PHOTO: Courageous “minute boy” Joseph Saye
By Emmanuel T.J. Kollie, emmanueltjk@gmail.com
SANNIQUELLIE, Liberia- Born on December 4, 1991, Joseph Saye’s story is quite unique but full of emotions.
As a real time hustler, Joseph’s current condition has forced him to sell mobile credits, giving the nickname, “minute boy” on the street of Ganta in Liberia’s northeastern Nimba County.
This mystery of a visually impaired man pressing telephone bottoms to transact mobile credits and data transfers without mistakes is something astonishing to many of his customers, who transact business with him daily.
Though many have argued this mystery, after this Reporter’s interview with him, Joseph demanded my number to transfer a few call minutes. To my amazement, the minutes were sent to my phone in no time.
Despite his visual impairment, Joseph is very passionate about what he does to make an honest living.
Quest for education
As a 6th grade dropped-out, the young and agile PwD desires for education remains unquenchable, only if he can get some financial aid.
According to him, he envisions to complete high school and one day enroll at a University in pursue of a degree in Education.
Besides the mobile credit and data transactions, Joseph is also an influential gospel artist in Saniquellie, Nimba County.
Already, Joseph has produced several songs, launching three of them recently in Ganta, a hugely important commercial City in Nimba County.
Saye said his burning passion for producing music is evergreen and will do everything to reach to the zenith.
“My brother everything I do comes from the profit I get from my GSM transaction,” Joseph added during the interview.
Some try to dupe him
As a result of his condition, Joesph says many of his customers cheat him daily, pretending that they have not received the call/data credit during transactions.
“It is so sad that many days people put their phones on silent only to tell me that they did not receive the transactions,” he states.
As head of a household of three dependents, Joseph’s daily profit is just insufficient, but says he prefers selling minutes and data, rather than begging on street corners due to his disability.
He says his conditions or any other form of disabilities should never deny or serve as a stumbling block to anyone reaching their destiny and goal in life.
Advice to fellow PwDs to be courageous
Using his courageous life story, Joesph cautions his fellow PWDs to back off from begging for handouts in the streets and do something impactful.
“If I am a blind man who doing minute and data business, what more about my colleagues. I think they can find to do something meaningful to take care of themselves and their families,” says Joseph Saye.
He is urging his friends not to allow their condition define them in becoming a liability to society, adding, “disability doesn’t mean inability, it is time for us to stand and correct the wrongs.”
This 30-year-old was not born blind. It is a condition he picked up in 2013, after a stick entered one of his eyes while fetching palm nuts in his home Town in Nimba.
Joseph explains that that since he became blind in 2013, members of his family have abandoned him with no care or any form of support from anyone of them.
“My family no longer cares for me, they don’t even know where I sleep and how life is with me, but again I am happily living despite their abandonment,” Joseph laments but with the courage to make life better for himself.
It’s quite rare to see a visually impair man plotting numbers without making mistakes.
The sale of GSM credit and data, also known as ‘Orange and Lonestar minutes”, is now a common practice in Liberia, with thousands of mainly able bodied youths engaging in such business to sustain themselves.
Many of them, who spoke to this Reporter on the sideline of the interview with Joseph, noted that the Minute transaction is creating huge livelihood opportunity for them.
One person who asked for anonymity said his entire household depends on the profit he accrues from his business.
The streets are extremely noisy nowadays with prerecorded messages inviting potential customers almost street corner one turns, with one of them being this visually impaired young man, Joseph Saye.
Though the business comes with the noise from megaphones, the minutes and data transaction is creating livelihood opportunity for Joseph and many other young people, while at the same time benefiting the poor and ordinary people who cannot afford to buy the scratch cards. Publication of this article was made possible with support from Internews Inclusive Media project