Sixteen-year-old Yahaya Ibrahim was born with a deformity which has rendered him incapable of using his limbs; hence his inability to walk and use his hands and being carried everywhere he needs to go.
Yahaya’s day starts with a journey to the city of Kano to beg. His neighbour, Ibrahim, who is equally in his teens, in a Gezawa Local Government community, several kilometres away from the city of Kano, carries Yahaya on his back as they roam the streets of Kano begging.
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Yahaya stays with his maternal grandmother as his father died some years ago and his mother remarried in another village. It was discovered that the proceeds from Yahaya’s begging had been the main source of income sustaining the grandmother.
However, unknown to Yahaya, his life was going to change on a day he went begging along BUK Road: a shot from the camera of a photographer changed his life for the better.
Muhammed Sani Sabo popularly known as Bappancey is a Kano-based photographer and it was his camera that discovered Yahaya. According to Bappancey, he was passing by when he saw a young boy carrying a young physically challenged boy and they were begging on the streets and their sight was indeed a “sorry sight, and being a professional photographer, I took a shot of the kids and posted on my social media handles.
“I was touched by their sight and felt there was a need to do something about the innocent children’s lives. However, I couldn’t tell what exactly needed to be done or how it could be done, but I was optimistic that something had to be done. Therefore, I posted the picture on all my social media handles. I started getting calls from people, mostly my clients, asking me about these innocent children that I knew nothing about. Many were asking how they could assist them. That was how we launched a search for the kids and got to discover their names and location.”
Bappancey further revealed that through the picture, a wheel chair was donated to Yahaya by someone, and that a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) ventured to take the innocent kids off the streets by enrolling them into school, and several other people made donations of money to assist the kids.
He explained that, “Already they have been enrolled into an Islamiyya school in their community with provision to enroll them into the village primary school when school resumes. It will interest you to know that although Yahaya can’t use his hands or legs, he has since begun practicing how to write using his mouth.”
It was also revealed that under the supervision of one of the leaders in Yahaya’s community a fund has been set aside for the take-off of a small business for Yahaya’s grandmother that will enable her take care of their daily needs as Yahaya has been taken-off the streets.
Yahaya could not hide his happiness and could not stop smiling when he received the wheelchair. He has also shown his “hidden” interest in school. He was full of gratitude knowing that he would no longer leave Gezawa to Kano every day to beg.
Yahaya said, “I have no words to thank all those that have made it possible for me to be in school. I was not disturbed at all by stopping people to beg. I thank you all and may God reward all of you as you make my life better.”
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