You’ll find out soon!
A few years ago, a centre where I worked needed sensory
brushes, we were told that we had to buy in obodo-oyinbo (abroad). Imagine my
joy when I got a new Facebook friend, and I saw sensory brushes on the wall. The
name was Rhimamory Res (Resources).
I initially thought Rhimamory Resources was created to meet
the needs of children with autism, especially as every autism center that I knew
of was shopping from them. But I later realized, from their social media posts,
that they were meeting the needs of typical children as well. Chatting with the
director of the company, she also confirmed it, that they actually meet the
needs of all children.
Rhimamory Resources sells educational materials for all
children in Nigeria. Speaking with the director, Mudi Nwachukwu, she said that
she believes that all children, regardless of location, should have access to
educational toys and materials. So if you follow them on Instagram or Facebook,
you will see posts about deliveries to different parts of Nigeria. Although they
are based in Lagos, they deliver all over Nigeria; North, East, West, and
South.
Mudi Nwachukwu’s goal is to ensure that every child in Nigeria
has access to high quality educational materials, and not be limited by
location. She did not start her business to meet needs of children with special
needs, but it has made her very happy to be able to meet the needs of these
children. Rhimamory Resources has always tried to help parents find materials
that they particularly need for their children, and she believes that that is
how they have been able to meet the needs of families that have children on the
autism spectrum.
Mudi is a trained lawyer, but as a mother, when her children
were much younger she always had people complimenting her for the educational materials
she bought her kids. Eventually she started helping her friends shop for
educational materials whenever she traveled, and now she is meeting the needs
of many more families than she planned for. Rhimamory started on Instagram and
Facebook, but they now have a website, www.rhimamory.com,
where people can shop for educational materials for their schools, their
children, and can also gift to others.
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| Rhimamory has a gift corner on the website |
Mudi says that she is happy to be able to reduce the stress
of parents, who no longer have to worry about how they will get materials that
they need for their children. Interviewing parents and asking for the kind of
needs that they want to meet in their child helps her to suggest the appropriate
materials for the child. For example, if a parent goes to any store and needs
materials for fine motor, the store keeper may not be able to give exactly what
they need, so parents can come to Rhimamory and they will be sure that they
will get what will achieve the purpose they want to meet.
I asked her what materials autism parents usually requests
for. According to her, speech or communication development is very important to
parents of children on the autism spectrum, so flashcards on alphabets,
numbers, action words, and related subjects are quite common. Parents buy everything,
ranging from building blocks, to materials that build fine motor skills,
materials for sensory integration, curly straws, and they buy anything that
aids learning. Children with autism use the same materials as typical children,
and she is able to help parents pick specific materials to meet specific needs. That's what it means to be RHIMAMORIED!
This week on Autism Gist with Adelola, I am celebrating
organizations that are supporting children with autism or the autism community
in different ways. And I have chosen to start with Mudi and the Rhimamory team.
In meeting the needs of all children, they are supporting our own children as
well.
Although I will be continuing with my posts on RIGHTS of
individuals on the autism spectrum, please watch out for the next set of people
to celebrate on Wednesday and Friday. You don’t want to miss out on their
gists.
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