Since the success of the first 2 tricycles in Ntcheu, the word has gone out on the streets and attracted a number of new candidates of their own accord to the project. This revealed a fact to me-that demand for mobility aids has been there for a long time but people have just learnt to live (somewhat painfully) with their disabilities due to lack of money and government assistance to acquire one. Once the opportunity appeared to get a tricycle, we didn’t have to wait for new casualties to arrive but had enough long term disabled ones to pick from. Thanks to the assistance from my Ntcheu-based link, Mr Mittawa, the initial technical assessment and measurements are done before I get there. This greatly facilitates the order chain so that all I have to do is meet the new candidate and assess their suitability for our mobility aid. Mr Mittawa works as rehabilitation technician at the district hospital and is, I hope, going to keep things running once I’ve left.
The first new recipient of a tricycle is Chisomo Madyaudzu, a charming 23 yr old boy who is perfectly able-bodied save his legs. He was born with a very mild form of cerebral palsy, with minimal impact on his mental faculties. Thus he has not let disability get in the way of his life too much and went through vocational training to become a tailor. Owing to his physical impairment, he has always been based at home, with limited business opportunities. What a tricycle can achieve for him is probably the best it can achieve for anyone, that is empower them to move from a home-based hidden existence to a main street business where they can thrive. One can say that Chisomo is the lucky one, since he came to our attention first, ahead of all the new ones now who are on our waiting list. This is because his mother is a staff at our hospital and, no sooner had she caught sight of the previous shipment of our first 2 tricycles than she set out on a mission to find out how her son one could obtain one too. Just reward for being proactive I say. Chisomo has unfortunately had to wait more than 2 months to lay his hands on the tricycle though, owing to lack of transport to get the bike transferred to Ntcheu. We do have a Ntcheu vehicle that comes to Blantyre now and again but coordinating these visits with the collection of our tricycle is the same on the scale of difficulty as getting a bus from the depot on time and reach your destination without one delay or another!
Which is why I thought it was time now to widen the net a bit and turn to my own backyard for new clients. So our second beneficiary is a Blantyrite and it’s a SHE this time. I have tried as much as possible to be impartial with the allocation of tricycles but since Blantyre already had a long waiting for them and many of them are ladies, I thought I’d pick the first lady on the list. I don’t think that can be termed unfair given the relatively poorer chances of access to health care services that this gender enjoys in Malawi. Considering how statistically speaking empowering a woman can be so much more (cost) effective than empowering a man (given the male scourge of alcoholism and irresponsibility with money), that again quelled my discomfort pertaining to this bias. In fact it made me even wonder whether I should limit my field of activity exclusively to women and let the slow trickle in the system take care of the men! But I don’t think that’s fair either. So JD will my first Blantyre beneficiary and I shall revert to the natural order of the list, combining Blantyre and Ntcheu. More to come on that one in the next update...
Chisomo before
transferring
Being measured up by Mr Mittawa
Tricycle delivered through Mr Phiri- District Nursing Officer
Family meeting Chisomo (family form a major part of my sponsoring network)
Happy. Smiling. Empowered.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing useful information for us.I really enjoyed reading your blog, you have lots of great content.Please visit here: tanzania hotels
Post a Comment