When Tobi Ayanwoye took to making electrical appliances, he didn’t do so out of a desire to become just another wonder kid on the block. He was finding a safe place for himself, a refuge from low self-esteem and sagging school grades. He was doing battle with dyslexia.
At an early age, Tobi was found to have severe difficulty reading and writing. His problem seemed peculiar- he didn’t really pick up the words from the pages as other pupils did, and he couldn’t tell one letter of the English alphabet from the other. He struggled to make it through school and had to repeat classes at age 14 because he didn’t make the cut to progress to the next class. His teachers and colleagues in school thought he was under a spell.
Tobi’s problem was, in fact, a learning disability which experts say affects between 3 and 7 percent of the world’s population. What he and his family didn’t know was that it could be dealt with through remedial therapy. Because he was unable to get help, he had to live with dyslexia through his childhood, and into his teenage years.
When disability leads to the discovery of ability
Tobi’s poor performance wasn’t due to a low intelligence. He had a mind that loved to inquire and create; he couldn’t write words properly, but he could construct devices.
“With my dyslexic condition, I was scared because I never wanted to be a school dropout,” Tobi explained in an interview with Premium Times. “So I discovered that I can create and invent technological appliances.” He says his poor reading and writing abilities led him to turn inwards and discover his talents.
Projects which Tobi has embarked upon include a solar-powered lawn mower a device which utilizes solar power to cut grass; a solar powered grinding machine; and a foot mat alarm which alerts its owners to the arrival of visitors who step on it, without them pressing a doorbell.
Surmounting the dyslexia obstacle
It was Tobi’s private teacher and coach, Mr. Ishola Abdulkadeer, who first began to entertain the idea that the boy’s problem was something other than a bad spell. This happened after he saw the movie ‘Like Stars on Earth’, which had a plot that revolved around Ishaan, an eight-year-old boy who suffered from dyslexia. Tobi’s reaction to the movie confirmed his suspicion- he told Ishola that the difficulties Ishaan’s went through looked much like what he was struggling with. That discovery proved to be the beginning of a path to recovery for Tobi.
Mr. Ishola arranged for evaluations and coaching sessions for Tobi and gathered resources- including videos from YouTube about people who had overcome Dyslexia -with which he helped him.
Today, Tobi has a vastly improved reading and writing proficiency, thanks to his determination to overcome his disability. He is also grateful to Mr. Ishola for giving him the chance to become better in these respects.
Giving Talks and Getting Recognized
Tobi has received recognition for his work from various quarters. In 2014, he was runner-up at the Schlumberger Excellence in Education Development (SEED) for one of his inventions.
Last year, Tobi spoke at the TEDx IsaleGeneral held in Ogbomosho, Oyo State. Themed “Beyond the Walls”, the event featured speakers who had gone beyond the limits they were faced with to achieve their goals. Tobi’s presentation, which focused on his journey to surmounting the dyslexia challenge, drew the biggest applause from those in attendance. One of the program’s organizers described him as a “unique unicorn”.
In January, news of Tobi’s innovations reached Senate President Bukola Saraki. He has since been invited for a presentation, although no date has yet been fixed for it. Bamikole Omisore, Special Assistant to the Senate President on New Media said that Mr.Saraki was fascinated by Tobi’s work, and had directed that it be prioritized at the Made In Nigeria desk.
Looking to the future
Tobi, currently an SS3 student of the Federal Government College Ogbomosho, is dreaming of a future in which he would be able to build more sophisticated devices and gadgets. Though still coming out of a period of mourning- his mother died in December 2016 –he is hoping that the future will be brighter.
“I really want to go and study more in higher institutions of technology abroad, maybe Italy or China,” he told Premium Times. “I want to learn more skills that will make me create and build things”.
He might just get his chance. If the attention he is getting continues to grow.
