, Sierra Leone's third largest city (and the hottest!) around 3am. We greeted our wonderful hosts, dragged in all of our bags and fell headlong into our beds until well into the morning.

The question our host posed after day one here in one of the poorest countries in the world was, "What is poverty?" I would pose this question to you. What is poverty and where do you see it most?