OBITUARY
Dr Olayinka Eunice Akindayomi (July 6, 1956 – January 6, 2023), Founder, Children’s Development Centre, lived a life devoted to other people.
My first encounter with Dr Yinka Akindayomi was in 2017 at her office at the Children’s Development Centre (CDC) in Surulere, Lagos. It was a meeting to discuss how best the CDC could celebrate its 20th anniversary. I was referred to her by a common friend, Mrs Morin Adeyemi who was trying to help by graciously providing leads to our start-up marketing communications agency.
Thirty minutes into our meeting, the excitement of finding a client and the opportunity to make some money I had prior to the meeting turned into admiration and deep appreciation for her humanity. The thought of money simply vanished.
Such was her humanity, deep love for mankind particularly the vulnerable in the society, and her ability to see the person rather than the accoutrements, make one wonder whether she was truly a Nigerian. And she brings a different view to the vulnerable among us; that they are first people, and if we can remove the prejudices we inherently have that tend to colour our worldview, we’d truly see how beautiful each and every one of us is. She sees beauty in disability. She sees people. And she does not believe there is anything we can’t achieve. In her view, we are all disabled in one form or the other.
“Who needs to be normal? Frankly, normal is boring. You know what, boring is the life that refuses to be challenged to love without boundaries.”
Indeed, I left the meeting feeling I had been wasting my life thinking of just myself and how to make it in life, the Nigerian style. I had been evangelised into a new way of thinking, of seeing people who many in the society would rather hide from view, of seeing that we all can enjoy life in our different ways, which does not make one way better than the other or that one happiness is greater than another.
After several meetings, we finally agreed to do a coffee table book. When I suggested the title, “Who needs to be normal?,” which came from a place of having been immersed in her thinking, she gladly accepted it. My association with CDC’s 20th Anniversary and producing Who needs to be normal? have been some of the most fulfilling aspects of my life. And did the association change me!
I had never participated in walking for causes except perhaps as a student union activist way back at the university. Because of Dr Akindayomi, I took part in the GTBank walk for autism in 2018! I took my kids to visit the CDC several times, prepping them to volunteer to serve during the holidays. My perspective of life were completely altered seeing a devotion of life to make others live well.
It is rare to find people like Dr Akindayomi in this part of the world. When I read she had passed on, I told my friends that some people deserved to be cloned so that their exceptional traits will be replicated, not just into one, but many new versions, so that they can live forever making the world a better place. She may have been cloned, as her pioneering labour of love has brought about a seismic change in the management of people with disability. Management is now a lot more formalised, with many of the people running such centres passing through Dr Akindayomi’s mentoring at the CDC. Indeed, some of the kids from CDC have gone on to participate in the Special Olympics!
Attitudes towards people with autism and cerebral palsy are changing in Nigeria, from being viewed as the consequences of the bad behaviour on the part of the parents, witchcraft or curse from some gods, to accepting them as normal people who are simply different. We owe Dr Akindayomi and the folks investing themselves to change such attitudes a huge debt of gratitude. This is particularly important for the parents, because she taught many to love their kids, to see the kids as special who only required love, not pity.
Dr Akindayomi’s greatest gift to humanity may not even be the CDC and its selfless work, or the CDC clones across the country, but her ability to change people’s perspectives, make you a believer, help you to see things differently, in a positive way, get you to thinking that life is much more than making it. As she was wont to saying, “Who needs to be normal? Frankly, normal is boring. You know what, boring is the life that refuses to be challenged to love without boundaries.” And she opened her arms to all and sundry.
With the young people who have one form of disability or another, she was soft, caring and understanding. With staff and vendors, she was firm. With people who still do not understand that we are first human, she was an evangelist, preaching love and compassion. Dr Akindayomi has converted many to the gospel of humanity.
And yes, she loved life. On one of her holidays, she went on a cruise and was surprised the discotheque in the ship was jamming Nigerian music. She was so proud to be a Nigerian, as she recalled. In spite of her serious disposition, and how heartrending the cause she devoted her life to can sometimes be, she had a fun side. Dr Akindayomi was spiritual but not dogmatically religious. Impatient with fripperies and procrastination, she was often too hands-on.
Loving life was all she was about. Hers is a life to be emulated because she epitomised the best human attributes of love, compassion, care and devotion to worthy causes. She deserves to live forever, as she will, in the fondest parts of our hearts.
Adewole Ojo is the CEO, Four Points Communications, a marketing communications agency with offices in Lagos.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
