Forever Steps

8/6/2019 Forever Steps

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THE FOREVER STEPS

2011

FOREVER

STEPSCHILDREN LITERATURE

BOOK

AMINAH DOLLY YAHAYA


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CHAPTER ONE

The field

Ado looked at his friends in

the football field with greatadmiration and sadness as he

cheered his friend Habib with

each movement made to

collect the ball from the

opponents. He said a silent

prayer to God saying God if

only you can make me take a

few steps again I will dedicate

my life to you.

Ado is a cripple although he

was not born as one, but

became one because of the


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negative stand and ignorance

of his parents to seek

healthful behavior when he

was young and less than five

years old. He moves about

crawling with his hands andlegs or the wheel chair that

was given to him as charity

from the wife of a rich man in

their Gidan mallamcommunity, Hajia Asmau

Mohammed.

Kai! Shouted Salisu one of

the children spectators, catchthe ball and throw it in.

Ado was brought back from

his reverie of thoughts but the


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ball passed by him so quickly

before he regained his

composure. Oh! I have

missed it he shouted back. I

would have played it back.

You were not even

concentrating on the game,

how could a ball that came

straight to your direction slip

by you so easily without younoticing it was coming? What

were you thinking about? His

friend asked with anger.

You wont understand even ifI try to explain it to you. Ado

told his friend with all

seriousness, People with my


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condition at times like this

wish for so many things that

can never be made possible

.If only I could walk, run and

jump like you, I will be inside

the field playing the gameand will make history like

Kanu Nwankwo, Osazie

Odemwengie and the likes.

But its not the end of theworld for you! Enjoying a

good game like this is also as

good as playing the game.

You are a passive footballeralready why worry about not

playing actively. His friend

said.


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Its not the same my friend,

you see it is only people

without ambition that are

contended with little. I have a

dream!

Continue to dream, may be

one day your dream will come

true. Good luck my friend.

The game ended with 2-0 in

favor of Ados team and he

went home reluctantly with

mixed feelings.


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CHAPTER

TWO

The birth of Ado

Mama, Mama! Ado ya dawo,

(Mummy Mummy Ado is back)

his sister shouted with

excitement. Sanu da zuwa

yaya. (Welcome brother).


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Ado! Where have you

been? You stayed so long

and I was beginning to worry

about you. His mother

queried.

You dont have to mama.

The time you needed to

worry about me you did not

so why now?

How can you talk to me like

that? I have loved and taken

care of you all through your

life, is this your appreciation

of a mothers love and care?

Oh! Mother, spare me that

emotion. How many of my

friends walk on four legs,


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crawl, use the wheel chair or

crutches?

What really happened to

me? Was I born like this?

No! You often tell me I

suffered from a disease called

polio mellitus as a child. I also

know there is vaccination

against the disease, why did

you not get me vaccinatedthen mama?

He whined away murmuring

into his room with tears.

Mallama Hadiza, Ados

mother could not bear the

pain she saw in her sons

eyes and was moved to tears


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too. She reflected the day Ado

was born; she gave birth to

him at a local health facility in

the village by nurse Hajara in

the morning just before the

early morning prayers .Hewas so beautiful and

everybody that came to the

clinic felt he looked like his

father.Ado is the only son among

four children to Mallama

Hadiza and Mallam Yaro. The

adoration for Ado knew nobound and as such the

naming ceremony for Ado was

well celebrated with relatives

attending from far and near.


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Mallama Hadiza got so much

gifts that she wished all

naming ceremonies will be

like this one.

Ado was named after his

paternal grandfather .His

maternal grandfather; Alhaji

Iro gave a female sheep to his

grandson for keep as a sign of

his joy for the birth of his firstgrandson. This was

interpreted as a good sign for

the growth and success of

Ado.He was taken for

immunization on the 2nd day

for BCG, Hepatitis B and oral


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polio vaccine by his mothers

junior sister since Mallama

cannot go out until the 40th

day of delivery after wankan

jego.

Mallama Hadiza remembered

the site of the injection

getting hard and swollen by

day and finally forming pus

and her sister said she shouldclean the site and dispose it

in the toilet because the pus

could be infectious. She was

told to bring back the babyafter 6weeks for other

vaccinations.


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CHAPTER THREE

The sorrow of a mother

Mallama rushed to the kitchen

to check her food that was

burning, WayoAllah! She

exclaimed. This is Ados fault.

How could he blame me for

everything? He is forgetting I

am just a partner and his

father always has the final

say on most issues in thishouse.

Binta walked silently behind

her observing with keen


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concern and finally said;

Mama, you look unhappy

after all the anxiety that Ado

was not home early, I

expected to see you happy

that he came back in onepiece but instead you are

getting our dinner burnt and

cursing!

Binta, I am regretting things Idid not do for Ado when he

was a baby, like vaccination

against polio disease .He

would not have been crippledtoday and he would have

been able to take his steps

like other children but now he

will never take those steps


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again forever except with an

aid or he will just have to

continue to crawl. I was such

a fool. Could you believe I

always hide Ado under the

bed whenever immunizationpersonnel visit us for house to

house immunization? My God!

How I had lied to them that I

have no child in the house. Iwas always relieved when

they believe my lies; write

something on wall and leave.

And now Ado is so sad and itbreaks my heart to see him

feeling sad.


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Why did you not vaccinate

him mama? Was I

vaccinated too? Yes my

daughter you received all the

vaccinations against the six

childhood killer diseases. Welearnt a bitter lesson after

Ado became crippled

suddenly at the ripe age of

two years.Your father forbade me from

presenting Ado for polio

vaccination and any other

vaccination as a childbecause he said he wanted

his lineage to continue and

that the vaccine contained

contamination that will


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prevent children from giving

birth when they are of age.

If that is the case Mama,

does it mean you dont want

me to have children when I

grow up? Asked Binta,

Mallama smiled and replied,

my beautiful daughter its

just a rumor and a wrong

belief, the vaccine is safe andfree from any contaminant. In

fact we were told that the

more doses children received

the better their immunitystatus. My lovely girl am

happy because we took the

right decision and you were

fully immunized against polio


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disease in the health clinic

and during the house to

house campaign, and I also

made sure I took you to the

health clinic monthly in the

first four months of your lifefor vaccination against

tuberculosis, diptheria,

whooping cough, and

hepatitis B diseases and at 9months for measles

vaccination against measles

disease.

Waoo! Am so lucky!!Shouted Binta with smiles,

and laughter.


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But mama you would have

been able to resist our father

and allow Ado to be

vaccinated, Binta told

Mallama Hadiza with deep

thought.

CHAPTER FOUR


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After the storm

Mallam Yaro has not seen Ado

for some days now because

he is avoiding everyone in the

house. The house was no

more lively as it used to be

and this was not too good for

mallam Yaro because he

could do anything now to

make Ado happy having failedhim as a baby. He was

thinking aloud.

Mallama! Where are you?

Come here right now please.

Here I am mallam, Hope no

problem my husband? You

look worried,


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Mallama, I am worried about

Ado. He no longer joins me for

prayers or sits to talk with

me. Did you beat or scold him

recently?

No, Mallama Hadiza

answered, I did not. He

went to watch football match

between our community

youths and the neighboringvillage and since then he has

been going on with tantrums

on his condition as a cripple.

He blames me for hiscondition bitterly, but I told

him we shared the blame

because I remember you


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maintaining a rigid stand not

to immunize your son again.

Do you remember how angry

you were when I told you I

took him to the clinic for

immunization? My God! If

not because of my relatives

that intervened I am sure you

would have slapped me.

Woman, you remember only

evil. Cant you think of better

things to say to him at such a

tense situation? You just

made the issue worst bythose stories of yours.

Mallam Yaro looked up and

down, kept quiet for a long


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time .She was looking at him

waiting for him to talk to her

on the next line of action.

Ado is 12 years old and he isnot even in school, He sits in

a corner, near a popular localeatery in the community tobeg for alms. Ado misses theprivilege of not going toschool too. She overheard

him telling Binta one day thatif he saved enough money hewould go to school no matterhow old he is and will be ableto deal with his disability

better too. Binta had laughedat him that day and it excitedher to know Ado wanted toimprove himself educationallyand now a new interest in


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CHAPTER FIVE

Too late

How so soon things change!

Ado of yesterday that

accepted everything we told

him without question today is

seeking answers to questions

bordering his mind on our

action so many years ago!

Whatever we did then was

borne out of impropereducation and exposure. I

know better now, but that

cannot undo the injustice on

Ado. My stupid fatherly


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protection has cost me so

much pain too.

God has also punished me by

not giving me another male

child. I married a second wife

thinking she will give me a

male child but behold; she

has given me three female

children so far.

Ado is almost useless to me.

He cannot go to the farm with

me, or can he attend to the

cows and goats, I need a

strong man in the house whenI am old desperately too. I

think Ado is not in this pain


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alone. But how do I tell him so

without sounding selfish?

Oh God! Please make me

strong in his presence and put

the right words in my mouth

when addressing this so

inquisitive son of mine.

I cannot turn back the years,

nor do I have the power to

make him walk again.

I remember how much

money, time and energy I

spent in seeking for solution

to Ados problem when it all

started with a mild fever .We

took him to the patent

medicine store near the


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house run by Emeka, who

gave us so many medicines

which we used but to our

amazement two days later

Ado could not stand again,

and could not lift his two legsat all. I thought it was a

dream which I will wake from

very soon and never woke up

from that dream because itwas real!

We took him to the Native

doctor who said Ado was

struck by ISKA(evil spirit)and that he will walk .I sold

two of my cows to get money

for the treatment and his

condition remained the same.


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I wouldnt have known it was

polio disease if not because

we took him to the Teaching

hospital in Shika where the

doctors requested for a

laboratory test which wastested in Ibadan. A health

worker came to our house

and took two samples of

Ados stool in a bottle withininterval of 24 hours in a box

(giostyle) with ice packs.

When the result came finally,

we were told Ado had polio

disease since he tested

positive to the test that was

when my wall began to

collapse. Later we also learnt


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that my wifes sister that

visited us about the time Ado

was sick with her 3years old

daughter also came down

with the disease three months

after Ados case. Her casewas confirmed through stool

sample the health workers

also collected when she took

him to the hospitalimmediately the paralysis set

in. Ado was suspected to have

infected the girl.

I discouraged so manyfamilies from allowing their

children receive immunization

when I was ignorant.


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But now that reality set in, I

swore to prevent other

children from becoming like

Ado and I have preached in

Mosques for full acceptance

of the vaccines after Adobecame crippled.

Even though, Mallam Shehu

the Chief Imam of our mosque

called me a fool and ahypocrite then. He was very

sorry for my sons condition

and secretly felt it served me

right.Mallam Shehu was one of the

early people to embrace the

polio vaccination in our


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community and we thought

he was bribed by the

implementers, so when I

made my turn to accept the

vaccines he felt I had led so

many people astray and nowhe hoped more children will

not become crippled in the

community.

I know I was stubborn, butsurely I can still do something

for Ado to improve him. Cant

I? But what can I do for him?


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CHAPTER SIX

Reconciliation

Mama said you are calling

me? Ado asked his father.

Yes my son . Your Mother

told me how you are feelingand I felt I should talk to you.

You are among the living my

son, and this is a blessing to

us all. Some children born

same time with you have died

.We love you and thats

something precious you


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should hold on to. With life

everything is possible.

Dont hate us. Whatever we

did or did not do was done for

love. Thank God we were

wrong in our decision today,

but look at it from another

angle, suppose we were

right? The story would have

changed wouldnt it? Hisfather said with a smile that

faded immediately.

Life is short and so beautiful

to be spent hating each otheror regretting what we should

have done. I have learnt my

lesson in a bitter way.


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My son, it breaks my heart to

see you among your peers

crawling. But that has never

changed my love for you. You

are Ado my son and that will

remain so forever.

Ado looked at his father for

the first time and answered:

Ado is Ado the cripple who

will never take the stepsforever!

Ados father felt moved by

those words of his son, he got

up from his seating positionand moved towards his son,

pulled him close and hugged

him. Tears of relief running


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down their cheeks as they

silently understood each

others feelings without

uttering a word for some

time. The bond between son

and father became evenstronger than before.

Ado gently removed himself

from is fathers embrace and

said; Baba why did you notput me in school?

How would you have been

able to cope with crawling the

distance to school every daylike this? I felt the suffering

will be too much for you, that

is why I did not enroll you in


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Quran .Dont you think thats

enough?

I dont think its too late for

me to go back to school either

since I have this wheel chair,

it will ease my movement to

school and you dont have to

worry so much about me.

Ado, we will do something

about that. Your mother and I

will have to discuss it and I

will let you know our decision

about it.

But father, I am here now in

flesh and blood, and its my

future we are talking about, I

strongly feel the decision can


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be made right here and you

can inform my mother about

it. Like you said earlier life is

short and so beautiful to

spend postponing actions!

Hey! Ado, you have just

changed what I said to suit

your purpose!

Yes Baba, like father like

son.

Mallam rubbed his hand

through Ado head saying you

win boy. School it is son!

Yes school it is Father.


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CHAPTER SEVEN

School enrollment

Ados father dressed in his

best clothes the next morning

and brought out his perfume,

which he seldom uses,


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sprayed it on his white caftan

and told his wife he wanted to

reach the school earlier than

the school headmaster so

that they will know he was

serious about his sonseducation. First impression

counts always, he told his

wife.

Mallam Yaro took the tiny footpath that leads to the primary

school in the village humming

a song as he walked.

Inna kwana Mallam, (goodmorning) greeted some

children as they recognize

him.


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Sannu ku yara,Kuntashi

lafiya?(Hello children, how

was your night?) Mallam Yaro

replied and continues with his

song.

Mallam Yaro got to the school

finally and asked to see the

school headmaster. He was

asked to wait as the

headmaster and otherteachers were conducting the

morning assembly for the

pupils.

One day my child will be apupil here too. I know Ado will

make me proud. He is a very

intelligent boy. But I dont


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want him to end up as a

teacher at all. I would prefer

him to be a Doctor, lawyer, or

an engineer!

A wheel chair doctor? He

asked himself. Well, life is full

of surprises. Maybe he will get

tired of going to school

someday and decide to

continue begging on thestreet, who knows? Mallam

was thinking.

The headmaster walked into

his office behind Mallam Yarosaying; good morning sir!

Can I help you? He queried.


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Ah, Good morning teacher, I

did not hear you approach.

How are you?

Mallam Yaro was offered a

chair to sit. He told the

headmaster about Ados

condition and his interest in

school.

The headmaster was

overwhelmed and encouraged

Mallam Yaro to bring Ado the

next day for registration and

enrollment.

The headmaster told mallam

Yaro that there was always an

ability in every disability and

allowing Ado realize his


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dream is the most perfect gift

and legacy he could ever give

to his son.

What time do we come

tomorrow? Mallam Yaro

asked.

Bring him by eight o clock in

the morning, Replied the

headmaster.

They shook hands and said

good bye.


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CHAPTER EIGHT

THE EXCITEMENT

Mallam Yaro got home feeling

excited like a little child who

had just found some sweets in

his pocket! Ado was sitting

outside his fathers hutwaiting for him patiently.


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Ado! Ado! You will be starting

school tomorrow his father

shouted.

Truly? God you are great!

I know God has always

watched over me and now is

the appointed time for me to

go to school. Thank you my

father, now I believe you

really love me. Thanks againFather.

Ados father could not believe

the happiness he saw in his

son .He was happy that hehad finally done something

right for his son. He made a

vow to sell all his cows if the


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need arises to see Ado

through in school.

Ado crawled to his mothers

room with excitement; he

wanted to be the first to tell

his mother the good news

about his going to school.

His mother wept when Ado

hugged her with laughter and

so much joy, at last mother I

will be going to school like

every other child!

May God continue to bless

you my son, you will come out

with the best result and I

know God will always protect

and guide you right.


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At night Ado could not sleep,

he rolled from one side of his

mat to the other wishing for

the day to break.

When the early Morning

Prayer was called Ado got up,

performed ablution, prayed,

took his bath and got dressed

in the last Sallah clothes his

father made for him.

He went straight to knock on

his fathers door. Baba, I am

ready.

His father looked at the time

and discovered it was just six

thirty in the morning.


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Ado it is still too early, go

back to your room, when I am

ready I will let you know and

we will leave at seven thirty.

They got to the school a little

before eight in the morning.

Ado was interviewed by one

of the school teachers, he was

able to count numbers one to

twenty and read the

alphabets A to Z. He was

taken to primary two

immediately because of his

age.

His father proudly paid all the

fees including the cost of

books, and bade his son


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goodbye. See you at home

son, and be a good boy. He

told his son.

Baba I promise to be a good

boy always. Dont worry

about me, I will be fine. He

reassured his father.


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CHAPTER NINE

Ados milestone

Whats your name? Ados

new class teacher asked him.

Ado Yaro sir! He answered.

He looked around from

teacher to pupils, with a little

bit of shyness.

I cannot stand like other

pupils to answer you sir,

because of my situation. I am

sorry.

You dont have to be, his

teacher told him. Feel

comfortable any time. Any


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person can be in that chair.

You are just a victim.

Thank you sir!

At break time, Ado was the

center of attraction to all theother pupils. Children were

asking questions at the same

time and he could not answer

any.

Eventually he pulled away to

a lonely place and was

wondering how people are so

resistant to change. Children

were calling himAdo the

beggar! They wanted to know

if he doesnt want to beg for

alms again. Why was he now


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in school? How does he hope

to cope in the class? And so

many other questions.

The teachers were not left out

too. Although nobody called

him but he could feel the pity

in their eyes.

The story did not change for

sometime .Every day he went

to school was a new

challenge. The teachers,

pupils and people from the

village never expected Ado to

continue with his education.But Ado was never deterred

from achieving what he


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about his going to school. He

overheard one day, when

Zainabu, his mothers friend

was discussing with his

mother; Hadiza! Why have

you decided to enroll Ado inschool? This is waste of time

and money .All cripple

children I have seen are

street beggars and they makemuch money from it. She

said.

But my mothers reply really

impressed me as she told herfriend without mincing words

that her son was not every

cripple and they have made

a choice that has given them


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much joy and consolation for

the opportunity lost through

the use of his legs.

Eventually, as people got use

to the idea of him going to

school after two years, the

criticism and pity stopped and

turned into admiration.

Ados first result was very

poor, but his mother and

father not knowing what was

written in the report sheet

were overwhelmed that their

son brought a result home.

Ado made a silent vow to

himself then to excel in all the

subjects through the drive for


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hard work, dedication, desire,

and determination at all

times.

Five years later, at the age of

seventeen, Ado completed his

primary education and was

the best student overall in all

the subjects in his school. His

headmaster was very proud

of him.

Ados Mother and Father were

so happy too because the

local government chairman

had given Ado a scholarshipto the Federal Government

secondary school in Kaduna.


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Ado wanted to be a doctor, he

learnt there were braises

which he could wear and

crutches to make his

movement better without the

wheel chair if he could affordit.

He also wanted to work with

any voluntary organization

that will take crippled childrenand street beggars from the

street. Then silently he said to

himself I know I can make it

if I continue with the zeal anddetermination I have now. He

felt he was one of the very

few children with rare

opportunity to go to school in


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his condition having come

from a relatively poor home

and born by illiterate parents.

CHAPTER TEN

A new dawn


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Three years have passed

since he first nursed the idea

of helping to prevent more

children from been crippled

from polio disease and taking

them off the street.

The thought of how to help

other children with polio

disease have continued to

occupy his mind. He is in thesecondary school now and

each time he sees a crippled

child, Ado feels a sense of

brotherhood, knowing whatthey are going through. He

never knew there were so

many children like him when

he was in the village.


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He strongly felt obliged to

safeguard the future of our

great country, Nigeria. The

disease is lethal and deadly, it

creeps in silently like a thief,

you dont even know it visiteduntil when the damage it

leaves behind manifest in

form of paralysis .He felt the

disease is probably the singlelargest cause of many

crippled cases we see every

day.

Polio disease is indeed asocial menace and must be

tackled with all weapon of

communication at our

disposal; a social change in


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behavior is required of our

parents irrespective of

religion, tribe, position and

level of education.

Back home in Gidan Mallam

village, the villagers often

gave many frivolous reasons

for not wanting to immunize

their children such as; a need

for Government to buildschool for them, to grade

their roads, fertilizers for their

farm, religious believe,

political differences and feltneed for electricity. Some will

not even offer any reason at

all while some of them ask for

money before they can


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participate in community

activities to create awareness

on the disease to prevent

their own children from the

disease! My own fathers

reason was that he doubtedthe safety of the vaccine.

What an age of ignorance!

Ado wondered the

relationship between whatthey are asking with

immunization which is the

health of their children.

Sometimes Ado feels it is notreally ignorance but

selfishness on the part of the

parents since the disease will


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not affect them and the

vulnerable children are so

young and innocent. They

dont even realize they are

been cheated and exposed to

deformity and death by thesame people that claim to

love them the most! What an

irony!

He remembered hisconversation with a UNICEF

Social Mobilization

Consultant, who wants him to

work with them in talking toparents who have refused to

get their children immunized

after she listened to his life

story.


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The consultant was moved by

the story and said she has

seen many polio victims and

listened to many stories but

none has impressed her as

his, because he did not allowthe disability to weigh him

down but instead forged

ahead and made the best use

of his situation.The story told from the

horses mouth makes more

impact than when told by an

intermediary and as such Iwill be a good polio

ambassador for community

mobilization activities on polio

eradication.


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She told me that in the entire

universe only four countries

are remaining with endemic

polio disease and they are

referred to as the PAIN

countries. She said thecountries were Pakistan,

Afghanistan, India and

Nigeria.

I told her that, Polio diseaserecreates us the victims, and

dehumanizes us by changing

our physical appearance and

status which reduces us tomere animals that walk on

four limbs like goats and

dogs, crawl on our belly like

tortoise and snakes. I said we


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~ 68 ~

must not continue to allow

polio disease to recreate our

children!

She also said that UNICEF,

World Health Organization

and the Federal

Government of Nigeria are

working hard to make sure

that the bouncing babies

delivered everyday remainthe pride of their parents and

not the child they will want to

hideaway from friends, turn

into street beggars or rejectas useless members of the

society. She however

lamented that this singular

achievement is made difficult


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~ 69 ~

by the constant refusal of our

parents from allowing the

children get vaccinated.

She added that every child

counts and are important as

it is the right of every

child to be vaccinated

against childhood killer

diseases which includes polio

disease.

I think I can start realizing

my dream of preventing other

children from suffering like

me. With this goldenopportunity I could realize my

dream, he thought.


70/71

~ 70 ~

Ado looked into the future

with hope and recited the

poem he composed as he

smiled into the future and

said I may not be able to take

the steps forever with my legsbut I can with my brain and

actions.

I look into the sky,

And feel jealous of the birds,

Sometimes I wished I was a bird,

With beautiful wings to fly,

Then these legs will not be necessary,

Now that I cant walk with them,

I will continue to pretend I am a bird,

Floating in the air,


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~ 71 ~

Whenever I ride in my wheels,

And savor the joy that I can feel alone,

Alone will I continue to enjoy my wheels.

Saying a silent thank you to Hajia for the

wheels!

Documents

Forever Steps