A disability-inclusive non-profit organisation, Keeping It Real (KIR) Foundation has celebrated its 13th anniversary of inspiring change through learning with remarkable projects; setting up of its 85th Reading Corner in St. Andrew’s Primary School in Mile 1 Diobu area of Port-Harcourt Educational Support for Students with vision impairment in the first week of February.
The organisation has done this owing to its awareness of the challenges vision-impaired students face when learning in school. One of the major difficulties is that the special tools they need to help them learn effectively can be quite expensive. These assistive devices such as Braille Slates, Typewriters, Laptops, Tape Recorders, Wireless Keyboard etc; are great because they help students read and do their schoolwork, but because of their cost, not all students with disabilities can get them especially those from underserved/disadvantaged families. This is a significant challenge because it means some students with disabilities are unable to learn and participate in school successfully.
The Impact Story in the Past 13 Years
Therefore, in 2012, the organisation supported 20 Vision impaired students like Ruth and Esther: 2 visually impaired sisters with Braille Slates. The two sisters were subsequently trained in Basic ICT skills, after which they got jobs. Thereafter, they gained admission into the university and were once again supported with typewriters and equipment for their business. Today, Esther is in her final year in the Special Education Department in Ignatius Ajuru University. Ruth is also in her final year in the Faculty of Law in Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
In the past 13 years, KIR Foundation has donated Educational/Assistive Devices to schools/centres for students with vision impairment. In Rivers State; TLEC Educational Centre for The Blind, Christy Toby Inclusive School, Handmaids Nursery and Primary School for the Sighted and Blind, Otana Inclusive Centre, Royal Hearts Academy and Ignatius Ajuru University, and in Lagos State; Queens College Yaba, Anglo – Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind and Federal Nigerian Association for the Blind. So far, KIR Foundation has donated over 88 Braille Slates and Styli, 18 Typewriters,17 laptops, 20 Guide Canes and 24 Wireless keyboards.
This year, on Friday the 2nd of February, the organisation once again continued its tradition of supporting students with vision impairment. The 13th Anniversary celebration was a Special Hangout in the KIR Foundation Inclusive Community Centre in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State and the University of Lagos with 40 Blind and Visually Impaired students and 8 Guide Canes, 31 Wireless Keyboards and 1 Braille Slate and a Stylus were donated to the students.
The Guest Speaker during the event in Port–Harcourt; Barrister Amuda Chigozie Thedus, the Chairman of the Nigerian Association of the Blind, Rivers State Chapter shared his inspiring story with the students. He became Blind in his formative years and against the background of discrimination and a fatal accident became a Lawyer. In his speech he encouraged the students to take responsibility for their lives, making the best use of opportunities and adding value to society. In Lagos KIR Foundation’s Implementing Partner and Disability-inclusion Advisor, Ngozi Ukpai-Okoro encouraged the 20 Blind students of the University of Lagos like Arinoluwa who all got Wireless Bluetooth Keyboards to embrace technology because it will open a world of possibilities for them. While, Bitebo Gogo; the Volunteer Executive Director of KIR Foundation motivated the students to leverage on their abilities to succeed in life.
According to the Volunteer Executive Director, Bitebo Gogo, in the past 13 years, Keeping It Real (KIR) Foundation as a disability-inclusive, social impact and non-profit organisation (RC 916541) has worked with over 195 institutions in 36 States and Abuja, the capital of Nigeria and Ghana. The organization has reached more than 90,797 people with its programmes on Education, Advocacy, Capacity and Sustainable Development. Also, KIR Foundation has trained more than 1,566 youth in various market-relevant skills (Digital, Vocational and Soft skills) and donated over 46,421 books, numerous educational aids, starter kits and farming implements. It has published; ‘The Young Leader’s Guide’, a leadership manual for young people and ‘It’s About Empathy’, an Explanatory Guide to The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018. Furthermore, as an organization with a global focus, all its projects are strategically aligned to promoting and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Bitebo Gogo encouraged everyone in the society to embrace disability inclusion. She said that since the 5-year moratorium on the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act. 2018 has expired, all stakeholders must ensure that the provisions of the Act are duly applied to protect the rights of Persons with Disabilities(PWDs).
Furthermore, she urged the Nigerian Government to fund the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) which was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria under Section 31 of the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 to promote, protect, and prioritise the rights of PWDs and enhance their productivity through education, health, and other socio-economic activities which have been grossly underfunded. Therefore, NCPWD has been unable to implement government services and actions into systems that equally and meaningfully drive the representation and participation of Nigerians with disabilities, especially in all procedures and processes around designs, implementation, budgeting, enforcement, and monitoring. Finally, she said a disability-inclusive Nigeria will be a more developed, prosperous, and empathetic nation.
