Life for young men and women with physical disabilities is especially difficult in Bauchi state. Faced with severe social stigmas in a region where unemployment is already extremely high, these individuals are frequently reduced to begging in the streets in order to feed themselves. This project will create a internet cafe and print-shop run by disabled men and women within Yelwan Nigeria. The project will show that with the proper training disabled individuals can live independently.
The project will solve the commonly held belief that disabled individuals cannot hold down jobs or learn complex skills and must be regulated to beggar status and be fully dependent on their families. Disabled community leaders will undertake extensive computer training session and receive a personal computer with basic business and financial training as part of the program. Local business leaders will then invest/support the creation of a local internet cafe and print shop.
Leadership Initiatives will teach computer processing, internet navigation and photo editing skills to local leaders with a wide range of physical limitations. The graduates of this project will open their communities first internet cafe and print shop. This project will fight the severe social stigmas that come with being disabled in Northern Africa and become a beacon to those with disabilities that they can hold jobs and own business with hard work and determination.
Develop independent profit-generating businesses that serve as models for growth in surrounding communities. Project beneficiaries fill voids in the local economy while improving their families' health, education and financial stability. Previous leaders have sent their brothers, sisters and children to school, helped invest in new businesses within the community, offered new services to community members such as the disabled, establishing infrastructure for the future growth of Nigeria.
