PHOTO: Joe Fahn moves about in this wheel chair
By Emmanuel T.J. Kollie, emmanueltjk@gmail.com
A physically challenged man is urging his colleagues not to use their physical or mental conditions to be a liability on society.
Joe Fahn, who uses wheelchair to move about, said the habit of begging in street corners will make many to believe that the only means of livelihood for persons with disabilities is through handouts or alms from the public.
According to Mr. Fahn, if his fellow people living with disabilities (PwDs) begin to engage in meaningful ventures, the negative perceptions about them will begin to take a paradigm shift.
Born on March 8, 1990, this physically challenged Liberian is a proud cobbler or shoe maker who has done this for over a decade now.
“I been sewing shoes since 2009, it was this work I was doing and graduated from high school in 2017 from St. Peter Lutheran High School on 13th street,” he said.
Repairing shoes has not only made him proud, but is a work that has greatly enabled him to earn money to provide for his family and meet other social needs over the years.
“For me, I feel so good fixing people’s shoes because I want to make my own money and don’t want to be begging people all the time for little or nothing,” he stressed.
“Every day, I make more than two thousand Liberian Dollars at the same time putting my Susu and taking care of family,” this exemplary physically challenge man said beaming with smiles.
Future aspirations
Beside, being a cobbler, Mr. Fahn said he does professional electronic repair as well.
Despite his current condition, he is determined to enroll in the university, hoping to pursue a career in mining engineering someday.
Becoming a mining engineering has always been his lifetime dream and goal. No matter what, he’s determined to reach that feat.
How he became disabled
Mr. Fahn attributes his long standing disability to unexplained strange reason.
He told this Reporter that he started experiencing disability at the age of three due to some alleged fetish reason.
“I was not born disabled, it was my late grandmother who made it today that I am sitting down in wheelchair, before she died she confessed,” Mr. Fahn maintained.
Quoting his mother, Fahn said while playing with his friends in his hometown in Frehla, Bong County, he shockingly dropped and started experiencing unceasing pains which eventually led to his immediate disability.
Before his disability
Though he is courageous, there are times that he feels sad about being physically challenge as is normally the case with any human being. On many occasions he feels sad as to why it had to happen to him, but God knows why.
Prior to his current condition, Fahn narrated that he was a staunch lover of sports and an active member of his community.
Mr. Fahn explained that due to his physical disability, many of his family members have rejected him.
On many occasions, he said, he has been chastised and others blaming him for being responsible for his condition, but he is not, as anyone can be disabled.
“My brother imagine, people can be accusing me saying that I made witch on myself, you think I can feel good sitting down?” he added.
Despite some sad moments, Joe has a generally positive outlook about life and his condition. With faith and hope, he is optimistic that the best is yet to come, not only for him but for his fellow colleagues who are living with disabilities. Publication of this article was made possible with support from Internews Inclusive Media project.