It was a colorful fashion Show that took place in Blantyre that saw persons with disabilities patronizing it to prove to people that disability is not inability.
It was a colorful fashion Show that took place in Blantyre that saw persons with disabilities patronizing it to prove to people that disability is not inability.
Sightsavers Malawi has donated a 4×4 Ford Ranger vehicle to the Parents of Disabled Children Association of Malawi PODCAM to mitigate the transportation challenges the organization was encountering over the years.
Speaking after she received the donation, PODCAM Acting Executive Director Lyness Manduwa expressed gratitude for the timely donation saying the vehicle will ease mobility challenges at the organization.
“As an Acting Executive Director for PODCAM, we are very grateful for the donation and this will help us during our field visits as we usually travel time and again to appreciate challenges our members are experiencing. So for over the years we have been struggling, we seem to be relieved now in terms of transport and we thank Sightsavers,” said Manduwa.
In his turn Sightsavers Country Director to Malawi, Bright Chiwaula said the donation has been arrived at to enhance the strong relationship that has been there between Organizations of Persons with Disabilities in Malawi and the Sigthsavers itself.
“We are very happy as we are here donating this car to PODCAM and the paramount aim of donating this car is to cement the already existing relationship between us and PODICAM and it is our hope that we shall be working together for so long,” he said.
Sightsavers Malawi has been recently in good working relationship with Organizations of Persons with Disabilities OPDs in a number of interventions.
The Lions Eye Clinic of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital has assured Organizations of persons with Disabilities OPDs that the facility will be soon accessible to persons with disabilities as its management is working day in-day out to address disability issues.
The revelation comes when the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi FEDOMA presented a report of its finding after it conducted an access audit at the facility in 2019 and the report shows that the facility is rated 42 % in as far as accessibility of its infrastructure is concerned.
Speaking during the report presentation, Hermes Tebulo who presented the report on behalf of all OPDs which took part in the access audit exercise, said the Lions Eye Clinic has failed to embrace accessibility siting a good example of its toilets which are not disability user friendly among other examples. He however quick to say that all is not bad as it can work on the positives to ensure accessibility is achieved fully.
“During the Access audit, we went further to inspect the toilets of the facility (Lions Eye Clinic) but we can reveal that the toilets there are not accessible and this is a threat to persons with disabilities. However, the facility has its interior doors with enough opening space which commended and we therefore ask them to do their homework on the remaining areas so that the clinic should be accessible,” said Tebulo.
The Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi FEDOMA embarks on the training Area Development Committees ADCs on gender and disability mainstreaming as it has seen M’bwana ADC of Traditional Authority M’bwana of Usisya in Nkhata-Bay being drilled on how to embrace gender issues.
Speaking during the training exercise, FEDOMA Acting Executive Director Simon Munde said it is the wish of all Organizations with Disabilities to see local developmental structures like area Development Committees ADCs to be drilled in gender and disability mainstreaming so that marginalized groups should be left behind in policy and decision making.
” It is a must that Women and persons with disabilities should take part in all decision making committees so that no one should be left behind and in the end enhancing a barrier free society for all and it is our hope that here in Nkhata-Bay, ADCs must take gender issues seriously,” he said.
FEDOMA takes a swipe to train ADCs on gender mainstreaming as such structures are custodians of local developmental activities hence the training.
There was joy in Julius Village in the area of Traditional Authority T/A Kaledzera in Phalombe where villagers turned up to witness the donation of a wheel chair to a 14 year old boy Julianono Mwisowa who has been for the past 14 years struggling to get an assistive device.
FEDOMA decided to Donate the wheel chair to Mwisowa after it received a call from Emily Nthenda who works in the area as a volunteer as she reported the mobility challenges the boy encountered as for example, he was failing to go to school due to luck of an assistive device.
Speaking at the function, Group Village Head Julius commended FEDOMA for the timely gesture saying the boy will be attending classes as mobility challenge will be the thing of the past as his parents were used to carry him at the back.
“I would like to extend my sincerely gratitude to FEDOMA for coming in to assist since we had no way to go for a help. I have been witnessing with my own necked eyes Several organizations have been coming in this village with their promises to assist the family with the wheal chair but nothing showed up and it is only FEDOMA that has relieved the burden we had,” he said.
In his remarks, Lyson Mapanga who handed over the wheel chair on behalf of FEDOMA said the wheel chair has been sourced with an aim to prioritize the education for the boy and he was quick to plead with his guardians to use the wheel chair for sending the boy to school.
“We shall be happy at FEDOMA when we will see the boy going to school as it stands that education is the paramount tool transforming one’s future. I therefore make an appeal to you parents try as much as possible to send the boy to school since the device will ease his mobility challenges,” said Mapanga.
Juliano Mwisowa has been failing to go to school as he had no means of mobility.
The representatives from the Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) formally known as Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs) have gone through a three day gender mainstreaming training workshop that took place in Blantyre facilitated by Women’s Resource Legal Center (WORLEC).
In an effort to curb gender stereotype in its affiliated organizations, FEDOMA conducted such a training workshop for all OPDs to understand how they can address gender issues and how they can accommodate females in their institutions and in policy making process.