Artist finds fortune in feet

Richard Opi sits on a stool, removes his shoes and the sock on his right foot, keeping the left sock on. Using the toes on his right foot, he places the sock neatly in one of his shoes.

Steading himself, he reaches for a paint brush with his right toes, dips it in one of the colours on his paint mixing tray and then strokes the converse, to give colour to his work.

Born without arms, Opi has mastered the art of using his feet to do just about anything, especially his vocation as an artist.

“Whatever other people do with their hands, I do with my feet,” a confident Opi says. When I met him he was still fresh from the excitement of graduating with a diploma in Art and Design from Michelangelo Colleague of Creative Arts (MCCA) in Kisubi, Entebbe Road.

At the ceremony, Opi attracted ululations and cheers from relatives, parents and fellow graduates as he took to the podium to receive his accolade. He danced in accompany of his brother, mother and uncle who carried him high in pride of his achievement.

A strange person
This accomplishment is not something he or his family had ever envisioned, for discrimination is what makes most of his childhood memories.

Born in Kifuro Sub-County in Moyo District in 1986 to Caroline Drobia and Peter Luga, the second born in the family of five children was looked down upon in his village and school.

While at Kifuro Primary School, he faced rejection from classmates and teachers. For instance, no pupil liked sharing a desk with him because he was always seen as a strange person.

“My classmates believed that sharing a desk with me would make them contract the disease that took away my hands. They also thought that I was a curse in the school,” he says with sadness in his eyes. Not even the teachers bothered to give him the specialised attention that is supposed to be given to impaired children.

When he spent days without going to school, no teacher bothered finding out the cause of his absence. He believes that teachers perceived him as a useless child due to his disability. This made him repeat several classes.

A friend in need
When he completed Primary Seven in 2004, Opi did not join secondary school immediately as one would expect because of financial constraints. His father had passed on three years before. This situation compelled his mother to look for potential sponsors.

She approached different organisations, but all in vain. “Some people who came through would just use Opio as a trap for donors and then later abandon him,” Drobia reveals. In 2006, she heard about Efforts to Educate the Needy Children of Uganda (EENU), an organisation whose main offices are in Adjumani District.

She travelled with her son to EENU offices. Fortunately, the organisation was offering scholarships at that time to needy children and Opi became one of the first beneficiaries.

“I met Opi in 2006 through his mother. She came looking for an organisation that could educate her children after she was overwhelmed by the responsibilities. We were touched by Opi’s status and we enrolled him to our sponsorship programme alongside his young brother Bosco Amaza,” says Joseph Ambayo, the executive director of EENU.

He joined secondary school and sat for his first set of Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) at Metu Secondary School in Moyo District.

Unfortunately, he did not pass the exams. “I wasn’t helped by teachers or the Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) supervisors during practical papers,” he tries to explain the cause of his poor results.

Indeed, Ambayo points out to the lack of proper attention as a challenge that affected Opi’s academic progress. “We have encountered a lot of challenges in educating Opi because most schools did not know how to look after children of his calibre.

This made him repeat several classes and he was overtaken by his young brother Amaza, who joined a veterinary college after UCE and earned a certificate in veterinary skills. However, he was unable to start working because we asked him to continue taking care of his brother at school (MCCA),” he says.

Climbing the academic ladder
Opi resat for Senior Four Exams at Adjumani Secondary School, this time, he passed with a second grade. “The school informed Uneb about my situation and I was given specialized supervision,” he says.

He did his Senior Six exams at the same school and excelled in Fine Art. It became clear to Opio that the road to success in future lay in his talent as an artist. To refine this, he joined MCCA to study a diploma in Art and Design.

Opi’s strength lies in drawing and painting. “We are happy he graduated with a diploma in June. We have asked him to draft a business plan because we want to help him start up an income generating
activity.

He has already informed us that he wants to venture into selling crafts and we are waiting for his business idea,” says sponsor, Ambayo.

“I want to thank my sponsors who have enabled me reach this day. I also appreciate my uncle for his endless support and most importantly my brother who sacrificed his own duties to look after me while at school,” Opi said on the graduation day.

His mother is forever grateful to all who helped her pay for her children’s education. “I am very happy because my boys have become graduates.

I appeal to parents who have children with disabilities not to disguise them because God has reasons why he gives people such children,” she quips.

Opi’s philosophy in life is simple, he says he is excelling because he does not give attention to people’s criticism and perceptions.

“I try my level best to stay away from people who do not add value to me. Even when they talk ill about me, I just look at them or laugh it off. My mother and teacher have always told me not be frustrated by people with bad mouth,” he says.

After graduation, Opi went back to his home in Adjumani to continue his trade as an artist and follow up on his dream of selling crafts. He lives with his friend Junior Andevuku who takes care of him. As he waits for an opportunity, he paints on request and sells his work at Shs5,000.

Hope in Opi’s bright future

Samuel Kidega, his former lecturer, has big dreams for Opi. “I taught Opi for two years. I was always impressed by his determination, cooperation and ambitions.

He once told me that he wants to become a lecturer. I was overwhelmed by his dream and I believe he will achieve it one day,” he says, adding, “We are now collaborating with his sponsors to secure for him university scholarship because he passed with good marks.

We are sure he shall be spotted and benefit from that university sponsorship programme. This is the only way we can help him achieve his dream of becoming a lecturer.”

Others in the world like him

Jessica Cox suffered a rare birth defect and was born without any arms. None of the prenatal tests her mother took showed there was anything wrong with her. And yet she was born with this rare congenital disease, but also with a great spirit.

The psychology graduate can write, type, drive a car, brush her hair and talk on her phone by simply using her feet.

Ms Cox, who is from Tuscon, Arizona, USA, is also a former dancer and double black belt in Tai Kwon-Do. She has a no-restrictions driving licence, she flies planes and she can type 25 words a minute.

The plane she flies is called an Ercoupe and it is one of the few airplanes to be made and certified without pedals. Without rudder pedals Jessica is free to use her feet as hands.

She took three years instead of the usual six months to complete her lightweight aircraft licence, had three flying instructors and practiced 89 hours of flying, becoming the first pilot with no arms.