PHOTO: Peter Flomo
By Oretha Bundoo Seh
A 29-year-old Liberian, Peter Flomo, owner and CEO of Luraina and Peter Provision and Production Center located in the LPRC Community in the Gardnersville of Monrovia is a visually impaired entrepreneur, who has struggled to overcome his disability through hard work and determination.
Though success was not easy to come by, especially given a post-conflict country grappling with the effects of a protracted civil war coupled with his blindness, Peter’s story is a true testimony of fighting the odds, amid people with disabilities being on the margins of society.
Contrary to the widely held perception that street begging for persons living with disabilities in Liberia is the only option for earning a daily livelihood, Peter Flomo has shown that it is possible to start as a street beggar and move on to a better life if only you can muster the courage and maximize every available opportunity.
As a blind boy brought from Voilabla Town located in District #5, Bong County by his parents, Peter was relocated the United Blind Training Academy in the year 2000, during the war days in Liberia.
Because of the war situation in Liberia at the time and the apparent lack of support for the institution, most visually impaired students attending the institution had to use street begging as a mean of raising funds to sustain themselves at the institution. “When my parents brought me from the village to stay at the school for the blind, there was no food, we were told by our teacher to go find food for ourselves as such there was no option order than begging for survival and to sustain us in school.”
Giving this situation at the institution and in the country as a whole, Peter Flomo lived as a blind street beggar for nearly 13 years (2000 to 2014) to maintain himself at the school where he was taken by his parents. Good thing was that during all this time he was acquiring knowledge, including Braille reading.
But because Peter had his eyes set on a better future, he employed a little secret. There’s a popular adage in Liberia which says, “you can’t eat your cake and have it”. Because Peter didn’t eat all of his daily earnings from his street begging operations, he always saved a little portion. This little secret of Peter’s, slow and insignificant as it was, marked the little beginnings of a local enterprise which is serving as a means of livelihood for at least four Liberians today, three females and a male.
“While begging, I was not putting all the money in the pot because I was also considering my children’s future. He continue, “so I thought if I invest portion of the handouts received from people while begging that could go a long way in helping me achieve my dream.” From his daily deposits Peter was able to save up to five thousand Liberian dollars (LD$5,000), which he used as beginning capital for starting a mini-business in 2014.
Indeed, this young small businessman is among the few persons living with disabilities in Liberia today who are contributing immensely to their community, people and society at large, in spite of his condition.
A resident of the LPRC Community along the Garnerville Somalia Drive route, Peter Flomo is a clear example of a focused and determined young man who did not confine himself to street begging, but rather used that as a means to prepare himself for a better future which he is reaping from today.
Peter was not born blind but lost his sight at the age of six. His condition, according to medical doctor, was due to weak nerve system that could be repaired if only his parents had the money for early treatment. Unfortunately his poor parents could not save his sight because they couldn’t afford to underwrite the financial cost.
However, charged with the determination of getting more from this life through personal empowerment, Peter Flomo was blessed to secure a scholarship to continue his education in the United States at the New Life Christian Academy in Virginia. He later completed his studies and due to his love for country returned to Liberia. Upon his return, Peter recommenced his business, but more than that he began rendering services and expertise to people living with disability like himself.
Employing fellow Liberians
In less than three years after his return to Liberia, Peter Flomo, now Rev Flomo, has managed to significantly revive his business enterprise, employing fellow Liberians including PwDs at his business where he has now added soap making.
“Where I am today is as a result of education and determination and now I do not have to sit under rain begging all day for daily bread nor wait for government to employ me, instead I have the means of creating my own jobs,” Peter told this Reporter in an exclusive interview.
Rev. Flomo, who is also happily married, is now able to sponsor all his three kids to attend private, while extending financial support to other siblings, relatives and less privileged children who are currently staying with him.
Government should create enabling environment
He stressed the need for people, especially parents, to educate their kids who are suffering various forms of physical challenges and or disabilities. He’s also calling on government to create the enabling environment for PwDs to be educated, citing the numerous benefits that come along when persons with disability are educated.
Globally, there are between ninety-three to one hundred-fifty million children with disabilities under the age of fourteen, according to the 2011 world report on disability.
In Africa, an estimated 6.4 percent of children in this age range have moderate or severe disabilities; and less than ten percent of all children with disabilities under the age of 14 are attending school.
Today, an estimated 65 million primary and secondary school age children have disabilities – close to half of them are out of school. Exclusion of children with disabilities from education has an adverse economic impact at the family, community, and country levels.
The schooling deficit experienced by children with disabilities can become the most challenging impediment to earning an income and long-run financial health as adults. Recent studies show a positive-wage return on education for children with disabilities, while the costs of exclusions of persons with disabilities from the labor market range from three percent to seven percent of a country’s GDP.
In 2017, the World Bank and USAID established the disability-inclusion education in Africa program, a three million trust fund to increased access for children to primary school and to design and implement inclusion education programs across Africa.
The disability-inclusion education in Africa program aims to benefit students with disabilities in Africa by financing World Bank executed activities that leverage USAID program, World Bank projects, and analytical work.
Section 5 of the act establishing the National Commission on Disability (NCD) states in part, “for every hundred non-disabled employees, four percent must be qualified PwDs who are gainfully employed or funds be provided for their employment. However, this legislation is not being fully enforced. As of the date of reporting, twenty-four PwDs, six females and eighteen males, are gainfully employed in twenty-two government ministries and agencies assessed by the NCD.”
But, Flomo sees this the other way round. According to him, it would be difficult to achieve the four percent work and employment rights in the absence of education. He noted that PWDs can only be employed when they are qualified to take on jobs which can only be done through education.
As such, Peter Flomo suggests, more opportunities should be created to mode the minds of PwDs.This Report was made possible with support from Internews Liberia Inclusive Media Project.