Disabled and riding in a wheelbarrow

SUNDAY VISION

By Andrew Masinde

Eunice Atim and Sarah Ationo live with their father, Alex Ekolu, in Orimai cell in Amolatar town. Ekolu’s joy of having healthy and ‘normal’children was short-lived after Atim suffered a dislocation, one year after her birth.

“It started like a joke and by the time I realised just how serious it had become, it was too late,” Ekolu says.

“I took her to Lira Hospital, where I was told the baby had weak bones. They put her limbs in a cast, which instead caused permanent problems,” he laments.

He went from hospital to hospital, but the money was never enough, so he opted to look after the girl at home.

Ekolu adds that initially, he thought it was witchcraft until he saw another child with the same condition.

Like Atim, his second daughter, Ationo, was also born with weak bones. He again went to hospitals and traditional healers, but none could do much to help the condition.

“I learnt to live with them the way they are, because it is God who gave me these children and he had a reason,” he says.

However, despite his commitment to raise his daughters, he could not afford wheelchairs for both of them.

Wheelbarrow to the rescue

Ekolu thought he could get help from the office for the disabled in Amolatar district, but nothing was done. “They sent people who took my daughters’details and promised to bring for them wheelchairs, but they never returned.

"For the love of seeing my daughters go to school, I decided to buy wheelbarrows to transport them. I hired people to push them, but when they stopped I decided to do it myself,” Ekolu says.

Ekolu pushing his daughter, Atim, in her wheelbarrow. Atim says like her sister, Ationo, she too wants a wheelchair. PHOTO/Andrew Masinde

Just when he was about to give up with the girls’ education, a Good Samaritan donated a wheelchair for Ationo and she was able to proceed with her education. She is now in S3.

Unfortunately, Atim has not had the same luck. At least not yet. She does not have a wheelchair and at some point, her father stopped pushing her to school in the wheelbarrow. This meant that her education would also come to a stop. She dropped out of school in P6.

Today, Atim stays at home. She spends most of her time knitting table cloths, a skill she learnt from her late mother. When she needs to move, there is always the wheelbarrow and someone must be there to push her to her destination.

Atim seems to have got tired of visitors, especially those who she believes use her condition for their own survival. It took hours to convince her that the interview was with a newspaper reporter, not an NGO.

“Let me hope that what you are going to write will help me get a wheelchair because I am tired of lying in this wheelbarrow like luggage,” she made it clear.

“When I get a wheelchair I want to go back to school and maybe, one day, become a leader for the disabled people in Amolatar, because the ones in place do not serve the purpose,” she added.

“In class, Atim was a brilliant girl. She was always among the best and I had hope that she would go far with her education. But poverty is a disease that has made me fail to help her continue with her education. She knows that I would never just abandon her education,” Ekolu says.

Though Ekolu has another wife in his life now, he still avails himself to push his daughter wherever she wants to go. He says he can never let anything bad happen to them.

He also calls on the Government to strengthen the office of the disabled because Amolatar has a big number of children and people who are disabled, but do not receive any support.

He would like those who are benefiting on behalf of those suffering, especially people who claim to be running NGOs, to be punished. He says NGO representatives have come to him, but none has ever helped.

To help Atim, send your email to sunday@newvision.co.ug