Mr David James, seeing that he was driving home his point, went further to provide the answer to his last question. "This is because they are human beings like you and I. And just like we didn't start doing everything on our own at once as soon as we were born, that is also how it is for them. And of course, like I said in the outset, there will be challenges.
"It is when we render them the help they need and, when they look above their situations and conditions, that's when they succeed exceptionally in every goal they set out to achieve." Mrs Righteous was by now nodding in understanding.
"Do you know that one of the areas visually impaired person's thrive in is sports."
"Sports?" Mrs. Green asked, surprise scribbled all over her face. Even Ayanate's brows shot up in incredulity.
"Yes, sports. They can participate in sports activities like football, tennis, and weight-lifting. I could go on and on to deliver a long list of the sports activities these people have been participating in.
"These are some of the awards we won from some of the competitions our students participated in." His left hand swept in the general direction of the shelf decorated with trophies, laurels and plaques.
87
“We also have produced sports analysts who are working in several media houses both locally and internationally. You might want to ask how possible it is for a blind person to analyze what he or she can't see.
The answer I can give to that is, it could only be a miracle from God and also the uniqueness of the other four senses."
"It is intriguing that these people are not just good in sports, but they are good in other areas like academics, and music.
"As I speak to you, we have a lot of blind DJ's, blind music producers, blind sound engineers, blind musical instrumentalists, blind musicians and rappers all over the world. I can take you to our music department so that you would see how our students sing beautifully and play all kinds of instruments ranging from trumpet, saxophone, bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboard and drum. They even know how to perfectly play the brigade band."
At that point, both Ayanate and her mother were too stunned to speak. The logical part of their brain wanted to discard his words as mere tomfoolery. But the hopeful half of their brains chose to hang on and see. What did they have to lose?
When the proprietor noticed their hesitation, he spoke up. "Alright, I can understand your incredulity. I guess it's time for you to see for yourselves."
The proprietor stood and directed Ayanate and her mother to the music department.
Because Ayanate couldn't see, the proprietor explained to her while her mother watched in open-mouthed amazement as the students moved around, setting up their instruments. The sound engineers perfectly worked
88
on setting the amplifier and connecting the microphones without any help, as though they were seeing what they were doing.
Unable to reconcile what her eyes were seeing with what she had always assumed about these sets of physically-impaired people, Mrs. Green asked the proprietor if she could confirm if the students were really blind. Ayanate knew that her mother felt silly—even she felt embarrassed–but she could sense the rationale behind her mother's request. If all this was a con, it wouldn't be funny for her, now that her hopes were being sparked back to life.
If Mr. James was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead, he just let her go ahead.
And she did. She used the same courtroom intelligence which she had repeatedly honed after several cross-examinations carried out on witnesses and accused persons in the course of her practice as a lawyer. When she was thoroughly done, all her doubts had flown out the window.
The students played a haunting melody on the instruments and sang a heavenly chorus. When they finished, Ayanate and her mother shed emotional tears. And she knew that she and her mother would never recover from that experience.
Before exiting the school's music department, Mrs. Green wanted to apologize for her earlier behavior, but the proprietor wouldn't let her.
Her mother later told her that when she looked at the students' faces, she could see them smiling as if to say,
"All is forgiven".
89
On their way back to the proprietor's office, he told them that what they had seen was not everything they were doing in the school.
"Some of our students are also good with art and craft. They can make handbags, flower vases, sandals, shoes, name it." He gestured with his hands as he continued.
"Talking about blind people being academically successful, before you go, let me tell you that there's something called Braille. It's another system of writing and reading for the visually impaired and we shall be teaching your daughter how to read and write braille before she graduates."
Mr. James took them to a particular class where some of the students were reading with their fingers while the rest were writing with braille machines and other equipment that was specifically used for writing braille.
He told them that the students could also recite the alphabets of whatsoever language they desired in braille.
Her mother looked at the braille writings and wondered why she couldn't make a word out of it. Perplexed, she asked him further about it.
"The reason you can't make out even one alphabet from this kind of writing is because it is not the same as what you are used to. The braille writing is made up of just six dots. Out of the six dots is what is being used to make out alphabets and numbers."
All Mrs. Green could say at that time was, "Wonderful!"
90
"Yeah, wonderful." Mr. James echoed. "You haven't seen anything yet, just wait until I show you more. I told you that this could only be the amazing hand of God."
"Only six dots?" Mrs. Green asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes, only six dots and your daughter shall be learning how to read and write in braille if she remains with us.
And she can come home and read it for you," the proprietor finished with a small laugh.
"And oh, Mrs. Green, you should know that braille is very bulky? Because of that, there are a lot of abbreviations in braille writing for a lot of words. But even at that, it is still bulky even to the extent that every book of the Bible is separate and not bound together like the type a sighted person uses. A braille Bible could be as big as three large cartons, depending on the sizes."
When Mr. James noticed the surprise expression on the faces of Ayanate and Mrs. Green, he quickly added,
"Don't worry, madam, I can see the curiosity and enthusiasm from your daughter's body language and I have no iota of doubt that she will make it. She is not the first and neither would she be the last. If others before her did it, I believe that she, too, could do it and even better."
When the proprietor perceived that he had raised their hope a notch or two higher, he decided to proceed with his orientation.
"Let me take you to our next stop for the day. You and your daughter should come with me, madam," the proprietor declared and led the way as they shuffled into another classroom.
91
What Mrs Righteous saw took her breath away. She saw a blind teacher taking the students on computer lessons.
As was his custom when they entered other classes, the proprietor began another lengthy illustration.
"This is one of our staff. His name is Thompson Adekunle, and as you might have already noticed, he is blind.
Yet, he is one of the best computer geeks in the country. I might be biased, but he is really good."
"Really? That's incredible!" Mrs Righteous corked her head to affirm the strange sounds she was hearing. "What is that sound I'm hearing from the computers?" she asked.
"I was actually coming to that." The proprietor beamed.
92