Disabled woman in Malawi starts school for children there

From The Daily Times in Malawi:

Look down on her because of her appearance at your own peril. A momentary look at her could cheaply lure you to think that she is a mere dreamer. But she is not just a fantasist.

She is an embodiment of rare remarkable hard-work-pays tales as she can see a tremendous improvement from what she was this time last year.
Certainly she is byword of the saying; every journey, even the longest, starts with a single step.

“What you are witnessing here is a complete departure from what I was last year. And not even the sky will limit me because out of this ‘hut’ with a handful pupils will emanate a big institution,” prophesies Esther Goliati pointing to her private primary school which caters for standard 1-6 operating under the name Chiyanjano Home Private School. A visionary indeed.

Esther is one of the few women with a strong belief that there is just too much ability in disability. As she narrates, Esther who was born on June 12, 1968 was hit by polio as a toddler. At a tender age of four, the world seemed to have doomed for her when she was told that she will never walk again. That polio, as she unravels her ordeal, rendered her a person with disability and has been using crutches since then.

There were a few schools to cater for persons with disabilities then and just staying indoors was the best option. But against all odds, Esther braced her condition and went to school only to drop in Standard 8 in 1984 as nobody, her parents inclusive, seemed to help with school fees and other school necessities. But Esther did not relent.

“A ray of hope later appeared in 1992 when Macoha admitted me to Kamuzu Vocational Rehabilitation Training Centre [one of Macoha’s institutional centres] where I learned knitting, weaving and cooking,” she says.

She said it was late last year when Macoha turned her dream into reality.

“They helped me set up this small school which has proved to be very helpful in this village. Parents continue to send their children to me and this gives me the drive. Ideally, this was meant to cater for part timers but now I have pupils who stay the whole day here. Am glad people around are entrusting my ability,” says Esther with an obvious grin.

Situated about 500 metres from Mdeka Trading Centre, in Traditional Authority Chigaru in Blantyre, the school registers more than 30 pupils and Esther sees this as a genesis of great things in her life.

So to Esther, a bold decision made was that having a disability should not in anyway bar someone from becoming what they have dreamed to be.

“Discrimination or not, we can rise above every setback and prove to the world that we are capable of doing great things in this country, even greater things than people without disabilities would do. But I am glad with what Macoha and other disability clubs are doing. They always empower us by, among others, teaching us different life skills, giving us loans in different forms as well as making the nation aware of the need to stop discriminating against people with disabilities and to level the playing field for both disabled and non-disabled people when opportunities arise,” appeals Esther.

But Esther still has a tall order to surmount. Pupils pay a meagre K30 per month but to her chagrin, some parents just send their children for months without paying for them.

“I am vexed but I just can’t stop as this is part of charity,” Esther shrugs off yet another impediment.

However, one thing is certain. Esther is toeing President Bingu wa Mutharika’s advice he gave when he joined Fedoma in a solidarity walk recently which was aimed at fundraising for Fedoma’s complex offices.

Said the first citizen in his key note address: “People with disabilities have a big role to play in developing this nation. We should always look at them as partners in development and not beggars. Don’t just talk but believe in the motto disability is not inability by walking the talk. In spite of the disability, people with disabilities are still wise. I therefore urge you [persons with disabilities] to engage in income generating activities and be self supportive”.

“People with disabilities indeed deserve to be given equal chances like all citizens in the society. It’s time to change our attitude about persons with disabilities. Given equal opportunities, I can challenge you that we can have numerous practical examples of efforts made by persons with disabilities who eventually lead independent lives and help others,” chipped in Clement Khembo, former Minister of Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly.

The two heavyweights’ sentiments are certainly right and can’t be echoed more.

Another outstanding tale is shared by Rita Phiri, a 45-year-old widow who has a 14 year-old boy from Nthache village in the same T/A Chigaru area. Rita also suffered polio at only eight months and she too has never walked. She does everything while crawling. In 1997, Macoha gave her a tricycle and that eased her mobility.

But again defying the odds, Rita ably farms while crawling and uses a single hand. Today, she has a big barn which is full of maize and sleeping on empty stomach is non-existent to her and her son.

“In fact, I am still eating maize I harvested last year although I sold some,” boasts Rita. “I bitterly learnt to farm while crawling and with one hand when I was young. I made it a point that my disability should not make me a beggar nor be a barrier to my desire to achieve food security. I am also glad that Macoha’s field officers organised us into groups and made sure we easily accessed fertiliser coupons, got a treadle pump to use in our gardens and taught us different skills. Today, I can pound maize, floor my house, cook and do virtually whatever any lady can do,” dares Rita.

Efrina Maganga, 54, from the same area is also on song. Granted, she is blind having mysteriously lost sight when she woke up one morning of 2002. Losing sight at an old age made life tough and unbearable for Efrina. Her husband of 20 years deserted her for another woman. The world excruciatingly crumbled for her.

“However, things changed for the better once Macoha officers identified me. I was oriented on mobility and got sharpened with different independent living skills. Today I farm, draw water, cook, wash and adeptly do any household chore. Generally I am self reliant and I don’t have to beg. But we would be grateful if Macoha or other organisations gave us goats so that we ventured into animal farming,” says Efrina.

These ladies’ messages are loud to those who undermine the competence of persons with disabilities. Disability is not inability and there is too much ability in disability. They only need to be accorded the chance and equal opportunities given to every folk. And this is the message Macoha is sending through its Community Rehabilitation programme.

Under this programme, Macoha empowers such people with disabilities so that they lead independent lives and contribute to the socio-economic development of this country. Embraced first 21 years ago, the programme is one of the ways of catering for the needs of persons with disabilities 90 percent of whom are in rural areas.

Through CBR programme, rehabilitation services are provided to persons with disabilities in their own environment as far as possible through utilisation of facilities and services as well as human and material sources available in the community. Its underlying objective is “full participation” of persons with disabilities in social and development. Thus, ensuring that persons with disabilities are able to maximise their physical and mental abilities, to access regular services and opportunities and to become active contributors to the community and society at large.

The CBR programme is operational in 11 districts in the country; Nsanje, Blantyre, Balaka, Machinga, Salima, Nkhotakota, Nkhata Bay, Mzimba, Dowa, Lilongwe and Mzimba.

Macoha’s Rehabilitation Officer for Blantyre James Mchuchu says it is his organisation’s desire to see persons with disabilities addressing all their problems using locally available resources.

“Blantyre, for example, is rich with different resources to help address disability related issues. But we also wish to see government departments, NGOs, business people, chiefs, religious organisations and all stakeholders joining hands and include disability in all their programmes,” says Mchuchu.

When all has been said and done, it is important for the country as a whole to deliberately make a paradigm shift from viewing disability as a welfare and charity issue to a cross cutting, human rights and development issue. It should be common knowledge now that persons with disabilities have a right to enjoy equal rights and responsibilities and should, therefore, be empowered to play their rightful role in society.