Meet Nigeria’s finest Make-up Artist, Lab Scientist, and a graduate of the University of Lagos, Kelechi Uhegwu who didn’t allow her disability stop her from protesting with other in Lagos, the eldest of three children told Obaland Magazine Chidinma Tijani why she came out to join other to protest #endsars and more.
Kelechi explained that she came out to protest, first, I am Human, I am Nigerian, I live with a Disability, The System has its toll on me and I want to be heard. Even though I wasn’t born this way, I felt ill and my grandmother took me to the hospital where I was given injections for malaria after that I had poliomyelitis which led to me being paralyzed on my lower limbs that led to my predicament. I was a quiet child but my disability has made me become very out-spoken because a lot of people in this clime are quite ignorant of how to manage a person living with a disability.
Miss Uhegwu revealed that “We, the people living with Disability also came out in our numbers to Protest for the end of bad governance and failed system of things in Nigeria”. We are the end receivers of a failed system. No Infrastructure, Unemployment at its peak, Bad Roads, Failed Health System, Poor Educational Institution, No Security, Hunger games happening in Real Life, and We the Actors.
She added that our unity in an organized manner proves that positive change is here to stay. We met old friends, we laughed and smiled but we were focused on the Protest. Thank you so much Dear Uncle Marcel Okwudili Awugosi for bringing up the suggestion for Us PLWD and Funding All the Logistics. It felt good to be Included in Something this Positive.
While growing up, I realized that I wasn’t walking like other children around me; I noticed their parents never had to carry them as my mother did to me. I became very conscious of this when I clocked five.
Concluded that “ I had to learn how to cook in a special way. I fell a lot of times and also experienced being bullied. Most times when people consider you to be a weak person, they will want to prey on your weakness.” It was an all-encompassing experience.
She concluded that “my condition taught me how to pay more attention to details. It helped me to be more empathetic towards people; one doesn’t have to explain so much about their challenges to me before I give a helping hand if it is within my capacity
