July 5, 2008

#21: Passionate Worker

I have dreams. Everyone does. Mine is about traveling the globe; seeking adventure, uncovering mysteries, aiding the needy, and making a difference. It is a guarantee that I will leave my footprint in undiscovered countries until the day it leaves no more on earth. My path is often planned yet unknown, I make it a goal to travel and work but where I’d go is always a surprise. I find it more challenging and educational in the four corners of the world, rather than a four-walled classroom. It is my life’s work to provide the resources I’d been fortunate enough to gain from my education and employment. Some people let that rich knowledge and networking go to waste, I don’t. I find it a pleasure to be able to connect people to jump-start a dream; to build a library rich in materials that document dreams. Perhaps one day I could start a non-profit organization that does fundraising and resource sharing for Deaf and Deaf-Blind services, schools, organizations and groups around the globe? One thing is for sure – I dream of buying a house in Seattle by the water, calling it my own, traveling a few months per year when it’s cold. Marriage and children is still a BIG question mark. I long to love my work, and share that love with someone who would be my lifelong partner. One day, perhaps. But right now, doing volunteer work for VSO is one of many dreams I am living out right now.

People have asked me why I don’t write about my work, what I do at the school and for my organization. I try to find my muse, or excuse to write about my employment, but I can never find any. VSO placed me with an impoverished school that educate handicapped children, 250 of them Deaf students. It was in all of our intentions that I would survey the school on-site, write up a report on damages and areas of repair, and seek out funding from international charity outlets to renovate the school. I had experience doing damage assessment and proposal work for Gallaudet during my years serving as a chairwoman for a commission on disabilities. I also had intentions of providing workshops to teachers of the school to be more prepared to teach Deaf Blind students, whereas today there is no such group of students.

Unfortunate circumstances in the past 2 ½ months have prevented me from being successful in these goals, for many reasons. And I feel that by writing these reasons for thousands of people to write, makes me feel uncomfortable. I want you to understand that the situations that have occurred in the past months have not been pleasant, it has prevented me from doing my work. I feel that I cannot place blame on anyone in public, out of respect for their reputation and privacy.

VSO has been an incredible source of support throughout all of this wahala. They have constantly communicated with me via cellphone texts and emails. VSO volunteers have banded together and came to cheer me up in the beginning of June, in midst of all the wahala. Even more so, VSO has made sure that my needs were accommodated for: they covered the costs of internet and the purchase of a generator. They are currently in the process of seeking out a new placement for me, more closer to the capital city, other volunteers, large Deaf communities and more opportunities to make an impact on a national scale. Currently, I’m only able to make an impact on a local scale. VSO feels that my energy, resources, experience and networking could benefit even more Deaf Nigerians nationally rather than spending 2 years focusing on one school.

Once I move South, I’ll be working with several organizations: one will be my employer; several others will be my pet projects on my spare time.

To this day, I have only met one Deaf-Blind person. Hassan and I don’t really communicate well. However, I am working hard to find a school in the States or Canada that would take him in for a six-week training period with an Nigerian intervenor. It’s proven to be a costly venture, costing around $20,000 USD for both. It has not been an easy search, going through three centers and one charity organization and not receiving much good news. I am still determined to have Hassan fly over to receive training that will empower him to be more independent like I am. He deserves to feel more free.

I hope that in the next year, I will meet more Deaf-Blind people, but it will not be easy. They are scattered, well-hidden in homes by parents who think they cannot survive out there in the big, bad world. So, it won’t be a speedy success, it will take me some time to reach the Deaf-Blind population of Nigeria.

So, right now, it is a goal to travel the States to raise awareness about several Deaf organizations in Nigeria and raising funds to sponsor them. I have had bags and clothes made by girls at my school and the women at the Birnin Kebbi Women and Children’s Shelter. The profits will be divided up among Deaf organizations to prosper, and the children at the school to receive toys, and the women of the shelter to afford diapers and bottles for their children. The women have HIV, or have been abandoned by their husbands.

It brings tears in my eyes every time I make a child laugh, or a woman grateful for my empowerment. It brings pride in me when I tell Deaf people of my own Deafhood, and making them realize that they have their own Deafhood, too. It’s so hard to imagine myself cooped up in an office space, doing dull work while I could be out there, rolling up my sleeves and putting that education to good use.

So, you have a glimpse of my work here in Nigeria. I hope soon upon my return in Nigeria this September, I will finally have found a muse and an excuse to write details of an successful placement.

I wonder if you are happy where you work, or do you feel stuck? If you feel stuck and bored, you’re largely to blame. You’re in control of your destiny. You are able to choose a job that you love most, that brings you passion. People should love their work, rather than work themselves to death. Every one of you has a gift, use it to empower others.

Tactile love,

Coco

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