It started all of a sudden when I was 12 years old and in primary two back then. I became very ill that I couldn’t talk or walk; I couldn’t move or use the right side of my body. Some people said it was a spiritual attack meant for my mother but which fell on me. She had earlier lost three children. I am not happy I ended up this way, having my right hand and leg paralysed. I wasn’t born like this.”
Those were the words of 59-year-old Oludele Oluyinka, a physically challenged man who sells engine oil at the Molete Roundabout area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Oluyinka, who hails from Gbongan in Osun State, told Saturday Tribune that he had been selling engine oil at the Molete roundabout for almost 11 years despite the challenges that come with the business. According to him, he uses the proceeds from the business to take care of himself as he has no family around and has never been married. He, however, expressed hope that he would find a woman to marry someday.
“I have been selling engine oil here in Molete for about 11 years and I thank God for His mercies. I have been surviving even though the business is full of ups and downs. Sometimes, the price will go up, making us buy at very expensive rates. Sometimes, the price will be normal. Presently, engine oil price has skyrocketed and it is affecting me badly. When things go on well, I make as high as N50,000 and even N60,000 monthly.
“It is the money I make from the business that I use to take care of myself since I am alone. I have no wife but I hope that I will find a woman to marry someday,” he said.
With tears in his eyes, Oluyinka described his physical disability as his life’s undoing. He said he was however grateful that his late mother was there for him.
“I thank God for the situation now because when it started, it affected my mouth. I couldn’t talk before but thank God, now I can talk. It is a bad experience but I thank God for providing me with a good mother who was there all through, running helter-skelter to find healing for me. She did everything within her power to ensure that I get my speech back and regain my ability to walk,” he told Saturday Tribune.
Oluyinka disclosed that he was taken to a conventional hospital where his condition did not change, after which he was returned home to continue the management of his condition. He said though his mother is dead, she remained the reason for his survival.
“We visited the hospital when the challenge started but there was nothing the doctors could do for me to get better. All their efforts were futile, so we returned home. My mother really tried. She is the reason I have survived up to today. I appreciate all she did for me; she was truly a mother,” he said.
Oluyinka, who stopped his education at the secondary school level, said today, whenever his path crosses any of his old school mates, some of them ignore him while others mocks him. He said this makes him feel sad but believes that everything that has happened was the plan of God.
“I don’t feel happy with my condition. Sometimes when I walk on the street and I meet some of my school mates from way back, some of them ignore me or mock me. I feel sad but I don’t count it against them. I believe everything is God’s plan,’’ he said.
He said he is thankful for life and hopeful that one day, his small business would expand among his other aspirations would be fulfilled.
“It has been God. I hope and pray that one day, this small business will become something big. That’s all I have always hoped for.”
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