The story of Jummai Molbenata Barak is one of pesrverance and ambition, in the face of intermittent challenges.
Jummai is a vibrant, industrious young lady who is mobility impaired. Though an indigene of Gombe state, she was born and raised in ifako ijaiye, Lagos, as the sixth child in a family of eight children. Her ordeal began when she was just 8 months old. She had suddenly taken ill and slumped while running a fever, and was taken to the hospital. She had been given a wrong injection at the hospital, which eventually resulted in her disability.
When it was time for her to begin her education, Jummai was rejected by many schools because of her disability, but her mother really believed in her, and did not give up on her attempt to get her enrolled in school. Jummai’s mother promised to make sure Jummai became successful in life, despite her disability, as she herself was not educated and strongly held that anyone not educated ends up being cheated in life. She pressed on till she got Jummai a good school ready to accommodate a pupil who was unable to walk. The school, Dream makers School, gave Jummai a scholarship, on discovering she was a very brilliant child with a disability. Jummai had her primary and secondary education in Lagos between 2001 and 2021, but was unable to enroll in the higher institutions and further her education thereafter, due to lack of funds and financial support. She opted to acquire hand crafts and vocational skills, and has overcome her disability notwithstanding, by striving to cater for herself and becoming skillfully engaged as a hairdresser and Baker.
Jummai visited the Bruder Hilfe office in Lagos, where she presented a beautiful birthday cake to the director on the occasion of her 2021 birthday anniversary, in order to showcase her baking skills.
The director of Bruder Hilfe Social Development Initiative, Mrs. Mary Bruder, presented Jummai with a standard multipurpose wheelchair and welcomed her to the Bruder Hilfe family. Mrs. Bruder promised to continually follow up with her, and provide her with financial support and resources needed to get her established in her Business venture, and help her live a more comfortable life as a person with disability.
Jummai was estatic as she expressed her appreciation for her new wheelchair which would enable her conduct her business and move with ese, as well as all the support by the organisation. She shared some of her struggles as a person living with disability in Nigeria, with the Bruder Hilfe team. She affirmed that it was not easy to get employment opportunities and establish a trade as a person living with disability, and that she had usually relied on her siblings to aid her with movement, as she lacked mobility aids and assistive devices. She reiterated that her present need was financial support to enable her establish her business. She also promised to be an inspiration to other people living with disabilities in Nigeria, and also support and uplift others with disability after she has been empowered to expand her capacity.
Jummai loves listening to music, meeting new people and helping people thrive, especially other people like her living with a disability. She speaks Hausa ,Yoruba and English language fluently and shows a lot of promise as a go-getter, who would break grounds and make a lot of impact if empowered and equipped with the right resources.