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?
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Tim Salmonson
Executive Director
INVISION GLOBAL NETWORK
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