By Susan Edeh, Bauchi

In Nigeria, people with physical disabilities are no strangers to challenges bordering on discrimination, loneliness, dependence on people for assistance and victimization. Because they have to depend on the good will of members of the society; they are more often than not viewed as individuals who cannot contribute to national development.

But with the benefit of Western civilisation and modern education, many individuals in this category are today respected members of the society who are happily  married and have families of their own. This welcome development has in most cases been due to the interventionist efforts of some humanitarian organisations.

One of such organisations in Bauchi State, the Challenge Your Disability Initiative, has since its inception been working to assist the less-privileged,  including youths, children, adults, drug addicts and particularly those with physical disabilities.  The aim is to empower them to overcome their limitation  and all barriers that dehumanise them emotionally, socially, financially and mentally, thereby giving them a sense of belonging.

The founder of this laudable initiative is the First Lady of the State, Hajiya Hauwa Abiodun Yuguda. She said in 2007 when she established this project, little did she know that it would go a long way in restoring hope to the less-privileged in the society. Presently the initiative, which is said to have been conceived to complement the efforts of the government through its empowerment programmes, have remakarbly impacted thousands of lives.

The CYDI offers educational and skill acquisition programmes which are components of self-employment and economic development. In line with its objectives, it seeks to design and produce technical and learning aids for  disabled persons, in addition to resource services made available to drug addicts in order to rehabilitate them.

For instance, the CYDI is currently running a basic primary education programme that is aimed at educating children with disabilities between the ages of seven and 10 years, alongside its secondary school which provides the students the opportunity for higher level education.

In order to meet the demand of youths and adults with single or multiple disabilities, skill acquisition programmes were established and equipped with tools. This is in addition to its training of youths and women at vocational training centers established in Bauchi Local Government Area of the state. Vanguard Metro was also informed that it is making plans to establish vocational training centres in other states of the federation.

Officials of the Initiative also said it is collaborating with the office of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to tackle the menace of drug abuse among youths in the society. To this end, the CYDI has taken a giant stride by rehabilitating and reintegrating them back to the society. In furtherance of this development, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the NDLEA on June 26, 2008.

A major thrust of this initiative is that of giving hope to the hopeless.  Recently the CYDI constructed shelters in collaboration with a Greek medical team for the mentally challenged people of Zongoro which is a village about 20 kilometres from Bauchi, in Ganjuwa Local Government Area. The project was conceived as a response to the many challenges faced by the people in the communities, which include lack of potable water, shelter and medical treatment for patients.

Considering their predicaments, the doctors expressed their support by putting up a project worth N7.5 million which was commissioned by the Governor of Bauchi State.

The Initiative has further partnered with some international organisations to organise some free medical outreach programmes in non- local government areas of the state, in which nine thousand people benefited from the programme. The international organisations were Health Care International and Greece Heart Doctors from Greece. Drugs worth N2.5 million were distributed during the free medical programme. Six children and adults were indentified with serious medical problems that demanded surgery. These international organisations, in collaboration with CYDI,  footed the bills.

Just recently, CYDI graduated its first set of graduates under the skill acquisition programme. Testifying to their experience, most of the graduates could not hide their delight as they profusely praised the programme, saying they were able to achieve much from it, the benefit of which will last them a life time.