How blindness inspired me to breed ‘special birds’

Instead of losing hope and resorting to roaming the streets with a bowl begging for alms or becoming a liability to immediate family members and, perhaps, friends, Sambo passionately struggles to independently sustain himself despite the loss of his two eyes.Sambo’s inspiring story is as tragic as his pursuit for means of livelihood. He lost […]

Instead of losing hope and resorting to roaming the streets with a bowl begging for alms or becoming a liability to immediate family members and, perhaps, friends, Sambo passionately struggles to independently sustain himself despite the loss of his two eyes.
Sambo’s inspiring story is as tragic as his pursuit for means of livelihood. He lost his two eyes sometimes in 2009 when on a journey to the Bayero University Kano (BUK). The car he was travelling in was involved in a fatal accident and, as a result, Sambo sustained five fractures on his face.
Although doctors at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) had successfully fixed the fractured bones, “unfortunately some of the nerves that were responsible for my sight were damaged and that was not dictated on time,” Sambo said.
After months of treatment at the ABUTH, relatives and friends rallied round Sambo and decided to take him abroad for further medical treatment. The associates took him to Egypt where it was confirmed that “the nerves that link the eyes with the brain were damaged because they were not attended to on time.”
After spending about four weeks in an Egyptian hospital, the assistance the doctors could offer was very little, unfortunately. It was confirmed to Sambo that his right eye was completely damaged while he could only utilise 20 per cent of the left eye for the rest of his life.
“As a result of that, I came back to Nigeria and decided to give myself all the hopes that I needed to forge ahead in life. This made me to go into research through the internet on how to start a poultry farm. Even before the accident, I had passion for rearing animals.
“Therefore, I hired an internet expert who assisted in generating the necessary data that I needed to start the poultry business. I also made contacts with some academicians in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
“Having gotten the necessary information, I acquired a small incubator, which I started hatching chicks within my house. After acquiring the necessary skills for a successful poultry business, I disposed some of my properties, including the ones I inherited, to acquire a land to set up the poultry farm, and this is where I am today.”
From 2010 when he started the poultry, things were moving “fairly well” until 2013 when the farm was brought to its knees because of inadequate funds,” he lamented, adding: “You know, the most expensive aspects of running poultry are the feeds and power (electricity) because hatching through the use of incubators requires 24 hours light.
“Therefore, by 2013 the money for feed and fuel for the generator was not available and, at that time, I had well over 3,000 chickens. This led to the crashing of the farm. All attempts to get one or two people to assist were in vain.
“In fact, it reached a point that I stopped coming to this farm because on daily basis, wheelbarrows full of dead chickens were wheeled out from here. Before that crash, I had about 13 people that worked here but as you can see, there are only two now.
“Despite all those challenges, I didn’t give up. I continued to struggle, and all praises are due to Allah, because I was able to retain about 300 of my parent birds.
“These birds you are seeing are very precious, just as they are special. I think in this part of the country (North), I should be the only one that has this type of birds. They are birds that are customised to Nigerian weather. At their pullet, they can weigh up to 4 kilogrammes or more. They can lay for, at least, one and half years, and I was the one that bred them here. Any one that wants to have this type of birds has to come to me. This is why I have been saying that this poultry has the potentials to become great if there is necessary collaboration, not even assistance.”
As Sambo struggles to revive his poultry, at the same time he strives to see if the sight of his left eye can be improved. After the Egyptian trip, he went to India twice. In India, he got treatment and assurance that the left eye may regain its full sight with time if food with high concentration of fat is avoided.
“We are still hopeful, as we believed that the Almighty God can restore it. Nevertheless, I am not allowing this lack of sight to distract me. All I am trying to do now is to seek collaboration with willing poultry operators since I have the potentials.
“I told you that my birds are special and, as such, I can collaborate with willing operators. Apart from that, we have the capacity to hatch millions of these birds within a short period. We hope and pray that willing poultry operators would give us a chance, instead of going to some far places for purchase their birds, which they can get here and at the same time set us moving once again.”
Apart from reviving his poultry, Sambo is still nursing the idea of fulfilling his ambition of going for his Ph.D, saying: “Before the accident, I had secured admission for a Ph.D programme in the UK, but it was obvious that with that accident, I couldn’t make it.
“I have been linked now to a University in the USA that has the facilities to carter for people like us. I told you earlier that I usually give myself all the hopes that I need to move on. I hope to go for my Ph.D, especially after reviving my farm.”