Flying with an eagle named, Oluwakemi

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This episode of Aaron's Opinion is brought to you by
inosearch dot ai. Rediscover the joy of online shopping. Hey, everybody,
Aaron's Opinion here with an exciting update. This episode of
Aaron's Opinion is brought to you by innosearch dot ai.
By the way, are you blind or are you a
screen reader user? And are you buy any chance? Having
a lot a really tough time buying products online? Well

(00:24):
we hear at Aaron's Opinion, have just the thing. Into
search dot Ai is not only today's guest on Aaron's Opinion,
but the sponsor of many other episodes of Aaron's Opinion
and basically, into search ai is an online e commerce
platform with the screen reader user software in mind. In
other words, into search ai is a online e commerce

(00:48):
place to buy anything you can possibly want online and
with the ease of using of screen of screen readers,
so there's no more difficulties. It's really easy to use
and it will work with screen readers. I will say
that this product might not be available in every country,
so if you're in a particular country where it's not available,

(01:08):
please do email us here at Aaron's Opinion and let
us know that you would like access to innosearch dot
ai and we will certainly do our best to get
this set up for you. But anyway, you considering that
it's easy to use with screen reader software, considering that
you can buy millions of products, and considering that the
holidays are just around the corner, and if you're listening

(01:29):
to this episode, you know when the holidays have passed.
Just remember that it's always time to buy things online,
so you really can't resist. As a matter of fact,
to make this even better for you, we even have
a promo code here for you. You can even get
ten dollars off your first purchase at innosearch dot ai,
so you really have nothing to lose. Anyway, click the

(01:51):
link in the description for more information about innosearch dot ai.
And thank you to innosearch dot ai for joining us
today on Aaron's Opinion and continuing could be the sponsor
for Aaron's Opinion here in the sponsor segment, So thank
you so much to intersearch dot ai. Anyway, go check
it out ten dollars off your first purchase just by

(02:13):
using the promo code in the description. Anyway, thank you
and enjoy this episode of Aaron's Opinion anyway, don't forget
inosearch dot ai rediscovering the joy of online shopping.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Do you find online shopping frustrating, especially for everyday essentials
like air purifiers, battery chargers or groceries. Introducing inosearch dot ai,
the e commerce platform designed with you in mind, especially
those who are blind, visually impaired, and use screen readers.
Inosearch offers millions of products and deals, all fully accessible

(02:51):
for a smooth and frustration free shopping experience. No more
wrestling with advertisements and complicated websites. Shop with confidence in
ease on innosearch dot ai. For a limited time, new
customers say five dollars off orders of twenty dollars or more.
Just use code f F five at checkout. Visit innosearch

(03:13):
dot ai. That's I N N O, S E A
R C H dot ai today and rediscover the joy
of online shopping.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Welcome. We're welcome back everybody to another exciting episode of
Aaron's Opinion, the podcast for blind people, where we speak
about critical issues in the blindness community and all other
issues from across the universe, galaxy and today, let's go
overseas to Nigeria today. So overseas, and of course all
of their we speak about critical issues in the blindness community,
and all of their issues from across the universe and galaxy.

(03:47):
All right, as we was like to say, there's so
many great ways to get in touch with the show.
But of course you can ask for my electronic business
card that would definitely get you in the right direction,
or of course the phone number one two for zero
six one nine eight six nine one two four zero
six eight one nine eight six nine Aaron's Opinion six
at gmail dot com. A R O N s O

(04:08):
P I N I O N six. That's the number six,
Aaron's Opinion six at gmail dot com. Don't forget about
following along on Instagram, as many of you are. More
and more people follow along on Instagram. By the way,
Today's Creator, Today's Guest is certainly having a huge influence
on Instagram obviously. Don't forget about joining the public WhatsApp

(04:29):
community Aaron's Opinion Podcasting Community and the private Facebook group.
As many of you are Aaron's Opinion Podcasting Community, so
it's the same name Aaron's Opinion Podcasting Community, and you
can find those groups on either WhatsApp, in the WhatsApp
community tab, or of course Facebook by of course searching
for it Aaron's Opinion podcasting community. Don't forget about liking, following,

(04:52):
and writing a review of that Facebook page Aeron's Opinion podcast.
More and more of you are. Remember, we're still looking
for that eleventh review on the facebok book page. So
we're wondering who will come up in the community and
give us that eleventh review. We don't know. Don't forget.
We don't care where you're downloading the podcast from, whether
it's Spotify or Apple or laugh or wherever you like

(05:13):
to listen. We don't care where you're listening from. We're
just appreciated that you do. So today's download contest is
of course very very interesting. With forty four downloads, we
want to welcome the United States. With five downloads, we
want to welcome our listeners from Canada, and with four downloads,
we welcome our listeners from the United Kingdom. Thank you

(05:34):
so much. Don't forget about following along on the TikTok.
We do occasionally post videos there. We also want you
to know that we are very active, more active than
ever before on Patreon, So all you have to do
to be the first person to see videos when they're released.

(05:55):
To be the first person to see a video before
it's released to the public, just go to Patreon and
join the patreon as a free member. The only requirement
is to be a free member of the patreon for
Aaron's Opinion, and you will certainly see the videos when
they come out on Patreon. I'm not going to post
publicly on Patreon, but I will certainly post to all members,

(06:18):
So if you're a free member of the patreon, please
let me know, or if you want to be a
free member of the patreon, please also let me know.
As I always like to say, I don't know if
the Patreon is attached to the business card or not,
but if you want the link for that, just let
me know. Don't forget about following along on x and
on YouTube at Aaron's Opinion TV like the video comment below,

(06:39):
and of course tickled about notification to know when we
premiere videos on the channel. When a video premiere is
on the channel, and I do want to make a
comment about the premieres by the way, which reminds me
that I wanted to talk about this when videos premiere
on the channel that's exactly when you can download them

(07:00):
as a podcast. Now I'm going to make a comment.
I have noticed out there that there are two audience members.
We're probably more, but there are several of you in
the audience, and I appreciate you very much who are
commenting on the premiere videos on YouTube. As a premiere,
I want this to be known that given you, my life,

(07:20):
my work schedule, everything I do, the chance of me
watching the premiere with you is actually very little. And
it's nothing personal about that. It's just that if you know,
I simply don't have a moment to sit there and
watch a premiere, so I would. So the other thing
that you need to know is if you want to
comment on a video and you want me to reply

(07:42):
to you, and you want me to know who you are,
then you need to wait. Please wait for the premiere
to end, and then the video will become a public video.
Once the video is public, then if you comment, I
will be able to reply to you and see who
you are. So there was at least two of you
in the audience who do that. Thank you for your
for your interest in your comments. But if but I

(08:03):
really want to reply to you with information I want
to get back to you with further information, so please
well you can comment if you want during the premiere,
but if you want more information about Aaron's opinion, please
wait for the video to be public than comment, then
I will get back to you. Thank you, all right.
Today's guest, as I said, is somebody who basically I

(08:23):
found this person in a variety of Facebook groups. Her
name is A. She is a very very nice lady
from Nigeria, and she's going to basically talk to you
today about how she became successful. One of the most
interesting things, I mean, everything she says is interesting today.
This is a this is a really really, really fun conversation.

(08:45):
But one of the most most one of the most
interesting things she says, or one of the most interesting
things we cover in today's episode, is that A is
actually and a lum a graduate of the Canthere program.
Now can three. She's gonna mention it and I'm not

(09:06):
going to expect everybody to know what it is. It's
a pretty obscure Well I don't want to know. I
take that back, I don't want to use the word obscure,
but it's a pretty specific thing. Kanthere is an organization
a basically a well, she'll explain to you what it is.
But it's an organization based in Kerala, India, and this

(09:26):
is a very incredibly prestigious organization. And what they do
is they take blind people from many different countries and
they invite them to come to a training center in Kerala, India.
And during this training center you will learn many many
things about building a business, about being successful, about developing

(09:47):
independent living skills, and basically what they do at Caanthere
is they is they aid you in being able to
go back to your home country and start a business
and be successful and have the skills needed to you know,
pursue the business world, higher education, community service, education outreach.
I do hope that someday here on Aaron's opinion, will

(10:08):
actually be able to sit down with the with the
creators and the founders of Kanthere, because it's a absolutely
top of the line, spectacularly prestigious organization and the fact
and the fact that Aliwa Kime is an alum of
this esteemed organization is truly a spectacular thing. So Aliwa
is going to talk to you a lot about that,
but then she's going to go back and talk to

(10:29):
you about being successful in Nigeria, what goes on in
Nigerian society, the Nigerian family. You know everything about Nigerian
Nigerian culture and what she can tell you about her.
You know her lifestyle and how she still and how
she lives a successful life today in Nigeria. So she
has her own show, she has her own broadcast that

(10:50):
she does. She does a lot of outreach and a
lot of media work there in Nigeria. So we just
want to say that she is a very very well
known creator in Nigeria and in the blindness community and
we're absolutely thrilled an honor to have her here on
Eron's Opinion. So of course we need a great title,
and this title of today's episode will become very very

(11:11):
important very quickly and you'll soon find out why. So
without further ado, I want to remind you and tell
you that you're listening to the Eron's Opinion podcast. My
name is Aaron Richmond, and now let's welcome Aliwa Kime
from Nigeria by saying you're listening to the Eron's Opinion podcast.
My name is Aaron Richmond, and now let's sit back
and let's listen together too, flying with an eagle named Ali.

(11:38):
Welcome or welcome back, everybody to another exciting episode of
Aaron's Opinion, the podcast for blind people where we speak
about critical issues in the blindness community and all other
issues from across the universe and galaxy. Okay, let's go
over to Nigeria this evening and say hello, good evening
to Aliwa Kime. You have had quite the inspirational life

(11:59):
story so far, and you're doing a lot to help
blind people all over the world, and you're just quite
a character around the community. So basically, I will ask
you the question that I ask everybody else around the world,
who is a And I will certainly mute my microphone
and listen to you for the next hour or so
and go through your whole life story, telling us everything
you want me to know, and don't tell anything you

(12:20):
don't want me to repeat. So go for it. Welcome aboard,
he kay.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Awesome, great connecting and joining on Earand's Opinion. All right,
So ol is my name. My surname is Asayer, and
basically I'm from nine Jeria from the Yoba culture. I
reside in Legos and I'm a female with visual impairment,

(12:50):
and I am also agenda and this ability inclusion advocate.
This is there is one very great commitment I have
due to my leved and professional experience. For over nineteen years,
I have had visual impairment and this journey was kind

(13:13):
of like a bit tweakish. What I mean by that
is I wasn't bond blind and at the age of thirteen,
I started developing some eye issues. I went for surgery.
After that elertic complications. I had to stop school. I
was in science department and my senior secondary school too.

(13:38):
That's in the college, I mean high school too, and
gradually everything just went blank, and I was wondering, can
I ever would I be able to? How am I
going to? When is it going to be? Those questions keep,
you know, flooding my mind, especially the fact that I'm

(13:59):
the female child and the first of my family in
a country that is more portraarchal Niningeria to be specific.
So the reality started and we started looking for alternatives.
At first, it wasn't easy because we didn't even know
that there are institutes or schools that could accommodate me

(14:25):
regardless of my impairment. So in the midst of tears
of my mother, my father, pains and all that. We
met someone who said why not, she could go back
to school, So that's why I found and Parcellis. I
didn't even know that such rehabilitation center existed, so I

(14:47):
went back to school through the aid of Partilli School
for the Blind and partially cited children. One of the best,
if not the best, in Niningeria, and it was quite fun.
I recalled the very first time when I I saw burw,
I was like, what is this because it's kind of
like represented that's this dish called gary. It's it's like

(15:09):
cassava green. So when I saw it, I was like,
we'll put this on the paper because I didn't know
it was bur Then gradually I started adjusting to life.
I started getting to know how to use the typewriter independently.
And prior to then, do you know that I could
actually use the computer because my father owned a business center,

(15:30):
so I could type for clients and all of that.
But when the eyesight started, I didn't have to adjust
by learning the use of screen reader. So it was
quite fun for me. A new environment, new people. The
fact that I had to go to boarding school for
the very first time, I was so excited, but hey,

(15:50):
that's the reality of alua Keme. And gradually I went
back to school University of Legas to have my bachelor's
and in mass community location. So I developed a passion
to want to create a narrative of inclusion, a narrative
where people, regardless of their agenda disability, race, culture can

(16:12):
be accepted. And I did drive that passion through the
establishment of you know, a program on radio that's the
campus radio, then cord Dialog with the specials where we
had to talk about disability inclusion to change the narrative
where we pook profer solutions on management, prevention cure. I

(16:34):
mean if there is many majorly on managerial you know,
steps on how to assist or accommodate persons with disabilities,
you know, in various programming. So that's what I did
for over three years and it was quite fun. It's
really really quite fun and a chemi is I would

(16:54):
like to say that I am, but visually that person
or for those what I'm wondering with person, I like say,
I'm dark and chocolate in complexion and five four you
know feet, and I love I'm an extrovert kind of
but an extrovert with a shy, shy personality. I'm a

(17:15):
bit shy at times, and I love presentations. I love broadcasting,
Like that's one passion about me. I love presentation. I
love broadcasting, podcasting or broadcasting with either of the two.
I love traveling, I love meeting people. I love getting too,
you know, crack solutions, getting to crack problems. I'm bringing

(17:37):
our solution out of it. And that is why I
call myself the coin of the Eagles, your royal flyners. Yeah. Still, gradually,
in the midst of that, I say that there is
there is this disconnect between the female folk and the
male folk in the disability space. I've worked, like I said,

(18:00):
I've worked in the development sector for quite a while
within the disability community, and I've led, are facilitated. I've
organized programs that has to do with disability inclusion or
mainstreaming disability in both the private and public sector. And
I realized that, hey, when it comes to programming, you

(18:22):
see a lot of men with disability. Is you see
men with visually in permen coming out there, but younger
and old. But hey, where are the females? Where are
people like me? We are less included and this is
not Sometimes it might not be intentional from the angle
of the organizers. Most cases, it is women with disabilities,

(18:45):
young females with disabilities that sometimes get shrinked and lost
within our confront I mean comfortable zone. We are very timid,
we are comfortable with the leader we have. We do
not want to go out there, so that's why we didn't.
You know, in ninetel one day, I just sat down,
I was like, what exactly how many women with vision

(19:07):
in perment can I count a leadership position. I recall,
you know when I went for this leadership programming at
Cantry in South India, and I was like, I needed
to start an initiative drum from my experience, from what
I've seen from the reality of people, and I was

(19:29):
like why not. If not, why not start Eagle's Voice.
You know. That's where Eagle's Voice came on board thanks
to everyone helped out, Tabria and every other person, and
I was like, Eagle's Voice is an initiative where the
blind and pussually cited women with an extension of all

(19:50):
the disability can get to be empowered with basic skills
to enable them actively participate in leadershi ship roles and
even attain such roles. Right, you find less women with
disabilities in managery positions even within the private sector. The

(20:11):
public sector most of the persons with disability who own
this leadership positions and men with disabilities. And we're like,
why why not bring forth this idea and ensure that
the skills that I have couple with other persons, we

(20:31):
can give the voice to women with disabilities. And that
was how we started Eagle's Voice Initiative, where we are
the voice, we create a space, we break the buyers,
we break the barriers that exist or that wants to

(20:55):
even exist, and stop women with disabilities from participation. So
that's how we started. And gradually, like I said, I
love podcasting, I love presentation. I also started like a
social media series called egos petch where we comfortably dialogue, digress,
you know, talk about everything anything that has to do

(21:16):
with inclusion women and topics that are not talked about.
So I have a social media series on my account
and on my Facebook sometimes LinkedIn as well, and we're
moving to YouTube as well to talk, you know, to
bring on people on board and let's talk about this
initiatives or what they are up to in terms of
disability inclusion. Yep, I hope I've not spoken too much.

(21:39):
So that's just what you know, your real flying SS.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
You know it is absolutely impossible to speak too much
here on Aaron's opinion, and I want you to speak
too much. That's my goal to get you to not
stop talking. That's my absolute goal. Where to begin more. Absolutely,
I completely support everything you've just said. I think it's
all really really cool and really good. Absolutely, And being

(22:05):
a Kantherori graduate, being a Kanthori alarm, that is a tremendous,
tremendous thing to be able to have done that. I
do know what it is. But why don't you go through?
And for those who are a little bit less familiar,
why don't you start out by walking us through what
is Kanthory? How did you find out about it? And

(22:25):
what was your experience going to India, going to Kerala?
I believe, really walk through that whole amazing experience. Go
for it.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Awesome. So Cantadi was Or is an initiative where we
have social change makers from all across the world. Right
we're at twenty two years old and above. Knarry is
an institute that is not discriminative of your gender, of
your disability, or your education qualification. So it's a place

(22:57):
where you have a lot of persons who are social
driven come together and want to learn, you know, where
you yearn for more. So, and it's based in South India, Kerala,
as you said, Yes, it's based in South India. It's
an initiative of Sabrie and Paul who you know sort
the needs to bring forth other young, vibrant, old you know,

(23:21):
individuals who are just desire to learn more, desire to
want to, you know, take the bite. So Cantary is
like a pepper. It's something like a pepper, spicy. It's
like you see that it goes at the back of
kerrella and when you take it, when you take a bite,
it's just like it has this chinny you know, it

(23:42):
motivates you to want to do more. So that I
guess that's how Kantara came to be. And I went
to Cantary in twenty twenty two. So I'm a twenty
twenty two Cantari graduate alone, and I met with a
lot of individuals, both persons with disabilities without disabilities. Several
projects on board in terms of in terms of conservation,

(24:03):
peace disability. You know, a lot of projects menstro circle,
A lot of projects was best from Kenari and I
came back. I was like, no, the vibe, the commitment
was not dying. Like that, I have to come back
to my country to bring forth the ideas to bring

(24:24):
forth this life. And that's how Eagle's voice came to
be through my experience. It was a seven month you
know process in India. Seven months on site can post
intensive experimental practical experience where we would go for you know,

(24:45):
on site visits would also have practical practical exercise. We
had catalysts who are facilitators who are also international you know,
driven individuals ex peak experience and guess what, they're also young,
they are vibrants, they are committed. So we had a

(25:07):
lot of experience both locally, nationally and internationally internationally and
those were you know, part of the exchange that you know,
gave vibrancy to the passion that I have today and
can telly is you know, it's an issue toe Like
I said that that accommodates also show anybody would desire
as a change, either you're working in an angel or

(25:30):
you want to start up your social venture. You want
to start up your profit organization and you're just beginning,
you want to learn more. That's what can Terry is.
And it's for free, right although you have to pass
through several stages. As much as it is free, there
are some things you also, you know, need to commit
to as well. Everything is on their website. You can

(25:51):
get more information at cantarry dot org and you will
get more information about that. But I tell you that
was where the change, where the washing machine setting came up.
Whether we came up and it was apt ready, it
is actually fun because at the end of it all

(26:11):
coming home, I could also exchange with other you know
alm who who talk about our experiences, how best we
could collaborate, how best we can become you know, unique
within our space. So how does a canterry? That was
what best Eagle's voice initiated.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
That's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. So in Kent three, that's where
you got your start, That's where you got all this
inspiration to start your organization. Really really good, wonderful, wonderful. Yeah. Yeah,
I've heard of I've heard of Sabria and Paul and
I've I've heard of the organization the organization is absolutely
very very very well known globally, So that's really really cool. Yeah,

(26:55):
we'll definitely have to talk more about that off here.
That's super spectacular. Yeah, really good. Yeah, what was your
I'm just purely curious when you were in India, what
was your like perception of India and what did you
think of Kerala when you were there.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
Also, when I was in India, at first, I was like,
oh my god, a cold and I'm someone that you know,
I just love meeting people. So I started making friends,
you know, shout out Deeople. We had Indian friends. We
could go out. The food was nice, although at a
point I was like will I be able to do

(27:29):
this for seven months, missing my my, my local dishes.
I was out of Peppe for a while, out of
Chili for a while, and it was quite. It was
really nice. India is a cool place. And for me, India,
India's weather is like that of Nigeria, so it wasn't
like I was away from Nigeria. It was the same
kind of weather, the same environment. You know. I had

(27:52):
a lot of people. And one thing about Cantarry is that,
especially for persons with visual impairment, it will mold you
to that independence. It will bring forth that confidence with
you because if you're someone that you depend on someone
in Cantari when you see some bridge. Also if you
really perfect, you know, you will be motivated to want

(28:15):
to do more. Like no, I had to wreak this.
So Kantari and India, India itself as they all. You know,
one culture shock I had when I got to India was,
you know, when you're saying something like, oh how are
you all, you're trying to communicate. You see Indian people,
I don't know if it's Caeral or India. Generally they're
not their head like in affirmation. But me that I

(28:37):
cannot see. I'm like, you're not answering me, not knowing
that they were already nodding. But they are always happy
to be of assistance. So and you know, Kerla is
like a village within India. And it was fun. I
tell you, it was really fun. Another thing is you
know the existence of mammuths like animals around, you know,

(29:00):
in India then or in Kantari, we had you know,
school dogs, school you know companion we had you know
a lot of them and it was quite fun. Like
I said, India generally, the weather was not you know
different and in Kantarian cause you're wondering, oh, how are
you able to cope with the food. It was quite

(29:21):
nice because we had intercontinental intercontinental chests who could cook
diverse dish, so we didn't have to really miss. There
was vegetarian food, there was non vegetarian food, and you know,
so it was like a miss mix of dish and
language was not you know, a barrier. So it was

(29:43):
really fun. So India as well, the people were fun
to you know, meet when you want to go to
the bus stop and you see there is this something
the countricycle. The college took too right, so when tuktook
is wanting to help you, they're just nice and fon. However,
you could have some kind of issues if you do

(30:03):
not understand their language and you go to buy something.
In the story Matt where language might be an issue
by that time, I do not know how you're going
to do by then. But India general is actually nice.
The hospital, you know, in terms of accident, when whenever
the accident compared to when I'm coming from Nigeria, whenever
the accident, you could quickly rush the individual to the hospital,

(30:26):
there are always stand by doctors and all of that.
You know, it was it was fun, It was really fun.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, well that's really really really wonderful, wonderful moment. That's
really that's really really excellent. Yeah, we've we've been hearing
a lot about about this care all of place. Anyway, though,
that's super super good that you had that experience. And
you know, so you stay, you stayed there for seven

(30:53):
months and then you and then what happened and then
you came back to Nigeria and you were able to
start your organization. So after Carola, then what happened after
you came back to Nigeria.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Okay, so at first, actually Cantary is like said, yeah,
it's a one year institute course, so we have three
months while on we had from April I think it
was one month, Yeah, one month in Nigeria. The cost
starts in April. Then in May we go to Kentary

(31:26):
and come back in December. Then when you come back,
you have your last lap of the cost which is
from January to match. So eventually, so the cost came
to an end in match because we had four months
you know on size and seven months was it called
now I mean four months online and seven months on side, right,

(31:50):
so it was quite fun. And when I came back
in twenty twenty three, Nigeria had a lot of like
changes in terms of that was a political year, that
was the election year and things were a bit you
know dicey. So I had to like implement a pilot
project based on the knowledge I have acquired in Kantarry.

(32:12):
So I implemented a pilot project with an association of
mine which I belong, that's Nigeria Session of the Blind.
So we had this you know, pilot project with support
from the International Blind Football Federation. So we you know,
I had to run, you know, facilitated two months on
site training for ten visually impact ladies within the Legos

(32:34):
metropolis and we taught them on capacity building in areas
of computer proficiency, emotional intelligence, oriented mobility using the White King.
So at that point I put them understand based on
notledge acquired and now understand the depths, the reason the

(32:57):
factors that causes an exclume within you know, women, the
abilities or even the blind in the first instance. So
by then I didn't need the assessment. I could you know,
ask questions what exactly why are you know leadership rose.
So I got a lot of response and we started
that project. That project we had. You know, one of

(33:18):
the participants is a participant that actually acquired blindness in Providia.
That's twenty twenty, and she was even Interestuary Institute, was
in college then when our visual impairment came in the
result of illness, all that and coming to you know,
that training was really anner for her. She was one

(33:43):
of the participants and she started learning how to use computer,
started out leaders she started learning. In fact, at the
point throughout the two months, it was our brother that
was always bringing her to training center, a brother and
her mother. So at the end of the training, she

(34:03):
was like, oh, do you know what ego because they
call me ego right, She's like, ego, let me, let
me just go on myself, let me try. I was like,
are you sure you can do this? Because we had
we've already trained her and she was excited to do it.
So she bought on the bus on herself. We gave
her the White King to go. So she got home
and this lady was really screaming loud that yeah, I

(34:27):
did it. You know the joy that feels your heart
after being at home for over two years or able
to work on your own or able to do things
on your own. You have to depend solely on people
and the ability to not want to leave your you know,
comfort zone to training center on your own. However, that
did not come easy because by the time she got home,

(34:48):
she got a lot of you know, back and forth
for my parents, why do you have to do this alone?
Would come and pick you up? Why do you have
to deliver? But the buyers the idea is she she
was confident and was happy that she was able to
do it. She was so excited that, hey, I myself,
I was really excited with her, like someone from twenty

(35:10):
twenty down to twenty twenty three being dependent and now
you are able to come out over your shell. So
fast forward into I think sometime two months after the
program end death in June, she sat for our universitytionary
maticulation examination. That's ut me to gain admission into university

(35:31):
because she was already in university when I started, and
she was studying medical laboratory science, which is not possible
at the moment in Nigeria for a visually impaired person.
It's a bit difficult, especially when they have to mix
chemicals and all that. She deferred as school initial school
and all. So she had to sit for an entrance

(35:52):
examination back into university with the knowledge she has had
with from the program we conducted, after going through lessing
several coaches and all that, and she sat for this examination.
The examination normally the total score is four hundred and
believe you me, with just two months training and perseverance

(36:14):
and resilience, this lady bagged three hundred and nineteen out
of four four. This was really exciting for me and
the team were like, what you did this? And she
gained admission into the legal system psychology and at the
moment she's even on first class right now for our

(36:36):
first semester exam. So this is to tell you that
you know, resilience detmination actually pays, and the fact that
you are also being trained or you are receiving your
training from someone who is passionate, someone will also understand
the existing factors that could make women with disabilities, you know,

(37:01):
lay back someone who is ready to break that bias
that you know, the cultural mindset that people feel if
you're a woman with a disability, you should be most
excluded because you have doubled your puddy. That's like a
double your puddy in Nigeria, especially if you even come

(37:22):
from some certain geographical you know, regions in Nigeria, it's
worse because they can't women as weaker vessels. Some you know,
people say women as domestic chures. They say women as
people who are not skilled and should not even be
trained for that. So imagine you seeing women in that light.

(37:43):
Then the woman has a disability. It's a multifaestated discrimination.
So I was really glad when I saw her. I
think it's about two days not last week in school
and she told me, hey, I got five point zero
that's I mean, first plastic. I was like, what you
could do this, that's determination. So it was really nice

(38:06):
and I'm really glad. And there is no one that
you know after that. In twenty and three, we also,
you know, coming back, Like I said, I also pushed
in for seed grants, you know, with support from the
Pollination Project. We got a one thousand dollars seed grant
to implement the same project specifically for you know, my
alma mater. It's a government secondary school. However, there was

(38:30):
a little bit of issue because of the situation I
remember I told you when I came back to Nigeria,
there was this political instability which affected also cash. You know,
there was also currency crunch. There was a lot of things.
So there were some several activities that could not be
done outside or in the rural setting. So I had
to change the idea and move it back within the

(38:53):
you know university terrain, that University of Legos. So we
had the project there a two month projects and I
tell you, during the registration of those projects, we call
it the break the Buyers project. During the process, we
found out that the persons or candidates who showed interests
we had less number of women and those are our

(39:15):
targeted beneficiaries. We had less number of women we had.
So at that point, I was like, what will happen?
This has to be done. So I had to go
to University of Legas seek the content of the association
that's the National Association of Nigerian Visioning President University of
Legas chapter and I you know, had a head talk
with the president there. So we kind of open an

(39:38):
adjust that because hey, the project is flexible, we opened
we adjusted to accommodate the men folk. And when those
projects started, you know, At first, people were skeptical of
what will happen and will let it be? When it
started and they started seeing the changes we taught them.
We met them on the goal training on Microsoftwards Excel,

(40:00):
Self Confidence, Public Speaking, exeterror. I tell you it was
really wild at that point when we started. After a week,
you need to see the number of females with visual
impairments that were acting please can I join? Please can
I do this? And I was like, why not. It's
because of you we are here. And at the end
of it all, we were able to graduate about twenty

(40:24):
you know, persons with visual impairment who sail throw the
cost And it was really, really, really wonderful because at
that point, before before the costs started, we realized that
not even we had minimum number of twenty, just two
or three persons could only know how to download documents
on the computer with screen readers. There was this lag

(40:47):
or was this exclusion, people could not you know, use
the computer effectively. When we were teaching the formating class,
they were like, wow, you mean I edit my documents?
And I was like, wow, this is really really interesting.
At this age and time, visually impect people and not
literate when it comes to computer literacy. So I was dinged.

(41:09):
I was this drove my passion for that. So we
conducted the program. We did that of ansize, we did
that of virtual and we rounded off the program and
it was really exciting and we look forward to you know,
doing more expanding this knowledge. And in twenty twenty. The
program ended in twenty twenty four. So in twenty twenty five,

(41:31):
I was like, we need to continue this thing, we
need to put more advocacy. In twenty twenty four, we
started the social media online series that I talked about.
You goes peg. If you go to my Instagram and
I am Underscore Radio ego. You said several series where
we had interviews with you know, industry leaders, disability inclusion specialist,

(41:52):
you know, talking about their experiences. You can go there
www instagram dot com for a slash I am under
score with your ego that's my angel. You see several
and we're also starting another series right now on my
Facebook account or Lua Kemi or dusayer you would also
see there, or you just set for Ego's petch you'll

(42:12):
see there as well. So on that. We started off
the social media series in twenty and before we ended
up in October. Then this year I was like I
needed to do more. I was yearning to change the narrative.
Remember my major for courses especially has to do with
the women folk. So this year couple with my month,
my birthday which is March thirteen, and in honor to

(42:35):
also mark the International Women's Day, we had a day
session to domestifying to talk about you know, just like
about three hour session to talk about sexual and reproductive
health right for women with disabilities. That happened on March thirteen,
with support of friends, family. We got products from you know,

(42:59):
few from me specifically women through the body creams and
lotion and that was really a very interesting experience Match
thirteen specifically. Then we saw that there is also in
need more. We need to go back to the rural areas.
You know, we were area which are area people do
not talk about, people do not look into that aspect, right,

(43:22):
So we went to Oil State, it's a real era
in Nigeria, conducted a three days social inclusion skills training
specifically for forty young women with disabilities right between eighteen
to thirty five years and it was massive, I tell
you this. Two programs we did not have any fonts.

(43:44):
But hey, the determination kept push shaming that I have
to do something. I do not have money, But I'm
just determined, and I'm really open to people, organizations, individuals
that want to also partner. I am very much open.
I am big on partnership. So we went to your
state and we delivered a three day social inclusion training.

(44:04):
We'll focused on public speaking, CV writing, social media presence,
sexual and reproductive health right and also self discovery. So
those were our major targets on after the days program.
We had it from May seven to May nine, two

(44:26):
twenty and twenty five, and then we're still yearning, were
still desire us to expand this particular projects. The project
then we called it forty Wings that forty women inspired
for growth through skills. Yes, right now we are looking
at breaking, you know, going beyond the boundaries of these

(44:47):
forty Wings and expanding to other areas, other cities or
the urban all over our areas. And we're open and
looking forward to the change that we desired. Women with disabilities,
young women need to break and change the narrative.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
You are so right, you are one hundred and one
percent right. You know I've spoken out Awa command I've
spoken to a lot of people all over the world,
and certainly I've spoken to a lot of people in
countries in Africa, and what you're saying it sounds very
very relatable to me and very familiar. Actually, we have
many listeners as you know here at Aeron's Opinion, from

(45:27):
Nigeria and from South Africa and countries all over Africa,
and I keep hearing the same thing because it's true.
You're absolutely right. We need to include women with disabilities
and we need to get them, as you say, to
to believe in themselves and to be and to be
productive members of society. You are, you are so right.
So soon, you know, after this recording, you'll be introduced

(45:48):
to many members of the Erin's Opinion family from all
over the world one moment, and at that point you'll
be able to speak to all these various people that
I know from you know, all over the world. But
so have you worked with other countries around Africa who
are also trying to get people with disabilities and women

(46:11):
with disabilities to start, you know, participating in their society.
You know what, you know what what other countries around
the world, especially around the continent of Africa have you
been working with because you know, a lot of countries
around the world have this problem, not just countries in Africa,
but what other countries in Africa have you worked with
about these various initiatives and they're all great ideas, by

(46:34):
the way, tell me.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
Thank you so in Africa fortunately, unfortunately not we've not
worked with any other country in Africa. Well, like I said,
I am very much open and sincerely open to you know, partnership,
open to us working with people. But you would agree
with me there in Africa is more prominent when it
comes to the exclusion of women, you know, with disabilities

(46:57):
and leader I am very particular about leaderstry grows right. Yes,
you could you know, be a man with disa but
when it comes to leadership group, women with disabilities are
more excluded due to several factors. So at the moment,
you know, we've not worked with any other country, but
we're very much open.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Sure, absolutely, absolutely, yeah, really good, really really good. Absolutely.
This is a problem all over the world, you know,
but you're right, it's especially prevalent in Africa. Absolutely yeah.
And what are some of the you know, really to
break it down for us for those who don't know
or who those who want to learn about it. In
my case, I want to learn more about this. So

(47:40):
what are the specific factors? And this will lead into
us talking more about you know, what goes on, you
know in in Nigerian society. But what are the factors
in Nigeria that have led, you know, in the past
to women being you know, excluded quite this much? You know,
and all Nigerians who have been on the show have
told me that there are many factors in Nigeria. So really,

(48:02):
what's what goes on there? What? What are the factors
from your perspective.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
So in Nigeria we have cultural factors. Number one. Some
culture would see women as weaker vessels, the saying men
as feeble. Right, you cannot do some certain courses, You
cannot do some certain discipline like engineering, You cannot do
some certain things like women are very they will tell you,

(48:28):
or you get to see that women are very good man.
It comes to domestic work or in the farm or
in the kitchen, that's all that they should. Some will
tell you that a woman cannot load they call it
load over men that you can and not own. Some
you know, authoritative or or some positions or roles right,

(48:49):
so they see it as a disrespect. And another factor
is attitude, right, you know when there is a cultural
factor definitely leads to attitude when they see women. We
know that is this hirata of Shavianistic attitude. And you know,
when it comes to women, women in general now more
pronounced when it's women with a disability. And even some

(49:12):
cases are out of cases of women with disabilities were
pregnant and go to hospitals and the held practitioners or
service providers will tell you, ah, what do you do?
Who do this? What did this to you? What is
that stupid passing that did this? Don't then look at you,
din't deputy your condition. And I'm like you, men, women
with disabilities are not eligible to our sex. Is that

(49:35):
what you're saying? You mean we were Women with disabilities
are not eligible to family planning? You mean women with
disabilities are not eligible to contribute when it comes to
matters that directly affect them. So and some you know
factors as well. We've had cases of you know, a
deaf woman that I know of specifically who had to

(49:58):
get married and our mother was telling her she even
be grateful that It's just someone who could marry you.
When she was facing domestic violence, the husband would beat her.
In fact, at a point, yeah, I call you rape
because it wasn't a consent. It wasn't consensual as much
as yeah they are married, right, But the husband was
still raping her, and the mother was like, you should

(50:18):
be happy, you should be grateful that he sees you
even with your condition and still wants you as his wife,
even when the after the lady would have been beating
gone back to the mothers as the mother would have
to push her back from So all this you know
narrative and to our next tent, the mother could have
been brought up from a family where women are seen

(50:38):
as silence. When a man talks, a woman there knows
to talk, right, So a lot of factors also contribute
to it. And also lack of skills, right because at
that point when they're beating blue black on you, and
if you see an opportunity to learn skills, do you
think the person will be in the right frame of
mind to do that. No, the person will be like

(50:58):
at the end of it all, if if I learn
all the social inclusion skills or transformative skills, at the
end of it all, I would not have anything to
do with it. I won't be employed. You know, all
those factors also eat deep into the knowledge or into
the perception about the inclusion of women with disability. So
that's why in any training, I am very much particular

(51:18):
about the very first thing, which is a therapeutical stage,
which is self discovery. Because as much as we have
all these projects flying year and their digital inclusion programming, yes,
this and that, we always tend to forget the major aspects,
which is the therapeutical stage, the self discovery. Some women

(51:40):
with disabilities are even yet to accept that they have disabilities.
And in a society and Nigeria, another factor is also religiouon.
Oh my goodness, you know where some people are very religious.
I know of a case of a lady. The father
is a pastor in a church. The child is deaf.

(52:00):
For over twenty six years now, she has a sister.
The church which they attend is an inclusive church where
there are sign language interpreters, where they also accept persons
with disabilities. But yet the sister of this they denied
this child the ability to learn sign language because whenever

(52:23):
you ask the sister, she will tell you no. God forbid,
my sister can yeh? She can't talk, And I'm like,
are you living in denial? For over twenty six years now,
this lady is unable to read and write in sign language.
Imagine she is being accosted or faces violence, and she
goes to reports who would believe her, or she can't

(52:44):
even communicate with her peers who are also deaf. Because yes,
you are practicing a religion and not spiritually in it
in a church where there are provisions for sign language interpreters,
and you keep saying no, my sister go for she
can yeh. Hey, baby girl, you know this is really
painful and it breaks my hands because this person is

(53:06):
a female. She's not gonna be with the parent for life.
She needs to go out there and sought for our
own or and fight for our own inclusion. And yet
the parents the sisters are saying, God forbid, she can year,
and yet the lady cannot still year, who are we deceiving?
Are we deceiving ourselves or we are deceiving the society? No,

(53:27):
you're cussing more harm than even mending it, because this
lady has been shown out of everything. So even if
they're organizations that want to employ her because she is
unable to sign, she's unable to communicate. Right, we have
to even force her and be able to go back
to school. Now she's done with a university degree. The

(53:48):
question is what next if she goes to an organization
that is ready to employ her and she has not
accepted that disability, that is a double giopady. So this
fact us and more are really eating deep into the
confidence because as much as it is, it continually begins
to increase the loss self esteem of these threemen. It

(54:13):
increase the facts that they feel they are nothing, they
are worth less. They feel that at the end of
it all will not have anyone that will get married
to us. They feel, at the end of it, oh,
why should I go and you know, learn or study
or even get to, you know, participate actively. And by

(54:34):
that they cannot participate. They see themselves as unequal with
every other person. So all these factors combine together, it's
really really eating deep. Yes, you are blind, so what
you are deaf? Uh huh? You cannot speak? Beautiful? If
not you, who will. There is a reason for everything.

(54:56):
That's why I like to tackle things. There's a reason
why you blind, there is a reason why you cannot work. Yes,
you're not in the situation. What next? We need to
move out of our shells. We need to go away
from the comfort zone. If everybody was comfortable in their space,
everything we wouldn't have gotten to this particular extent that

(55:16):
we are in the world is glowing global. How many
women with disabilities have the transferable skills? I have transformational skills,
have social skills that can make them work remotely. Sometimes
when I, you know, operate my laptop, I get to
do some interviews and people are like, wow, what do
you do this? So imagine they see me and they

(55:37):
see me as a dependency structure. Do you think they
want to be my friend? No. I like to translene myself.
I like to break the buyers. I like to come
out of the shell. And that's why there is a
reason why I am called the Queen of the Eagles.
There is a reason why I like to tag myself
to the ego because of the attribute of an ego.

(56:00):
The ego has this very powerful vision that says, you
know very far. It says eight times of the human
adults you know can see the eagles. You know, try
to break use the storm. I say the storm as
a challenge. The stormers all those cultural believes as, all
those social exclusion as, all those negative perceptions. Those those

(56:24):
are the storms for an ego. The ego will not
back down. But that storm is what the ego kids
using to sear. So that's why I want other women
with disabilities to see themselves as eagles. And it's not
just by calling yourself an ego. It's by doing, by working,
by actionating that attribute of an ego, the leadership vibe.

(56:46):
And that's why you know I am your royal flyiners.
Because we do not stay one place, We do not
get comfortable in our situation. Rather, we try to not
show our young ones. We try to bring up other
young women with disabilities, regardless of age, my dearest, regardless
of your location. Right, you know, some persons see me

(57:07):
the year me speaking, I'm like, are you sure you
cannot see? Are you say you have a disability? I
wrote on my page of recent you know one of
my stories when I was in university days, I love
dancing and I still do love dancing, right because when
I was excited I was, I was more into breakdance.
All this is Michael Jackson all the stunts, dancing and

(57:28):
all of that, and when this you know these hips
don't lie by Shakira came out to We're all you
know hipping onto that song. Right. So I love dancing
and I remember when I was University of Legos, I
contested for this, you know, beauty pageant, and I'm like,
what is beauty without no brain? Right to contexted for

(57:49):
this beauty pageant where I showed my community what I
have the skills of dance because I love dancing, I
love music, I love rapping. I just the mic and
fortunately for me, I was on abrupt my lead you
know her doo, and I just I was just swaying
my legs left right. I wasn't enjoying the beads. That's

(58:10):
one thing about me. When I see a bead, Oh
my my god, I freestyle. I get carried away and
everyone was like, are you sure this person cannot see?
It is a lie. She can see, she knows what
she's doing. And I'm like, boom, baby boy, baby girl, No,
I cannot see anything. So those are the narrative I
want to change. When people feel that blind persons cannot dance,

(58:32):
what is that you can change your you know your narrative,
you can change people think about you. Dancing is one
thing I like to do. Meeting people is one thing
I like to do. Don't let people feel that because
you cannot see, you are dumb or you're daft. No
use those eating skills bringing out to the world. And
that's one thing I'm also looking up forward to having

(58:54):
like an academy where I have to teach blind people
how to dance, because hey, I've been Gadrie's rassing black
people do at times. It's terrible. So I do understand
the factor. So I'm like, like, yeah, we need to
start up this thing, even if it's just the lit
two things we can do. Let's make people understand that
our blindness, our disabilities does not stop us. It rather

(59:17):
elevates us to what we desire and where we want
to be.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
You are again, you are so you are so correct
about all of it, and I just cannot thank you
enough for everything you're saying. You know, I'm sure you
saw the interesting philosophical quote on Facebook. I don't know
who posted it, and it has since disappeared over time,
but it's a very true statement that once you know,
once a woman, you know got into a taxi and

(59:46):
the taxi driver was making all these nice accommodations. It
was being all polite, and the woman asked a philosophical question,
you know, she says to the driver, why are you
so nice? And he said, because I stopped complaining. You know,
I'm liking the eagle, he said, he rose above. And
that's the other thing about an eagle is that an
eagle doesn't complain. They just soar above things. They rise upwards,

(01:00:07):
and they soar above. And that's a very a very
distinctive point about about an eagle. And you're very you
are very right about that, yes, but you are, you
are so correct. And you know, when when people are
unwilling to work with people with disabilities, when they're unwilling

(01:00:27):
to you know, accommodate people with disabilities, you know, really
the entire society is what loses out. You know, oftentimes
I always thought when I before I got into my
teaching work and before I got interested in podcasting and
this podcast realm, anytime I faced discrimination, I always felt
in the past that oh, this is my fault, this

(01:00:49):
is you know, this is my loss. And I've come
to understand, no, it's really society's loss, you know, when
you choose to not include someone, that's the society's loss,
you know. But but but that is that is very all,
very very interesting that you've you've noticed all of these
various societal things. And I can tell you that even

(01:01:13):
in the United States, these things are still happening, certainly
not as not as prevalently as they are in Nigeria
and not in your country, but they still there are
still problems. Even within America, there are still these these issues,
you know, where people are faced with serious discrimination and
things like that. It is, it is a pretty common

(01:01:33):
thing in America, you know, so even in a developed
even in every country has this very similar outlook on disability,
you know. And I'm just so glad that you're rising
above to help people to realize that hold on a second,

(01:01:53):
that blind people do need to be included in society
and things like that, and that they can and that
that's that's a really really import important things. So yeah,
that's all really fascinating. And what can you tell me
more specifically about you know, living in Legos. You know,
I've spoken to people in you know, different parts of Nigeria, Ibolan,

(01:02:13):
you know, a Bouga. I believe, what can you tell
me about living in Legos and you know what you
know about the city and the accessibility of the city
to talk more about you know where you the environment
where you actually live in Nigeria.

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Living in Legos as one of the beautiful things. Just
like what Amancho is center of excellence, that's the Lego
of Legos. Excellence comes with a price, It comes with
a lot of things. It comes with uncertainty, it comes
with determination. Legas is a very hard state. When I

(01:02:52):
mean hard, I mean you have to work and work.
You see people they do not sleep in fact, in
my area still around level you still see some cars, buses,
larries honking around the level. Some types some persons they
can't live in Legals because they got is like an
hypertensive state because it's so it's so busy. Yeah, that's

(01:03:16):
the world. Legas is a very busy state and they
have a lot of industry. It is an industrialized kind
of states. You have a lot of head offices of companies,
organizations you know in Legos. So it's really busy. Accessibility wise, yeah,
some some certain areas may be accessible while some are worse.

(01:03:37):
When it comes to accessibility, the roads, Yeah, some part
as hard while some are not wanted. Some parts you
know they're even using their their push, they're tracing water
off and feeling it. There's some feelings of areas which
is definitely I feel it's not it's not right. So
Legas it's a very busy state. We have some areas

(01:03:59):
that have very water are logged. We have some areas
that are backward. When it comes to inclusion. We have
some areas that are doing well. We have some areas
that are you know, the offices of banks, financial institutes
and also where else is stay. We have areas where

(01:04:20):
we have these street boys, right. We have areas where
we have strict children. We have areas where we have dogs.
So Legos is an area where you need to be sharp.
You need to get to be ready at all times.
You know, you don't need to get slack because anything
can happen. Right, So accessibility, like I said, some bridges

(01:04:42):
are accessible for many motor some are not. Legos is
a state that also has always the first states that
domesticated the United Nations Convention on the Right of Persons
with Disabilities. We have before even before the national date
because Lego State had the Legos State Office for Disability

(01:05:02):
Affairs Office. Lego said at the Lego State Special People's
Law in twenty eleven. So there are a lot of
things that happen in Legos. You know, they call it
the megacity. Several things. We have buses, we have the
BRT in Legos. Bus rapids transports to stem in Legos.
We have the tricycle. We call it keken pep.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
We have.

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
Bicycle that we call them Okada. We have shopping centers
in Legos, a lot of them. We have cinema houses
in Legos, and you know the cinema houses. We have
restaurants and I'm like, when it comes to accessibility, they
are zero, right, So you know, you go to a restaurant,
you cannot find menu in accessible format. You can't find

(01:05:52):
it either in Braille. You can't even find it in
soft copy that is accessible, So it is zero. We
go to religious houses summer accessible, some are pretty accessible,
some are not. Right, So Legos has a lot of
things going on with her. It's populated. We have houses.
We have some some places you can have some dilapidated buildings.

(01:06:15):
In some places you can have some very fancy buildings.
I remember when I was doing a disability and accessibility
or did for some organizations, and I'm like, wow, you
see this flooring floors, floors, They are very fancy, but
by the time you work on it with heels, if
you are not very careful, you can you can you know,

(01:06:35):
get an accident. And I'm like, this is where disability starts.
Because some persons are saying some towels floors. They're like, oh,
it's very beautiful, but hey, is it accessive? Is it
about the beauty or about the sustainability? So a lot
of things happen in Legas. You have people going here
and there as comprises of several equal groups together where

(01:07:00):
the younger holds the beautiful, the hardly, the fact the slim.
A lot of things happen. We have education institutions as
well in Legos. We have the University of le Because,
which is a very institute. We have colleges and legers.
We have the country. We are public and private and
government institutes in Legos. And we have several food I

(01:07:23):
can't really say this is a Legos food. We have
several food in Legos. Yeah, we have the snacks. A
lot of things actually happen in Legos.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Very good. That's all all excellent, really really good. Yeah. Absolutely,
So in addition to India, what other countries have you
traveled to outside of Nigeria?

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
Okay, so I've traveled to South Africa, I've traveled to Egypt,
and I've traveled to India. Yeah, I look forward to
go into maybe you know, European cont trees, also USA
or Canada. I just so look forward to. And I'm
also very big on fellowship leadership and hey, if you're

(01:08:09):
out there, you have all this opportunities, please I am
your number one stop, you know, space share with me.
I'm very big on leadershep fellowsheps and all of that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
Okay, Well, that's that's very good. By the way, we
have a large following in South Africa. Many, many, many
people from South Africa tune into Aeron's opinion. So you'll
you'll be you'll be in smart company there. There's a
lot of people from South Africa that we know here
at Aaron's Opinion. Yeah, absolutely, very good. Okay, Well, that's
something that's all really good. The other thing that I'm
very very passionate about in my own life as a

(01:08:40):
language teacher, is language acquisition. So you're your English is
beautiful by the way, You're a beautiful, beautiful speaker. So
how many languages do you speak? I believe there's over
five hundred languages in Nigeria? How many? How many languages
do you speak?

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
By the way, let me see English? Definitely I speak
and there is it's like we'll call it broken English,
Pijing Pijing, I speak Yoruba. I also I'm a basic
sign language you know, person niger Sign language and a

(01:09:16):
bit of American Sign language. And I also before I'm
not very sure of my skills right now when it
comes to Jamaica, I speak a little bit of patois
more Again, now I think that's just all.

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely absolutely, How does you know? Oftentimes there's
always been a debate around the language community about if
if we change our thought processes in certain languages. You know,
So what do you think? Do you think you think
through situations differently in Yoba to English or asl to English.

(01:09:55):
Do you think you solve problems differently if you're speaking
or thinking a different language? What do you you think?

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
So for me, I feel it's possible. So it depends
on the kind of problem like you said that I'm solved. Sure,
so I feel yeah, there's some times where I get
to mix both of them depending on the audience I'm
trying to, you know, communicate with and I flow very well,
so I'm not really sure. So for me, it's it's

(01:10:23):
either ways. I could serve when it comes to your bat,
I could solve when it comes to English, depending on
the audience and the kind of formality or the structure. Yeah,
that's the word. The structure, it's you know, presents itself.
Yeah right right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:38):
Yeah. Being that I'm also a French speaker, I definitely
think that we solve problems differently, you know, different war,
different word order, you know, a different way of thinking
through the problem. So it definitely changes your mind when
you're when you're a bilingual person or in your case,
multi lingual. Absolutely really good. So what are some questions

(01:10:59):
and what are some things you want to know about
the United States? You know, American people, American society. I'm
sure you have questions for me about that.

Speaker 3 (01:11:07):
Yeah, so some question could be sure, it could be
like what is when it comes to mainstreaming disability in
the United States compared to Nigeria, where persons with disability
had to really search go huzzle for work, and when
you get to the workspace, they'll tell you, in fact,
they look at your disability first for your skills. How

(01:11:27):
is it like over there?

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
It really is also very difficult, just in a very
different way. In my case, one moment, please, my parents
and family had to fight very very hard for me
to obtain the education that I was able to get.
It was very very difficult. There is still discrimination in
the United States, believe it or not, and I know

(01:11:52):
that you might find this hard to believe, but even
in America, there are still people who refuse to include
people with disability and it's a causing a big, big
problem because, as you know, as technology has developed, you know,
simple things like doing an interview like we're doing now
has become a lot easier, and so because of this,

(01:12:13):
it's much easier for people with disabilities to participate in society.
But the problem, as you well know, is that society
still maintains their strange and their discriminatory opinions, and this
really holds people back in the United States, and this
is causing a lot of problems for many people. So

(01:12:34):
the reality of it is in America. If you are
educated at a university level, you might you might have
some chance to be able to work in the public sector.
But the discrimination, at least when I was trying to
work for the public about ten years ago, the discrimination

(01:12:56):
was so severe that I had to just work for myself,
build up, you know, build up my own business, and
kind of go into business for myself. And I don't
really know if that's right or wrong, but it is
what happened. And that is the reality of life in
the United States. You know that you you have to
work for yourself. You have to work very very hard,

(01:13:17):
even in the United States, you know. But there's a
there's a lot of discrimination in the educ and the
and there's a there's also in the education field in
the United States. There's a lot of corruption in the
education field. There's a lot of political things, and a
lot of weird people, and a lot of people who
are not really interested in educating. They're interested in bureau

(01:13:40):
in buricating. Basically, they're bureaucrats. And I'm sure you know
what a bureaucrat is, and that these bureaucrats cause a
a lot of problems for a lot of people. So
I would say some blind people in America are are
working full time like me. But I would say that
the statistics that you may have heard are probably more

(01:14:02):
true than ever before that at least at least seventy
to eighty percent of the population of blind people in
the United States is not working at all or not
working at all. And I think the statistic is about
ninety five percent of blind people are unemployed in the
United States, even in America. And I'm sorry to tell

(01:14:23):
you this, but that is that is that these are
the steps that I have found to be true after
speaking to so many blind people. So so does that
answer your question, by the way.

Speaker 3 (01:14:34):
Yes, it does. And I'm very very surprised how that
is actually possible because you know, you know, the kind
of notion we have about United States of America is
like they have this you know, inclusion system, Tellawi has
w the Americans Ability Act, and you know a lot

(01:14:55):
of things. I'm like very surprised about this, but hey,
thank you you. Another question I would like to ask
is when it comes to relationship or love and intimacy,
how is it like is it very easy for a
blind person or person with I could talk about depending
on whichever your feel to talk about maybe blind or

(01:15:17):
a personal disability. Is it very easy for one to
get maybe a partner without the disability, or you have
more persons with disabilities, you know, getting into relationship more
with persons with disabilities. I was in life over there.

Speaker 1 (01:15:33):
It's hard either way. So one of the one of
the things that tends to happen to blind people in
America is oftentimes we can be taken advantage of by
sighted people. So this is a this is a very
subtle thing that a lot of times, if you're you know,
blind and in America, you wouldn't want a cited partner,
not because you would be afraid that you wouldn't love them,

(01:15:53):
but because you would be afraid that the sided person
may have other an ulterior motive to take advantage of you,
advantage of your disability. So that is a very very
very common problem, and this is a very very serious
problem in America right now, that this happens to many
people with disabilities, and unfortunately, many people with disabilities are

(01:16:14):
being taken advantage of by friends and family, and this
is a rampant problem in the United States. So I
would say the other factor, the other factor is distance.
America as you know, is a huge country, and we
have fifty states, and oftentimes, unlike Nigeria, where you live

(01:16:34):
in urban settings, most American people live out in the countryside.
Although when you watch a movie or when you watch TV,
America is depicted as a place where people live in
apartment buildings and talk to people and interact. Although some
people do live like that, most actually don't. Most Americans
live very isolating lives where you live with your family

(01:16:56):
or you live by yourself for a much longer period
of time. So, you know, that's that's a huge factor too.
So in America. The other thing is it takes a
long time to travel from place to place. So because
of all these things, and because of that, I would
say that, you know, it's it's incredibly difficult for people

(01:17:17):
in America to find intimacy and to find intimacy and
in an appropriate and in a healthy way. It's it's
very very, very very very difficult even in America. Yes,
that's true.

Speaker 3 (01:17:30):
All right, Thank you very much, thanks, yeah, good.

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
Great, all great questions. Absolutely, So where would you like
to go? By the way, you if you come to America,
where where would you go?

Speaker 3 (01:17:41):
California? I look forward to that California.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
Why do you have friends or family there? Do you
do you do you know someone in California?

Speaker 3 (01:17:49):
Yeah, I know someone in California. How Ever, ahead it's
like it's like, how I put it, it's like one
of the Auban states out through that is, I don't know,
it's one of the Uban stata and has this tech
you know stuff. It is like a tech city. And
when it comes tolind persons, it could be it be
I don't know if it's going to be easible. At
least the fact that it's like a tech city is

(01:18:12):
one thing that drives me and I really fell to California.

Speaker 1 (01:18:16):
And yeah, you know there are technical cities. There are
tech hubs all over the country. California is one of them,
You're right. The other one is, of course Texas. There's
a lot of high tech things in Texas and places
like that. New York. Of course, many of the places
out in the western part of the country are very
high tech. I mean there's you know, you'll find, you know, alijakeme,

(01:18:39):
you'll find that in every state you'll always have the
high tech center. You know, there's always the technologically advanced
part of any of any city anywhere really. But yeah,
that's what I can really tell you is that it
all depends on where you are. I'll tell you that
I've heard that California is very expensive, so it's very
hard to live there. So I'm not sure though, that

(01:19:00):
blind people really like to live there because the cost
of living in California is so outrageously high, wow, that
it makes it hard for people to save even when
they earn. So the economics of California don't really don't
really add up, you know, wow to California is a
very strange place now in California has a lot of
problems that they never had. And you know, thirty years ago,

(01:19:23):
California was totally different, you know, yeah, absolutely absolutely. Yeah.
So I'm sure that you know, you have a lot
of questions about me and my background and my opinions
of the world. So what do you really want to
know about me? You know, to really as I always
like to say, you know, to really get under my
skin and to really make me sweat. What do you

(01:19:44):
really want to know about Aaron Richmond and and or
Aaron's opinion?

Speaker 3 (01:19:49):
Thanky? So what I want to know about ern is
what is a perspective about women in gene l.

Speaker 1 (01:20:00):
I mean, my my perspective of women is that you're
correct that women women need to be participating more, women
can participate more, and women do need to participate more, certainly, Yes,
that's my that's my perspective. We in America, we've seen
a lot of different friends, you know, as you know,
our society started out in America hundreds of years ago.

(01:20:21):
We began as a well similar to how Nigeria began
really an agricultural country. And and yes, it used to
be true that in the old times, in the past,
it was it was the case that women stayed home
and were homemakers. But today we don't believe that anymore.
We we know that women are are capable and are
working and are able to be out in society. And

(01:20:43):
I think that's great, you know. So that's that's generally
my generally my opinion.

Speaker 3 (01:20:48):
Yeah, m hm, great, thank you. So I would also
like to ask what is one of the worst moments
of your life and one very happy moment of your life.

Speaker 1 (01:21:03):
Yeah, one of the worst moments, I would say, one
of the worst moments of my life for sure was
going through all of the discrimination that I faced in
university and in education. I am someone who and I'm
not afraid to admit it, because I speak what's on
my mind. I speak from my heart just like you do.

(01:21:25):
I am someone who actually has a lot of post
traumatic stress disorder about dealing with educators and dealing with
university staff. So I'm one of these guys that you know,
I'm not living in the same state where my university was,
but if I came back to that state, I wouldn't
even go into that city anymore. I know what town
it's in. I won't even go into that town because
I was so traumatized by the university. So that was

(01:21:49):
that was a really a really severe thing that you know,
even you know, anybody can face post traumatic stress, and
I certainly faced it with with the education sector in
the United States. But I would say that though that,
you know, on the flip side of all of that,
the the best thing that's happened to me is a

(01:22:11):
couple of things. I've built up my bilingual persona. You know,
I've built up my French language skills. As you know,
I've interviewed several French people in French before on the show,
and that's something that gives me an enormous amount of
happiness in my own life to be a bilingual guy.
I've spent a lot of time in France interacting with
a lot of people over the years. I can also

(01:22:36):
tell you that another huge sense of happiness for me
is my is my teaching business that I run now
my podcast. Seeing that and one of the things that
I've been noticing about the podcast is that more people
keep listening. So that's a great a great thing when
you when you produce, when you start out as a hobby,
when you start a hobby, and then you notice that
over time more and more people are listening, and more

(01:22:56):
and more people are reaching out to me and and
and and interacting in positive way. That's the clue that
I'm doing the right thing and that this and that
this is a needed product. So I think the best
part of everything is the podcast and the product that
I that I have for you here at Aaron's Opinion.

Speaker 3 (01:23:12):
Awesome, great, thank you. And lastly, what is your view
about religion? And yeah, religion and yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:23:27):
Well, I mean I will tell you one one moment, please,
I will tell you that I happen to be a
Jewish guy. I'm Jewish, but I'm not really religious. My
view on religion is that I think I know that
there's I know that there's God, and i know that

(01:23:48):
there's a universe, and I'm happy with that. But I'm
not a terribly religious guy. Actually, you might have heard,
or you might have been led to believe that American
people are overly religious, and sometimes that's true, but in
more cases than not, Although Americans welcome all religions, whether
you're Jewish or Catholic, or Christian or Muslim, Hindu, whatever,

(01:24:12):
you know, we welcome all the religions. But you'll find
that in at least in my estimation and opinion, that
in the United States most most people are not very
religious at all anymore. I think we've really straight away,
you know, as society has become, as American society has
become more you know, more liberal and more open and

(01:24:35):
more you know, as we've changed as much as we have,
we've really strayed away from you know, conservative views and
religion and structure like that. So if we were living
one hundred years ago, religion would be super important, and
it still is important. But in America most people are
significantly less religious now and more people are questioning religion

(01:24:57):
more than ever before in America. Yeah, what about there
by the way, in Nigeria, do most people go to
church or how do Nigerian people approach religion?

Speaker 3 (01:25:05):
Yeah, Sparians, we are very religious. Right For me, I
always say that it's not religion for me, it's more
of the spirituality that's between you and your you know, divinity.
So that's what it is for me. But in Nigeria,
most people are so so religious, and at the end
of it all, what do you what's the results? You

(01:25:27):
find out that there is really a gap right in
what they preach and what you know they believe and
what they do as well. So, yeah, Nigeria is very religious.
You have touches all around within a street you can
find about how many church or mosque and also very
religious we are.

Speaker 1 (01:25:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, that's great. That's great. You know,
I think if you find, as you know, and I'm
sure you've studied it, that many many people with disabilities
feel excluded from religion and feel excluded from their churches.
So I think if you find a good church or
a good group of people who are blind and religious
and they help you, I think that's great. You know,

(01:26:08):
but this is a problem in America. A lot of
blind people are afraid to go to church and they're
afraid to ask for help with that, and that does
you know, for religious people, that affects them, you know.
So that's a serious thing. You know, that's a major
issue that a lot of people are feel excluded by
religious leaders and feel uncomfortable. So that's one thing that
you have to kind of know is that in America

(01:26:30):
a lot of people either are not religious, or they
are very religious, or they are skeptical of religion. You know,
so it all depends on the person and you never
really can quite tell, you know, everybody's everybody's different in America. Yeah, absolutely, definitely, right,

(01:26:51):
thank you, Yeah, sure, sure, absolutely Okay, So, so what
are some other topics that you think we should cover today?
I mean, I think we've covered it all. Is there
any is there any other topic that you know you
would really like to cover today before we walk to
the end of a beautiful episode? What do you think?

(01:27:12):
I think?

Speaker 3 (01:27:13):
For me, I think of coved you know, almost I
think yet. But lastly my question would be for you
your work, the best meal.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
My favorite hold on one second, sure, my favorite meal. Ever, well,
I mean I really love all French food. French food
is delicious, so is Nigerian food. I love food food,
by the way, I had, yes, I know what it is. Yeah, Nigeria.

(01:27:47):
Nigeria has delicious food absolutely, yeah, and things like that.
So I mean I love all food, Indian food, tai food,
all the food I love absolutely. But yeah, what about you? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:28:00):
Yeah, so I love all food a bit of and
I like you rice, I like depending on you know,
I like Singapore, Nodus, I love.

Speaker 1 (01:28:11):
I love all foods.

Speaker 3 (01:28:12):
I love all food. I'm not really but you know,
the the kind of taste but I could have for
some might be different from anybody I can eat, you know,
particularly some kind of food.

Speaker 1 (01:28:24):
Yeah. That's that's excellent, very good. Yeah yeah, okay, Well, well, Aliwa,
I got to say, this has been an absolutely fascinating conversation,
as I knew it would be, and you you absolutely
absolutely deliberate, as I knew you would. So what I

(01:28:46):
want to know is this, So you're you're doing incredible work,
and all I wish for you is further success with
your with your Flying Eagle stuff and all of your
advocacy that you do for people. In Nigeria and all
the countries I wish you. The only thing I hope
for you is that you're successful and we will certainly
do everything in our power here at Aaron's opinion to

(01:29:06):
make sure that you're put in touch with other other
great people who will be able to help you along
your journey to defer your success. But of course, if
somebody wants to get in touch with how can you
be reached.

Speaker 3 (01:29:20):
If he want to get interest? Very simple. You can
look me up on Facebook a Lua kem or do
Soyer that's all l u w A k e m
I space or d u s A n y a
on Facebook, or you send me an email Kemy or
do soyer one at gmail dot com. That's k e

(01:29:44):
m I or d U s A n y A
figure one at gmail dot com. Or simply Eagles Voice
NG at gmail dot com. That's through our ego Eagles
Voice NG. That's for Nigeria at g dot com. Or
you go to Instagram it is at I am on

(01:30:05):
the Score Radio ego. That's on Instagram and on x
at I Am on the Score Radio ego, and you
would get to connect with the Queen of the Eagles.

Speaker 1 (01:30:16):
Her royal liness absolutely all right, all right, well, ali
Wa Kime, it's been an absolute thrill and honor to
have you on the show. And I'm curious one moment here.
Let me just get to the right place here, Okay, Okay,

(01:30:36):
there we go. So I'm actually curious about something that
I usually sometimes I ask this, other times I don't.
So have you listened to any episodes of Aaron's Opinion
before coming here? Ah?

Speaker 3 (01:30:48):
I'm actually not.

Speaker 1 (01:30:49):
That's all right, quite a right, totally fine. Okay, Well,
because I was going to ask you how do we
end an episode? And I will tell you that we
end up by saying, thank you so much, thanks for
joining us today. You are so welcome here in the future,
and all I do is wish you further success. So
thank you for sharing all of your stories and knowledge
today and of course until next time. Thank you so

(01:31:10):
much everybody, And as we say here at Aaron's Opinion,
help one person today, help one million people tomorrow. You've
been listening to Flying with an Eagle named Adiwa kimme
right here on the Erin's Opinion podcast, the podcast for
blind people where we speak about critical issues in the
blindness community and all other issues from across the universe

(01:31:31):
and galaxy Atawa, kimme, you did a magnificent job. We
will We will be back to you in just a moment.
One two four zero six eight one nine eight six
nine Eron's Opinion six at gmail dot com. A A
R O N S O P I N I O
N six. That's the number six. Aaron's Opinion six at
gmail dot com. Don't forget uh. If you want the
electronic business card, which would of course be a lot

(01:31:54):
easier than me having to go through this whole long list,
do let me know. Don't forget about following along on
Instagram at Aaron's Opinion is more and more if you are.
Don't forget about following and joining the either the WhatsApp
community or the private Facebook group Aaron's Opinion podcasting community.
We do want to let you know that if you

(01:32:15):
ever face issues joining those groups, just let us know,
and either me or one of our friendly admins from
around the universe and galaxy will be more than happy
to get back to you, because we do know that
technical things do come up from time to time, so
don't worry about that, but join those groups. Aaron's Opinion
podcasting community on WhatsApp or Aaron's Opinion podcasting community on Facebook.

(01:32:38):
Don't forget about liking, following, and writing a review of
the Facebook page Aaron's Opinion podcast. Remember, the only way
for other people to find out about the important work
we do here at Aaron's Opinion is for you at
home to rate and review. We are still looking for
that eleventh review on the Facebook page, so please do
write a review for that. Tell people why you let
listen to That's a really, really good feature and that's

(01:32:58):
the only ways I always like to say, that's the
only way that other people would ever find out about
the important work we do. If you don't want to
write a review, that's totally fine. You can of course
share this episode. That also helps. But the reviews is
a huge metric in pushing podcasts forward and sharing podcasts
and figuring out who should be listening. Okay, and we

(01:33:19):
want to take this time to thank all those downloads
this week. As we say in the download contest, thank
you to our forty four votes, our forty four listeners.
Forty four downloads this week from the United States. Are five,
are five from Canada or actually know our four from
Canada and are five from England, from the United Kingdom,
So those are where most of you are listening, from US, Canada,

(01:33:41):
and the United Kingdom, and of course many many more.
Remember it's very very competitive out there in the podcast sphere.
And if you want me to say your country, well,
the only way for me to do that for your
country to be in the top three of the download
charties for you to download this and many other episodes
of Aaron's opinions, So thank you. Don't forget about following

(01:34:01):
along on TikTok if you so desire. Don't forget about
joining the Patreon for free so that you can be
the first person to see the videos before anybody else does.
Don't forget also with the Patreon if you do feel generous,
and if you're in a position to help, remember the
lowest tier physically possibles five dollars a month of sixty
dollars a year. You certainly don't need to join it,
but it would be a huge help and very generous.

(01:34:22):
But of course, if you're on the Patreon for free,
you'll still be getting all the material, but you do
need to be a free member of the Patreon to
be able to see what we are posting on the Patreon.
I will never post publicly. I don't know many creators
that do post publicly, by the way, I think mostly
it's about posting to usually paid members. So the fact
that I allow all members to see is is very

(01:34:42):
generous and a great and a great use of Patreon.
So don't forget about joining the Patreon for free, and
that will be a great a great connection for you.
Don't forget about following along on AX and on YouTube
at Aaron's Opinion TV, and of course tickling the bell
notification to know when we premiere videos. Remember if you
want to get connected with Aaron's Opinion, I'm not really

(01:35:03):
able to reply in the premiere. There's no easy way
of replying during a premiere, so you have to wait
for the video to be public and then you can reply,
reply or comment on the public video and then we'll
be able to get back to you. Once the video
is public and you comment on a public video, I
certainly get back to you. We want to take this
time to thank ali Wa Kime for joining us today

(01:35:24):
from Nigeria. You today magnificent job. I really enjoyed your
personality and your whole flavor and your whole enthusiasm and
your whole willingness to help other people and educate people
and just build a wonderful show and build a wonderful product.
I really do appreciate that, and I really do appreciate
you joining, you joining the show today, and we really

(01:35:44):
couldn't have done it without you. So absolutely, Ali wa Ki,
keep creating and keep inspiring other people, and don't forget
you are certainly and don't forget everybody. Her Royal Flinness
is always welcome in the Aaron's Opinion community. There you go.
We want to take this side to thank all those
other podcasters and YouTubers out there who continue to syndicate

(01:36:04):
and share Aaron's Opinion whenever and wherever you like. Thank you.
We couldn't do it without you. And of course we
want to thank all those guests from all those great
countries around the world, past president, future who continue to
share your knowledge with us each week or day. You're
an Aaron's Opinion, we couldn't do it without you either,
And of course, Lis, but not last, last, but not least,
however you like to say it, we want to thank
you the listener at home from the United States, Canada,

(01:36:27):
United Kingdom, many other countries from across the University and
galaxy for continuing to give us a download and continuing
to spend an hour or so each day here at
Aaron's Opinion. Remember, I know, we know, you know, we
all know there are millions of choices in that podcast catalog,
and we just want to say thank you for choosing
Aaron's Opinion. We'll be going stateside next time, I think,

(01:36:50):
and then we'll be going overseas, and then we'll be
going back stateside. So we have a lot of great
stuff as always coming right around the corner for you
to enjoy and comment about and really really enjoy here
at Aeron's Opinion. So thank you everybody, as I always
like to say, everything that's all this success here at
Aaron's Opinion. It means the world to me as a creator,
but most importantly it will mean the world to you

(01:37:12):
as the audience later on, so you'll always have things
to listen to no matter what. So of course, everybody,
thank you so much for another great episode, and until
next time, have a wonderful day, Be well everybody, and
we will certainly be back soon. You're listening to the
Aeron's Opinion podcast, and of course don't forget Help one
person today, help one million people tomorrow.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Flying with an eagle named, Oluwakemi

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

Flying with an eagle named, Oluwakemi

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist