Blind, lame and deaf trio climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
Daily Monitor
Robert Nkwangu (on the left) at the Uhuru peak 5895m.
By John K. Abimanyi (email the author)
Posted Monday, January 3 2011 at 00:00
For 27-year-old Florence Ndagire, and her friends Robert Nkwangu and Patrick Kasirye, climbing the highest mountain on the African continent was more than just fun. It was for a social cause, writes John K. Abimanyi.
Florence Ndagire has climbed more than two thirds of Africa’s tallest mountain but she did not see any of it. All she has are imagined impressions, created by her arduous experience up the climb and stories that she hears people weave. She has no visual clue whatsoever of the sheer magnitude of the inconceivable feat she achieved. Florence Ndagire is blind but beat all the odds to climb up to an unprecedented 3,950m of Mountain Kilimanjaro, which rises to 5,895m above sea level.
And to her story add that of Robert Nkwangu, a deaf man, and Patrick Kasirye, a lame man, who managed to reach the summit. The three were a team of Ugandans living with disabilities that set out to climb the mountain last month. I found Ndagire and Nkwangu at the Uganda Society for Disabled Children (USDC) offices in Kitante, Kampala, and here are their tales.
Florence Ndagire
Ndagire fumbled for a seat in the boardroom at USDC where she works as a Lobbying and advocacy officer. She wore her omni-directional smile, as if she was sure you were watching her. And when she smiled, she reminded you of Maimouna, the blind woman whose beauty got all men silently yearning for her in Ousmane Sembene’s book, God’s Bits of Wood.
After steadying herself in her chair, she directed her face straight on, revealing neatly done rows of fixed braids. There was something eager to talk, about her; something that was keen to tell her story. And when asked how she would describe mountain Kilimanjaro, she said, “Up there is beautiful, with many branches and trees. If you go there, you can appreciate nature.”
Her journey lasted only two days, coming to an end when she reached Shirra plateau, where, in fear of further steep climbs at Barancco wall, she was advised to stop. With visible excitement, she narrated her ordeal up Mount Kilimanjaro. “The journey to Machame gate was difficult, ” she says. “I had two men holding my hands on both sides, telling me where to step and when to climb. If you did not follow, you would fall, ” she adds.
“We started at 9a.m. and ended at 4p.m. At about midday, we would rest and have lunch. We walked for long hours. And at times you would get discouraged and the guides would tell you that ‘The tent is there’ or that ‘we have just 40 minutes to reach’ and yet you would continue walking only to realise you are not reaching,” she says. “We got very tired. I was feeling pain in my legs but the guides told us that pain was weakness leaving the body. We were reminded to focus on why we are going up there. So I did not mind about the pain because I wanted to get to the top and fundraise for the disabled children,” she adds.
As they trekked their way, a set of guides helped carry tents and tables that the group used. The night out of the open was virgin experience for Florence. “I had never slept in a sleeping bag before. It was very cold and the ground was very hard. I think I slept for about 30 minutes,”
she says.
“On the second day, we were told that it was very steep but that failure was not an option. We experienced a lot of altitude sickness. I had peelings on my nose, dry lips and no saliva in my mouth. There was good food but I had lost my appetite. And up there, there is little oxygen, so breathing also became a problem,” she says.
“Before we reached Barancco wall, I was told that I was going to stop there. I thought that I could manage but the doctor explained to me that now that I had a four-months old baby, I should not risk my health but make it back to take care of my child,” Ms Ndagire adds.
Although she strives to sound positive, Florence can’t hide the disappointment at not being able to reach the top. “I told myself, ‘ look, the others are going up.’ But then I told myself, I have reached my summit. I had made a point that people with disabilities have abilities and potential,” she says.
And so Ms Ndagire’s climb up the highest peak in Africa came to an abrupt end at 3,950m, at the end of the second day. Ms Susan Kisitu, the leader of the Ugandan team and executive director at USDC, said, “I cried when the doctor told us she was not going to continue but because her health was at stake, we had to do what the doctor said.”
Ndagire’s disappointment is only slight and she does not allow any of it to show. “I showed what disabled people are capable of doing,” she says again. Born 27 years ago, Ms Ndagire’s parents found out that she was blind, 10 days after she was born. Her cornea had not fully developed, the doctor told her parents then. But from the go, her parents were determined to give her an education. She did not go to any special schools for disabled children but blended in with pupils in regular schools. She says, “When you are a child, you learn very quickly and adapt easily.” She says she knew the ways to the dining hall, and to class.
Florence went to Spire Road and Bishop Wills Primary schools in Jinja.
She did her O’Levels at St Francis Secondary School in Soroti before going to Iganga Girls School for A’ Levels. She did a Bachelor of Arts in Laws degree at Makerere University on government sponsorship, she says, graduating in 2008.
Since then, she has worked at USDC and is a board member at the National Union of Women with Disabilities. She advises other disabled people, “ Not to sympathise with themselves because sympathy does not work,”
adding, “Disabled people are just like other people with a simple impairment but the rest of the body is functional.”
Robert Nkwangu
Just like ccarries a smile with him. His smile is even more constant, the first thing that comes to his face when you face each other. But unlike Florence, he made it to Uhuru peak, the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro.
He says the reason for his ascent up the mountain was to create awareness that disabled people, once included, can be a change to society. Through an interpreter, he narrated his ordeal. “On the first day, we walked for nine hours. It was fairly flat. We experienced vegetation change, from forest to moor land. It was very sunny during the day but very cold at night,” he says.
“On the second day, we walked for 10 hours. We walked deep, down and up again in an undulating form. It was very sunny. I drank four litres of water per day. We reached a flat rock, at a place called Shirra plateau and we slept there for the night,” he adds.
“On the third day, it was time for adapting to the environment. The weather was changing quickly. It was windy, cloudy, and then you would see snow, sand and then clouds again, then suddenly snow and rain again.
It was a day for adjusting. We walked for nine hours, and slept next to Barancco wall. The weather at night was fair, not so cold,” he says.
“On the fourth day, we climbed the wall. We climbed it like lizards. It was a straight wall and guides held our hands and pulled us up. We went through some flat areas and then others were steep. We walked for 11 hours until Barafu camp where we slept for three hours. It was very cold, ” Robert says.
“The fifth day was summit day. We dressed in very heavy clothes and started climbing at about 10p.m. It was very challenging. We walked in a zigzag, up-down for between seven to eight hours. It was a very long steep journey until we got to a place called Gilman’s point. Many people felt very successful and happy at that time. The place had so much ice, and the weather was very hostile. I can only compare the soil to lava; when you poured water into the soil, it disappeared very fast, ” Robert adds.
“But then we were told that we had not reached the top yet. We had one more hour. We walked through glaciers until Uhuru point. At 9a.m., I had reached my mission. We hugged each other. I felt very happy although I was very weak. But when you are happy, you can achieve strength. I felt like I was on top of the world. Reaching the roof of Africa; that’s the achievement I got,” he says. “At the top, I saw Moshi town, Tanzania and Mount Meru but we were advised to come down quickly,” he adds.
Nkwangu was not born deaf. “I became deaf when I was in P.3,” he says.
His parents were however very supportive and they encouraged him to continue with his studies like nothing had happened. He went to the St Peters schools in Nsambya for both Primary and secondary education before graduating with a Social Science degree from Makerere University.
He is currently pursuing a Masters in Social Sector Planning and management at Makerere. Robert hopes to work with disabled communities after school, he says; creating awareness about the potential of women, children and the disabled.
According to Ndagire and Nkwangu, their trek up the Kilimanjaro is symbolic of an even bigger struggle that disabled people go through daily. For every hardship faced up the trek, Robert says, be it peeling and swollen lips, altitude sickness, nausea or the steep climb, it symbolised the challenges of stigma, denial and abuse that people living with disabilities endure, just to achieve their dreams. They equated a climber failing to reach the summit, thanks to a hardship or two, to society’s barring disabled people to archive their full potential.
But when someone reaches the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, they added, it’s like a disabled person who has beaten all the odds that nature has thrown at them, to become a change for their entire society. Many able bodied and financially able people have never climbed a mountain. But Ndagire and Nkwangu, who are blind and lame respectively, have shown that you don’t need to be the most likely contender to create a path where there is none.
Additional reporting by Mark Msoke, Daily Citizen.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.monitor.co.ug/LifeStyle/Reviews/-/691232/1082562/-/bmr316/-/
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【アマゾンを利用してAJFに寄付を！】アフィリエイト報告2010年11月
新年あけましておめでとうございます。Candidates should have interpreters for sign language
01月04日 New Vision -
Barry Olouch
THE Constitution of Uganda states that the Government will protect and promote the development of sign language as other languages of Uganda.
The Constitution is also against the discrimination of Ugandan citizens on the basis of their disabilities.
However, its disappointing to realise that in the on-going campaigns for political positions, candidates have not involved people with hearing impairment. So, whatever they say is never conveyed to the voters with hearing impairment because there are no sign language interpreters at the rallies and meetings.
More so, most of the candidates have ignored people with disabilities and their issues have not been brought up during the campaigns.
The challenge of deaf citizens not accessing information like other hearing persons has also been aggravated by the Uganda Broadcasting Commission that has failed to implement the articles that relate to access to information in the Communication Act where all television media are supposed to provide signography on televisions atleast twice a day.
This shows that the legislations are useless if there is no political will to implement them.
The World Health Organisation estimates that there are 80 million deaf person’s world wide and over 40% of them are found in Africa. According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the related national census of 2002; it is estimated that Uganda has over 700,000 deaf adults. Therefore, I appeal to all politicians not to ignore people with hearing impairment because they are also voters.
US President Barrack Obama used sign language interpreters during his entire Campaign rail.
During a recent interview, Alex Ndeezi, the MP representing persons with disabilities for the central region, said Uganda has enough qualified sign language interpreters to serve every district in the country.
The head of the department of special needs education at Kyambogo University recently said the institution has been producing more than 20 graduates with a diploma in sign language every year since 2000.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/742719
HM the King inaugurates in Ait Melloul socio-medical center for over $2mln
01月05日 Maghreb Arabe Presse
Ait Melloul - HM King Mohammed VI inaugurated, on Tuesday in the urban commune of Ait Melloul (12 km south of the city of Agadir), a socio- medical center worth 18 million dirhams (over 2 million dollars).
- The facility includes a hemodialysis center, a socio-educational centre for disabled children, a local community day nursery, and a center for the deaf-mute.
- The new socio-medical center will benefit 300 people and create 65 openings.
The Sovereign toured the center which is carried out as part of the Moroccan anti-poverty programme the national initiative for human development (INDH) and includes a hemodialysis center, a socio- educational centre for disabled children, a local community day nursery and a center for the deaf-mute.
Built on an area of 4,000 square meters, the project is aimed at promoting social and health services for disadvantaged groups, fighting the social exclusion of special needs people and providing care for children with working mothers to uphold the principle of equal opportunities.
The new socio-medical center will benefit 300 people and create 65 openings.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/main1/hm_the_king_inaugura4298/view
Govt praised for improving lives of disabled
The Swazi Observer
06 January, 2011 10:52:00 By Sibonginkosi Mamba
FEDERATION of the Disabled in Swaziland (FODSWA) President Musa Makhanya is pleased that government is making efforts to improve the lives of disabled persons in the country.
He said this would help move the country to first world status as per His Majesty King Mswati III desires.
He was speaking during the commemoration of Braille Day, which is celebrated annually on January 4.
Makhanya further praised government for availing certain information on Braille for visually impaired persons.
He said presently, St. Joseph’s Mission was the only school where blind people could learn through the use of Braille.
He, however, revealed that there were two schools which it was envisaged would also offer Braille studies to visually impaired children.
The office of the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) is responsible for the welfare of disabled people in the country.
Recently, the DPM’s office announced that a policy that would cater for the welfare of disabled people was in the pipeline.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=19519
Boy, 12, Suffers Crippling Disability
Liberian Daily Observer
Publication Date: January 12, 2011 - 12:08am
Updated: January 12, 2011 - 12:08am
News Section:Community News
Little Samuel S. Dean, Jr
Seeks Advanced Medication
By: Leroy M. Sonpon, III
An SOS called has been made to save the life of 12-year-old Samuel S. Dean, Jr., who is suffering from a “terrible pain” from a major crippling disability on his left leg and left arm.
Mr. Samuel S. Dean, Sr., father of the afflicted kid, who walked in the McDonald Street office of the Daily Observer last week, told our reporter that his son, Samuel, is presently unable to use his left leg and left arm, owing to the anguish.
Mr. Dean, who also is disabled, explained that according to medical advice from Dr. Robert Kpoto, an Orthopedic Surgeon, if the lad failed to seek medical treatment abroad for his leg and hand, the pain from the crippling disability would cause him an early and aching death.
Mr. Dean is therefore appealing to the Liberian Government, donors, philanthropists and humanitarians as well as the business community to come to the aid of his son to save his life.
“I want to use this medium to appeal to every well meaning Liberian and foreigner, including the government, the diplomatic community as well as the business community to help us restore life into our son with any substantial financial support to enable him go to a high-tech country for surgery that could minimize his pain and diminish his suffering ,”
Mr. Dean pleaded.
“The pain,” Mr. Dean stated, “is slowly killing my son and we are begging for financial assistance in the name of God,” he said.
How Samuel Was Victimized? According to Mr. Dean, in 2002 some soldiers of former president of Liberia Charles Taylor entered the Ivory Coast by way of Nimba County and invaded Danane in Ivory Coast. They were mercenaries fighting alongside the Ivorian Rebels. Their aggressive war techniques inherited from Liberia and Sierra Leone left calamitous effects thus triggering meticulous retaliation from the Ivorian government forces.
In an attempt to hit where they thought it would have hurt the most, the Ivorian government forces decided to fire on the Liberian Refugee population. Amongst the victims of this gruesome reprisal was my 4-year- old son.
On his way from school one day he (Samuel S. Dean Jr) and his best friend encountered intense gunfire from an Ivorian helicopter gunship.
The bullets literally eviscerated Samuel's classmate, killing him instantly; but fragments from the body of his friend hit him, too, rendering him seriously injured. “When my sister who was his care taker at the time came to retrieve him from the scene, she got attacked too; bullet fragments ripped through her lower extremities. As God would have it, she survived with minor wounds.
Samuel S. Dean Jr., on the other hand, suffered a major crippling disability because of this incident. His left leg got amputated and there's a key nerve damage to his left arm, and presently he cannot use his left leg neither can he use his left arm.
0Copyright Liberian Observer - All Rights Reserved. This article cannot be re-published without the expressed, written consent of the Liberian Observer. Please contact us for more information or to request publishing permission.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.liberianobserver.com/node/9997
Any Hope for Physically Challenged in 2011?
FOR several decades, over 20 million Nigerians living with disabilities have been sidelined in the country's political processes.
These people, who form a significant segment of the Nigerian nation, have always been crowded out of the political space.
They are not catered for in terms of election management, in appointment structures and the general political landscape.
The majority of them cannot vote and cannot be voted for.
Sadly, the constitution and the entire environment have not been helping matter, as far as these special ones are concerned. Unfortunately, apart from photo opportunity that presents itself whenever charity programmes are organised for the people living with disabilities, nothing worthwhile can be pointed to as sincere and far-reaching incentives aimed at making life more meaningful for them in the Nigerian society.
It is on record that Uganda has certain number of seats in the country's parliamentary chamber specially reserved for the people living with disabilities. This, accordingly, has been functional since 1995.
Some of the questions begging for answers include: Does the recently amended Electoral Act have provisions for these people? Are there provisions for them in the constitution? If yes, what about its practicability in a country where human rights abuses are accepted norms? Has the Prof. Attahiru Jega led-Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made provisions for the physically-challenged individuals in the build-up to this year's general elections? What is going to be their fate when the voters' registration eventually kick off? Where are the provisions for them even in other public places? The questions are endless.
Arguably, the critical issue for persons with disabilities is one of lack of full inclusion in the national polity.
Very little or no mention is made of Nigerians with disabilities in the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act of 2006 did little to address the issue of elections as far as persons with disabilities are concerned.
It is clear that Section 57 of the Electoral Act 2006 which mandates the INEC to create an accessible atmosphere for persons with disabilities to participate in the elections is virtually ignored. Without doubt, the right to participate in the democratic process is the right of all Nigerians, irrespective of status or physical ability. But most often, Nigerians with disabilities encounter serious difficulties in trying to exercise these inalienable rights to participate fully and effectively in the process because the electoral laws are not disability-sensitive and often discriminatory in nature.
The environment freely given by God to humanity has also been made inaccessible to these people by way of various disabling architectural masterpieces which are springing up daily across the country.
Even though there have been widespread criticisms against this apparent discrimination, all attempts seem to have failed to yield positive result.
It is in view of this apparent anomaly that a group of vulnerable individuals whose life adventures are a success story today, embarked on an advocacy as part of measures to sensitise Nigerians, particularly those in authority, to the need to come to term with the fact that people with disabilities are also part of the Nigerian populace.
During a visit to the headquarters of the Nigerian Compass in Isheri, Ogun State, the people called on the government and other Nigerians not to treat them as aliens due to their predicament, which may not necessarily be the fault of theirs.
In a statement jointly signed by Daniel A. Onwe, Johnson O. Ajayi, Christopher I. Obanye, Olusola O. Adeyefa, Tobiloba Ajayi and Godwin Itumah, on behalf of other Nigerians with disabilities, they argued that virtually all public buildings are accessed via steps without ramps and lifts, and where ramps or lifts are available, they are not well positioned to cater for the people with disabilities.
The statement reads in part: “Banks are more or less no go areas for our people because their security doors are too narrow for the passage of our brothers and sisters on wheelchairs. Those on metal-based crutches fare no better as the security devices at the door will screen them out. The story of our blind, deaf and dumb brothers and sisters is even worse as no provision is made in public settings for means of communication, which are Braille and sign language. Therefore, they live in a society where they are rendered non-functional.
“The laws in Nigeria, including the constitution, are appalling as they do not make provisions to cater for the peculiarities of persons with disabilities. For instance, all the inputs to protect the interest of persons with disabilities made at the constitution amendment exercise were not included by neither the federal nor state legislators in the amended Nigerian constitution.
“As unbelievable as it may sound, Nigeria does not have a comprehensive disability legislation to protect the interest of Nigerians with disabilities.”
They noted that polling boots are not accessible to wheelchair users, voters' cards are not available in Braille for the blind, there is a marked absence of any sign language support for the deaf, nor are they carried along in the electronic media as jingles and political ads on the electoral process on TV are not interpreted in sign language and amputees and persons affected by leprosy are disenfranchised because they are not able to cast their votes due to the absence or certain limbs. These barriers experienced by persons with disabilities prevent them from exercising their civic right.
The leader of the delegation, Olusola Adeyefa, said: “It has been our earnest desire and prayer to have dedicated persons with disabilities who understand what the disability issues are at the decision making realm of government in Nigeria to champion the cause of over 20 million Nigerians with disabilities.
“As the saying goes: 'He who wears the shoes knows where they pinch'. This we have seen in the declaration of a foremost industrialist and an achiever, Mr Cosmas I. B. Okoli (OON) to run for membership of the House of Representatives for Amuwo-Odofin Federal Constituency on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
“Already, he is instrumental to the promotion of the bill on Nigerians with disabilities presently awaiting the assent of the President. He possesses the requisite academic qualification, global exposure and humanitarian disposition to make him a legislator per excellence.”
Adeyefa maintained that Okoli has consistently stood out in empowering persons with disabilities, by bringing special sports to limelight in Nigeria while serving as president of Special Sports.
He said: “It is worthy of note that persons with disabilities bear the brunt of all the predicaments besetting the common man. Therefore, the cause of persons with disabilities championed by Okoli all his life encapsulates the yearning and aspirations of the common man. It therefore, goes without saying that Cosmas Okoli has been experientially equipped to selflessly champion the cause of humanity.” Adeyefa also called on well meaning Nigerians to always reserve a thought for persons with disabilities.
But what they are asking, according to Obanye, is not a charity-induced sympathy, but a right that is due to them as Nigerians.
He said: “We are in this condition not necessarily by our own making. It is actually the irresponsibility of some people that have turned out to be our responsibility. Do you believe there are still some people in this 21st Century who are opposed to the immunisation of their children due to one religion or the other? Look at our roads, riddled with potholes. Even relevant agencies have lost count of road crashes that keep occurring. If government at all levels have lived up to their responsibilities, there would have been reduction in the number of casualties.”
Ghana Federation of Disabled builds capacity of members
Lack of organisational capacity for advocacy, especially, at the grassroots level, has been identified as a key weakness of the disability movement and its progress in Ghana.The situation, according to members of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD), infringes on their fundamental human rights, explaining that disabled persons in the country, especially, the deaf and the visually impaired, are unable to communicate their health needs to health professionals for medical attention.
As a move to address the situation, the Asunafo Branch of the GFD, which consists of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled (GSPD), the Ghana Blind Union (GBU) and the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD), under the sponsorship of the Flex Fund, has organised a two-day capacity building programme in advocacy for its members at Goaso.
The two-day advocacy workshop was to create a new framework for joint cooperation among actors of the disability movement in the Asunafo North Municipality, and to also build a strategic capacity within the organisations to give members of the federation the necessary skills to effectively and efficiently articulate their needs, as well as their feelings, particularly, on issues that affect them.
The participants, who were over 20 in number, were given training on the basics of advocacy, where they were taken through advocacy concepts, steps, tools, and types of advocacy, and the process of developing an advocacy strategy on the first day.
The aim of the first day was to equip the participants with the theorotical underpinnings of advocacy, to enable them participate meaningfully in the actual development of the advocacy strategy, whilst the second day was devoted to the development of the actual advocacy strategy framework.
The participants, at the end of the workshop, enumerated improved access to healthcare and health facilities, access to the 2% share district assembly common fund, and addressing the high unemployment rate of PWDs, as a priority issue they would tackle in the next twelve months, using the training they hag acquired.
They insisted that to advocate for the training of professional sign language interpreters by the GNAD who would be placed at all healthcare facilities in the municipality, to ensure that the health needs of their members, especially, those of GNAD, are met adequately.
Mr. Benjamin Amofa, an Assistant Director of Education at the Asutifi district in the Brong Ahafo Region, who facilitated the workshop, said even though they had commend the government for the institution of the National Health Insurance Scheme, which has come to mitigate the sufferings of the impoverished in society, it has failed to clearly recognise the health needs of the disabled, with respect to adequate attention to their peculiar health needs.
The Chairperson of the committee that undertook the workshop, Victoria Kinful, also, in an interview, stressed that the architectural designs of many health facilities also prevents PWDS from accessing health care, education, as well as other social benefits in the country, since movement was extremely difficult for them. 'If government has good health plans for the people of this country, but fails to recognise the needs of the disabled, then such plans become incomplete, since we are all Ghanaians,' he noted.
National Council of Persons with Disability gives to Amputee team
The National Council of Persons with Disability (NCPD) on Tuesday donated clutches to the National Amputee Football team, "the Black Challenge" to prepare the team for the impending Africa Amputee Cup of Nations to be hosted by Ghana in September this year.
The 20 clutches are also to motivate the team to give off their best in the competition, as Ghana aspires to win the event.
Andrews Okai Koi Nii, Chairman of NCPD at a presentation ceremony in Accra on Tuesday, said his outfit was inspired to donate the clutches to the team following their impressive performance at the Amputee World Cup in Argentina last year.
He said he was hopeful that the donation will help alleviate the logistical problems that confront the team in their preparations towards the competition.
Okai Koi urged the team to put up their best for the competition and approach it with "a host and win" mentality.
Francis Adjetey-Sowah, Vice President of the Disabled Sports Association expressed appreciation to the Council for coming to their aid with the clutches, adding that it will enhance their preparations for the competition and bring out the best in the playing body.
He called on corporate bodies to partner the Association to develop disabled sports in the country.
Worlanyo Agrah, Chief Executive Officer of the National Sports Council (NSC) described the donation as timely.
"To receive such a donation at this time of the year is significant because the players will have adequate time to use the clutches for their preparations."
Agra said the Council will provide the Association with the necessary support to stage a successful event and expressed the hope that the event will receive the needed corporate support.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_sports/r_24290/
National Council of Persons with Disability gives to Amputee team
The National Council of Persons with Disability (NCPD) on Tuesday donated clutches to the National Amputee Football team, “the Black Challenge” to prepare the team for the impending Africa Amputee Cup of Nations to be hosted by Ghana in September this year.
The 20 clutches are also to motivate the team to give off their best in the competition, as Ghana aspires to win the event.
Andrews Okai Koi Nii, Chairman of NCPD at a presentation ceremony in Accra on Tuesday, said his outfit was inspired to donate the clutches to the team following their impressive performance at the Amputee World Cup in Argentina last year.
He said he was hopeful that the donation will help alleviate the logistical problems that confront the team in their preparations towards the competition.
Okai Koi urged the team to put up their best for the competition and approach it with “a host and win“ mentality.
Francis Adjetey-Sowah, Vice President of the Disabled Sports Association expressed appreciation to the Council for coming to their aid with the clutches, adding that it will enhance their preparations for the competition and bring out the best in the playing body.
He called on corporate bodies to partner the Association to develop disabled sports in the country.
Worlanyo Agrah, Chief Executive Officer of the National Sports Council (NSC) described the donation as timely.
“To receive such a donation at this time of the year is significant because the players will have adequate time to use the clutches for their preparations.”
Agra said the Council will provide the Association with the necessary support to stage a successful event and expressed the hope that the event will receive the needed corporate support.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.businessghana.com/portal/sports/news.php?op=getNews&id=20276&news_cat_id=1
The loud music in Kampala pubs will leave us all deaf
Posted Monday, January 17 2011 at 00:00
Playing of loud music has become synonymous with the majority of Kampala pubs/restaurants despite the related negative health and environmental outcomes that can impact on people.
Regular exposure to loud music causes excessive wear and tear on the delicate inner ear structures which intern leads to ‘noise-induced hearing loss.
Both the intensity and the frequency of noise exposure determine the potential for damage to the hair cells of the inner ear which results in hearing loss.
According to a study (Noise-induced hearing loss) by Dr Raninowitz Peter, a professor at Yale University School of Medicine, noise-induced hearing loss is the second most common form of sensorineural hearing deficit, after presbycusis (age-related hearing loss).
The scale of loud music in Kampala makes it plausible that there should be a sizeable number of people whose hearing could be progressively deteriorating as a result of being in regular exposure to extreme loud music.
One wonders whether the motivation for this practice is underpinned by the competition in this industry in a sense that keeping a low and serene music-sound gives a competitor an edge to outcompete the perpetrators.
I doubt that people would abandon a pub/restaurant whose music is kept calm allowing a favourable atmosphere for customers to engage freely in a conversation.
Residents in the neighbourhoods to these pubs endure unprecedented noise no matter how frequent they seek redress from the local authorities.
Personally I gave up on using my radio and TV at my rented house in Kiwatule due to the constantly deafening music from a nearby recreation center.
Such loud music can compel some people to seek alternative places to rent a house making it near impossible for landlords in the affected areas to maintain tenants.
National Environmental Advisory Management Authority has seldom tried to crack down on this practice.
Lawlessness in Uganda is still a culture that our government- institutions are yet to take solemn.
People are always bound to exploit a weak law enforcement system, which is actually what is aggravating music pollution in Kampala.
Therefore institutions like NEMA and police are without a doubt letting our society down on this.
Denis Akankunda Bwesigye
Doctor of Public Health (DrPH Candidate) at State University of New York.
Angola wants to co-operate with Cuba in creation of schools for disabled people
01月20日 AngolaPress
Luanda - The vice president of Angola, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos expressed on Tuesday in Havana the interest of Angola in cooperating with the Republic of Cuba in the creation of special schools, so as to improve the programmes of disabled people's social integration.
Fernando da Piedade said so while he was reading his message at the end of a visit he paid to “solidariedad com Panam?” school, which assists about 105 disabled students.
On Tuesday, the Angolan vice president also visited institutions involved in scientific research and treatment of diseases.
Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos is in Cuba for a five-day working visit, at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Jose Ramon Machado Ventura.
A house at last for disabled granny
01月21日 Sowetan
2011/01/20 | Khulekani Mazibuko | 22 comments
DISABLED grandmother Dumani Cele, 75, will soon have a roof over her head for the first time in her life
Cele, of Esigungwini village in Phongola, northern KwaZulu-Natal, has been living in a rusty shack with five granddaughters.
Her plight was brought to mayor Bhekithemba Mncwango's attention when a municipal delegation visited her village to assess the damage caused by floods.
Cele, who cannot walk since suffering a stroke in 2008, depends on her neighbours because "her granddaughters neglect her and do as they please".
"I was lying on my mattress when the mayor visited. He promised to build me a house after seeing my leaky roof," Cele said.
"I was touched by the old lady's living conditions during a recent visit to Esigungwini. I decided to build her a three-roomed house. We expect the house to be finished by the last week of January," Mncwango said.
Neighbour Thobeka Sithole said the Cele family's troubles were known in the community.
She said Cele used all her pension money to support her grandchildren.
She claimed that Cele's granddaughters were neglecting her.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/01/20/a-house-at-last-for-disabled-granny
Disabled sports / World championships: Morocco in New Zealand
Morocco will represent Africa at the word championships of Athletics of disabled persons, qualifying for the Paralympic Games of London 2012 which started Friday 21 January.
By: PKK
23/01/11 17:48 GMT
On Friday 21 January, the opening ceremony of disabled persons athletics world championship took place in Christchurch, New Zealand. This competition gathered about 1200 athletes from 79 counties including Morocco. Led by the national technical manager Said Lamrini and the coaches Allal Taki and Mohamed Moullahine, the Moroccan delegation comprised 7 athletes.
Morocco representatives
Rachid Rachad (discus/javelin, category F40), Mohamed El Gara？ (discuss/ shot put/javelin, F40), Tarik Zalzouli and Youssef Ben Brahim (1.500m/ T13), Abdelilah Mam (800/400m, T13), Sanae Benhima (100/200400m T13) and the sisters Najat and Leila El Gara？ (shot put/discus F40).
Moroccan athletes’ competition schedule:
Saturday 22 January:
Sanae Benhama (100m/T13)
Sunday 23 January:
Tarik Zalzouli (final 1500m/T13)
Youssef Benibrahim (final 1500m/T13)
Laila El Gara？ (final shot put /F40)
Najat El Gara？ (final shot put/F40)
Monday 24 January:
Rachid Rachad (final discus/F40)
Mohamed El Gara？ (final discus/F40)
Tuesday 25 January:
Sanae Benhama (semi final 200m/T13)
Mohamed El Gara？ (semi final shot put/F40)
Wednesday 26 January :
Sanae Benhama (final 200m/T13)
Thursday 27 January:
Abdelilah Mame (semi final 800m/T13)
Sanae Behama (semi final 400m/T13)
Friday 28 January:
Abdelillah Mame (final 800m/T13)
Rachid Rachad (final javelin/F40)
Mohamed El Gara？ (final javelin/F40)
Abdelillah Mame (semi final 400m/T13)
Saturday 29 January:
Abdelillah Mame (final 800m/T13)
Sanae Benhama (final 400m/T13)
Laila El Gara？ (final discus/F40)
Najat El Gara？ (final discus/F40)
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.starafrica.com/en/more-sports/more-sports/article/disabled-sports-world-championships-m-142615.html
インターン募集
DPI日本会議では、国際事業担当インターンを募集しております。。GH¢1.8 million Assembly Hall for School for the Deaf
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, the Tema Mantse, Nii Adjei Kraku II, and the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr. Robert Kempes Ofosuware, last Friday jointly commissioned a beautiful assembly/dining hall complex and a three storey girls’ dormitory, valued at about GH¢1.8 million, to the State School for the Deaf at Adjei Kojo, near Ashaiman.
Addressing the gathering at a colourful ceremony at Adjei-Kojo, Nii Armah Ashietey disclosed that the projects were constructed with funds from the Government of Ghana, purposely to improve on the infrastructure needs of the school, which in the long run, would enhance teaching and learning.
“As much as we are desirous and committed to transform the education sector, I must admit that the challenges confronting the sector are enormous. However, I have a firm conviction that with absolute commitment, tenacity of purpose, and setting our priorities right, we can overcome the challenges, and achieve the desired national goal,” he noted.
According to him, the challenges in the school for the physically challenged were more demanding, because, apart from the fact that they need infrastructure, they also lacked requisite teaching aids and specially trained teachers.
He advised the teachers to give special attention and care to them, “and they will perform just like their colleagues in the ‘normal school’.”
In conclusion, he called on players in the private sector, old students, individuals, and non-governmental organisations to support the school in the provision of infrastructure, teaching and learning materials for the school.
Mr. Robert Kempes Ofosuware, on his part, noted that the construction of the dormitory block was as a result of the children who commute daily from areas such as Chorkor, Weija and its environs to attend school.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://ghanaian-chronicle.com/regional-files/greater-accra-region/gh%C2%A21-8-million-assembly-hall-for-school-for-the-deaf/
講座「人権論の再定位」１ 人権の再問
斉藤@AJF事務局です。Visually impaired to get loans from Youth Fund
The Swazi Observer
25 January, 2011 11:26:00 By Nomthandazo Nkambule
IN a bid to make the youth enterprise fund accessible to the visually impaired a form tailor made for them has been designed.
Chairman Dumsani Msibi said the fund accommodated everyone regardless of their abilities as long as they would submit a convincing proposal.
He said they had a Braille form in their offices. Msibi said the form would only be filled by the visually impaired so that they would not share their business ideas.
Msibi was speaking during the touring of projects funded by the youth fund over the weekend. He said they hoped to get more forms for the second phase.
He said they would evaluate the forms and communicate with those who applied successfully.
“Let me take this opportunity to encourage the youth to make use of this opportunity and apply,” he said. He said they disbursed in excess of E5 million for the second phase.
He said despite the country’s ailing economic situation the youth enterprise fund envisages getting E10 million. Msibi said the amount would enable them to continue funding aspiring entrepreneurs.
He said they envisaged that the youth would be a standalone institution.
IT graduate tells her story on youth fund
AN Information Technology (IT) graduate, Futhi Mngomezulu runs an embroidery business after being capitalised with E50 000 by the youth enterprise fund.
She said she decided to apply for a loan after an unsuccessful quest for a job. Mngomezulu said she bought an inbro embroidery machine with the loan. She said she designed school logos on uniforms.
“I run FMG investment together with two others and so far the business is doing well. Initially the embroidery machine was E65 000 and was bought in Johannesburg. Our customers are the schools around, we also get individual customers. We topped up with E15 000 as the youth fund loaned us E50 000. The business has been operating for three months and we are upbeat about its future. At the rate things are going, we will make profit,” said the Mbabane-Corporation resident.
She said she believed the youth fund would eradicate poverty as they oriented applicants on business skills and practices before getting the loan. Mngomezulu said after sometime they envisaged buying a bigger machine so that they would be efficient.
She noted that running a business demanded dedication as sometimes she woke up as early as 5am and closed shop at 10pm.
“I thank the youth fund for the loan; I never thought I will run a business and here I am running a successful business. I encourage others who are unemployed to apply for loans so that they improve their livelihood through running a business,” she said.
500 youth get loans
CHAIRMAN of the youth enterprise fund Dumsani Msibi said they have given out loans to close to 500 youth.
He said they would visit all funded projects from time to time. He said they were grateful to Imbita for the technical evaluation and appraisal.
He said they hoped the youth was satisfied with the whole evaluation process as they believed it was transparent and fair.
“I thank Standard Bank, one of our partners as they gave a free charge bank account,” he said.
He noted that the youth enterprise Fund started operating a year ago with the board having been appointed around December 2009.
He said they started working last January.
“The aim of the tour is to see how the funded projects are operating.
The projects we have so far toured encourage us so much as they are an indication that the youth has taken youth empowerment seriously,” he said.
He said for the last three years they got E14 million which was released in sums of E6 million, E4 m and another E4m.
…50 logos a day
FMG investment designs close to 50 logos for customers per day.
One of the people involved in the business is IT graduate Futhi Mngomezulu. Mngomezulu said they charged women who designed uniforms E15 per logo while individuals were charged E20. She said per day they received more than 10 people coming for their services.
“From the E50 000, I pay E3 000 per month as installment to youth fund and will pay 10% interest per year,” she said.
She noted that they paid E1000 per month for rent at Mbabane old post office building.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=20306
KENYA: Giving life to the deaf
AfricaNews
Posted on Wednesday 26 January 2011 - 08:51 Photo and Text: Ibrahim Moha Cade, AfricaNews reporter in Wajir, Kenya
>From a distance, a crowd of students revel around a volleyball pitch, cheering their team as they engage their opponents in a fierce challenge to win the ball, amazingly on coming closer no one hears their shouts, only the sound of clapping hands fill the air. The excitement and enthusiasm in their faces is too much to ignore.
Welcome to Wajir School for the deaf in north-eastern Kenya, a rare school that caters for a forgotten lot. The school which was established 1995 as a small unit attached to Wajir primary school with only six pupils is now a fully-fledged one with 108 students. It provides a conducive learning environment where students find people they can easily relate with.
Apart from the normal school curriculum, the school imparts the students with life skills that will enable them be independent adults capable of taking control of their lives in future. “A deaf child can do everything in the same manner a normal child can do. The only problem is their inability to hear,” says Mrs. Kheira Kassim, the head teacher.
She confirms that disability is not inability.
A testimony to their success in 2007, the school emerged the second best nationwide in the Kenya certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination among the deaf schools. “If given chance, deaf children can succeed to their full potential. We should not close windows of opportunities for them because of their disability,” she notes.
Recently when AfricaNews paid a visit to the school, the students were busy preparing for the inter-school ball games. In one of the friendly matches played against Wajir primary volleyball team, the deaf students were too strong for their opponent beating them with an exuberant performance.
Their rivals were not able to match their skillful execution of the ball coupled with the decisive blocks and the exquisite delivery of their shots. Madam Kheira says there is lack of parental participation and involvement when it comes to the child‘s development.
“Some parents just dump their children in the school with no follow up on the child`s development.
“Sometimes teachers are forced to look for the parents when the school breaks for the holiday,” she states.
Confinement
She adds that most parents confine their deaf children to the house whenever they sense a child has some form of disability instead of exposing them so as to get the necessary help to fit in the society.
Every year the school embarks on a recruitment exercise to literally fetch out deaf children abandoned in the villages. “We bring students from as far as Turantura and Admasajida to give them the opportunity to access the free primary education although some parents often resist exposing their disable children,” the head teacher reveals.
Teachers at the school are often confronted with difficulties as some students have multiple disabilities hence require extra attention.
“The school has been forced to employ extra none teaching staffs who work 24 hours on shifts to cater for such students,” says Mrs. Kheira. “Dealing with students with special needs is a task that requires dexterity.”
The school, the only one of its kind in the entire North eastern province and the upper eastern survives on support from the ministry of education and seasonal donors, is often overstretched and lacks the wherewithal to cater for the ever increasing needs of the students as they do not pay cost sharing fees unlike their counterparts in the mainstream primary schools. Inadequate learning materials, resource constraints, lack of accessible health education information are other major challenges facing the institution.
Challenges
“Our curriculum is totally different from the mainstream schools, most of the books used are sign language-based which are not locally available,” Mrs. Kheira states.
Most students drop out of school after successfully completing their primary education due to lack of a secondary school which hampers access to higher education as the nearest school is located in Nyeri in Central province of Kenya.
In his speech while releasing last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), Education Minister Professor Sam Ongeri stressed the need to give equal opportunity to access education to all members of the society including those with special needs. “Through our increased support in this area, we have seen more students with special needs accessing secondary education and enrolling for the KCSE examination over the years.”
In 2009 there were 420 KCSE examination candidates with various disabilities which reflected an upward increase of 76 candidates from 344 in 2008 which translates to a 22.1% increase. The minister decried the low enrollment for national examinations among the students with special disabilities.
“While my Ministry is committed to carry out the necessary capacity and infrastructure development in this sector, it remains the duty of education managers and other stakeholders to encourage and support parents and guardians to enable them to deal with the negative attitudes that some of the parents hold with respect to children with different kinds of disabilities and enroll them in specialized schools.”
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.africanews.com/site/KENYA_Giving_life_to_the_deaf/list_messages/37149
Disabled Sports /Morocco: Benhama in silver
StarAfrica.com
The Moroccan Sanae Benhama won a second silver medal on Wednesday at the disabled athletics world championship. After the one in 100m, it is in 200m in the blind category.
By: P G
27/01/11 17:24 GMT
Last Sunday, the Moroccan flag fluttered in the sky of New Zealand where the competition is taking place, thanks to Tarik Zalzouli and Youssef Benibrahim winner of gold and bronze medal in 1500m. This same day, Laila El Gara？ had won the bronze medal in shot put (F40).
At the end of the 5th day, attended by 1200 athletes from 79 countries, Morocco is 20th with 5 medals including one gold, two silver and bronze.
Note that these world championships are qualifying for the Paralympics 2012.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.starafrica.com/en/more-sports/athletics/article/disabled-sports-morocco-benhama-in-sil-143683.html
MP decries mistreatment of disabled persons
IPPmedia
BY CORRESPONDENT 30th January 2011
Al Shyamaa Kweigyr
A nominated Member of Parliament on ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi(CCM) ticket has decried what she described as inhuman conditions, which people with special needs are subjected to in utter disregard to their entitled rights.
Al?Shyamaa Kweigyr (pictured) said that people with disability grapple with discrimination, abuse, neglect and user-unfriendly infrastructures among a horde of other challenges several decades after the country attained independence.
Kweigyr, presiding over the Annual Programme Meeting of a local non- governmental organisation, said earlier this week that Tanzania risks losing its national cohesion if marginalization of these people continues.
The programme is dedicated to fighting preventable blindness in the country, Sightsavers Tanzania. She expressed indignation on brutal killings of albinos in the country that attracted worldwide condemnation some years back.
“It is highly ridiculous that in this current age and time, people still cling to outdated and misplaced belief that body parts of people with albinism condition are a sure ticket to attaining wealth. What kind of mentality is that?” she queried.
According to Kweigyr, these acts are perpetrated by relatives of the victims, who for want of quick riches get directly involved, or act in collusion with wealth-hungry individuals, in killing albinos for their organs.
However, she said the killings have become fewer after she teamed up with Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in a nationwide campaign of public awareness on the criminality aspect of trading in human body parts as well the myth behind the whole fa?ade that targeted people with albinism.
She pointed out that the government is committed to creating a level playing field by instituting an enabling and disability-friendly environment that will ensure equality reigns supreme in Tanzania.
The MP further commended organisations and other civil institutions dedicated to improving welfare of people with disability for supplementing government’s efforts in empowering them through provision of education and other social services.
“I’m really delighted by your organisation, which has remained steadfast in fighting preventable blindness in the country, assisting people with vision impairment, and helping integrate those who have lost their eye sights within the society,” she said.
Addressing the same event, Country Director of Sightsavers Tanzania Dr Ibrahim Kabole said people with disability have had to bear untold suffering of various forms of discrimination and human rights violation at the hands of the very society in which they live alongside relatives, friends and colleagues.
“Deliberate efforts are needed to ensure that people with disability are empowered in every way without necessarily being confined to dependence in order to create a just society where all people can live in harmony with one another,” Kabole stated.
He further pledged his organization’s commitment to provide services to people with visual impairment and outlined achievements over the past year during which they reached over 100,000 people with various forms of disability and helped restore ability to see to about 10,000 people who had lost their eye sights.
The event also marked 60 years of service by Sightsavers Tanzania in the country despite numerous challenges such as dwindling number of donors, which he attributed to the global economic crisis among others.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=25586
Is epilepsy a disability?
The Swazi Observer
31 January, 2011 11:11:00 Epilepsy Swaziland
THE Employment Equity Act defines disability as; “A long term or recurring physical or mental impairment which substantially limits entry or advancement into employment”.
On the other hand, the Constitutional Court recognises that people are regarded as disabled because of a particular characteristic or quality.
Thus disability can be defined as impairment related and yes in most cases epilepsy arises from a structural or chemical defect or imbalance in the brain.
Secondly, disability can be defined as an impairment which substantially limits entry or advancement and yes, it is well documented that the disclosure of a diagnosis of epilepsy substantially limits a person’s prospects of being employed or advancing in the work place.
Furthermore, disability is regarded as a barrier to equal participation with others which can either be impairment related attitudes and perceptions related and yes, the stigma associated with epilepsy is well documented and the exclusion from equal participation in several areas of life because of this stigma cannot be refuted.
Epilepsy and disability both align themselves with the International Classification of Functioning, Health and Disability stresses that disability cannot be defined on the basis of bodily structure or function alone.
Attitudes, environmental circumstances and perceptions have to be taken into account too. According to Dr. Tomas (Secretary of the Latin American Committee) disability has been used to describe people with physical or intellectual impairment of heterogeneous brain etiology, which limits their independence and functioning.
According to World Health Organisation estimates suggest that, of the general population, between 7.5 and 10% could be considered to be disabled.
He states that in epilepsies, which international prevalence reaches four to eight every 1 000 of the population, most have a normal life, without intellectual impairment and just a minority, less than 10%, have or develop a mental sub normality, which is considered as an intellectual disability.
Moreover, Dr Tomas argues that mental disability is defined as an intellectual capacity less than 2 DS of the average or an intellectual quotient of less than 70. It is specifically defined as a deficit or concurrent disturbance, starting prior 18 years of age, of current adjusted activity, at least in two of the following areas: communication, personal care, daily living skills, social skills and personal abilities, use of community resources, self control, education, employment, health, leisure and safety.
In people with epilepsy and a disability, different issues may negatively influence them, making the disability worse.
Some of the issues are side-effects of antiepileptic drugs, especially those that cause sleepiness or memory and concentration alterations.
Other issues are the quantity and seriousness of central nervous system injuries, especially if located in brain zones related to cognitive functioning, mainly temporal and frontal lobe.
We need to consider the negative psychosocial environment, for example, the stigma of having epilepsy. In order to give good care and treatment to these people, we have to improve not only their quality of life due to their epilepsy, which generally is more complex in its treatment and crisis control, but also we have to consider the problems caused by their disability.
On one hand there are the educational aspects, for their families and their environment, such as friends, teachers, and employers, health professionals and authorities. They have to be educated about epilepsy and disability in every aspect that relates to each group.
Nowadays, these people are not institutionalised as before, but are part of the community; therefore, if possible, we have to incorporate them completely. We also, must take into account the best educational options and pedagogical aspects for them to have the chance to aspire for a job or career, in order to reach a good social standing.
The health aspect is very important, because it is needed to attain the best drug management, with the lowest side-effects, that gives the best crisis control and has cheapest price. Then the base issue is to achieve the best employment. A good example of this is the Americans with disabilities Act, public Law of the United States of America (Public Law 101-336, 1990) which aims to integrate people with disabilities in each segment of society and to assist in their finding and keeping employment aspects Finally, the psycho-social aspects must also be considered, which means their duties, rights, leisure time, safety, living skills, family etc, in order to give them a better quality of life.
It has been argued that one of the challenges of the International Bureau for Epilepsy is to revaluate the current status in different regions of the world, to see how issues such as education, school and pedagogy, legal and work placements for people with disability and epilepsy are being addressed. Even though they are a minority group, people with epilepsy and a disability deserve comprehensive support to improve their quality of life.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=20536
GCOE生存学ウェブサイト内アフリカ関連情報データベースとアマゾン・アフィリエイト
斉藤@AJF事務局です。HIV陽性者団体は「うるさい外部者」？
斉藤@AJF事務局です。GOIL donates to school
The Headmistress of the Cape Coast School for the Deaf, Ms. Barbara Anning, has appealed to organizations and individuals to assist the school to acquire teaching materials to enable it achieve its dream of offering the best of education to disabled children.
The school has 397 students some of them being offered vocational training and skills.
Ms. Anning said the school, which has 397 students, is saddled with a lot of challenges like the provision of school uniforms and beddings for needy students.
She said this when the Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) donated gari, rice, beans, cooking oil, powdered milk, biscuits, toffees and plastic cups to the school.
Ms Anning said the teaching staff strength of the school was 46 and that the school was doing its best to give quality education to the students.
Mr. Cyril Opon, the Corporate Affairs Manager of GOIL who made the presentation, said it was part of the company's corporate social responsibility to give to society and therefore the presentation was a token to help assist the school.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/regional/artikel.php?ID=201960
Kano monarch honours Zamfara governor’s wife
For her selfless service to the less privileged and disabled persons, the wife of Zamfara State Governor, Hajiya A’ishatu Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi, has been honoured with Garkuwan Gajiyayyu(defence of the disabled persons award) along with other three governor’s wives by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero.
The award, which held at the conference hall of Arewa House, Kaduna was witnessed by traditional rulers and prominent people including former Nigerian representative at the United Nations, Alhaji Maitama Sule (Danmasanin Kano), who was the guest speaker of the occasion.
Personal Assistant to the Governor’s wife, Abdullahi Wushishi, stated that the honour was presented to the governor’s wife by the Emir of Kano, who was represented by his son, Ahmed Ado Bayero Hakimin Kumbotso.
Governors’ wives of Kaduna, Kano and Bauchi states also received the same award.
Conferring the award on Zamfara State governor’s wife, the monarch said the honour was in recognition of her selfless service to humanity and contributions towards the development of disabled persons in not only Zamfara Stae but the nation.
According to him, the “Defence of the disabled persons” award conferred on the governor’s wife was also done because of her concern on people especially the disabled person which the Emirate Council recognised as great contribution to the nation’s building.
The guest speaker, Maitama Sule, also congratulated the governors’ wives for the award bestowed on them by one of the greatest nation’s royal fathers, who due to their selfless services to humanity and contributions towards the up liftmen of disabled persons in their respective states made the Emirate to honour them.
According to him, what the governors’ wives are doing to their people especially the lest privileged in their respective areas is a sign of leadership quality emanated from the past leaders of the North such as the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of the Northern region and Tafawa Balewa, the first Prime Minister of Nigeria.
He therefore urged the awardees to continue with what they are doing to people in their respective domain, and also urged wealthy individuals in the country to emulate them.
It would be recalled that A’isha Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi was until her present honour from the Emir of Kano, had been conferred with various honour, with 10 different traditional titles by the Emirs in the state when she visited the chiefdoms for a homage about two years ago. She also got award from various groups of national and international NGOs, such as Development Research and Project Centre (DRPC), CHI and USAID.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=27604
Minister urges entrepreneurs to assist disabled
The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ms Josephine Tapgun, has urged small and medium entrepreneurs to partner with people living with disabilities in the country.
The Minister gave the charge during a visit by the Country Representative of community based Rehabilitation African Network in Abuja, stating that there is the need for people living with disabilities in the country to benefit from SMEs.
She said: "The ministry will cooperate with the disable in the society in skill development. It is necessary because all government programmes are for all Nigerians.
"I will link up with SMEDAN, we shall be able to develop some programmes that people with disabilities within the country will be able to benefit.
"I am aware of the contribution of the disable to nation building, which explains why President Goodluck Jonathan recently ratified the convention of people living with disabilities.
"I am charging all those living with disabilities to work hard. The fact that they have disabilities do not mean that they cannot reach the peak of their career."
Speaking, David Lalu, Country Representative of Rehabilitation African Network, expressed appreciation to the President for ratifying the convention on the right of the 22 million people living with disabilities in in the country.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/business/26656.html
Fears of human trafficking at School for the Deaf
Times of Swaziland
By JOSEPH ZULU on February 07,2011
SITEKI - Fears of alleged human trafficking have gripped the School for the Deaf after two children disappeared.
The children are said to have disappeared but one of them somehow returned and the other, Nhlanganiso Dlamini (11), has not.
Trouble started when two of the children vanished from the school leaving the administration in panic.
Dlamini bypassed tight security at the school, which has been intensified after a similar occurrence last year.
He is said to have disappeared on Tuesday, causing the school to report the matter to the police who promptly issued a statement.
Last year, about four pupils also vanished from the same school and they went as far as the Lavumisa border.
Their mission, when finally found by the police, was that they wanted to watch the FIFA World Cup live in South Africa.
The children were then returned to the school, after which police educated them on human trafficking.
It turned out that Dlamini had run away from the school to return home, as he was new to the school.
A search by local police proved futile as it turned out Dlamini had already left town for Manzini.
He was discovered in Lobamba on Friday and the police there contacted the school.
Superintendent Wendy Hleta, the Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the missing boy had been found in Loba- mba.
"The report is that he was on his way to his parental home but got on the wrong bus," said Hleta. The School Principal, Simangele Magagula, also confirmed that Dlamini had returned and further noted it was not the first time children from her school had disappeared.
"He is new at the school and he may have wanted to return home," said Magagula.
School for the Deaf described as juvenile prison
SITEKI - The School for the Deaf is now being described as similar to a juvenile prison and referred to as Emdutshane by some residents.
This is because security has now been tightened following the disappearance of several children.
Since last year, there have been cases of children leaving the school, only to be discovered in other towns.
Just before the World Cup in South Africa last year, four children on their way to try and watch it live were picked up by the police.
A recent disappearance occurred last week, when one of the pupils went missing only to be found in Lobamba.
"We now have 24-hour security because the pupils keep running away from the school," said the school’s principal, Simangele Magagula.
Magagula confirmed that the children cannot just leave anymore and that visitors are not easily allowed in.
The security guard also did not want to allow this reporter in, saying the school administration had given strict instructions about visitors.
This level of security is prompting some residents to refer to the school as a ‘prison’.
Like a prison, razor wire fencing surrounds the school and the pupils are not allowed out until their term finishes. The principal, however, complained that the school does not have money to pay a 24-hour guard, although it was now imperative to have one.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.times.co.sz/News/25548.html
Landlord cop assaults disabled tenant
The Swazi Observer
07 February, 2011 10:39:00 By Winile Masinga
A disabled man of Fonteyn has alleged that he was assaulted and kicked out of his one-room flat by his landlord, who is also a police officer.
Shadrack Nyaka, who is a Mozambican national, is deaf and dumb. He says he was assaulted by his landlord (name deliberately withheld) on Saturday evening following an argument over E150, which is money he paid as rent for his one-room flat.
Nyaka had to immediately vacate the one-room flat he was renting, saying there was no way he could continue living there as he no longer felt safe.
He has secured another place at Mahwalala.
He alleged that he was assaulted and hacked with a bush knife by his landlord who was in the company of another tenant, but he managed to fight and overcome them.
When this newspaper went to see him yesterday, he was already packing his belongings in a bakkie and moving to his new place.
He narrated his ordeal with the assistance of a friend, who said she was touched by the incident more so because the aggrieved person had no means to express himself on how he felt about what had befallen him.
He said he was approached by the landlord to answer on allegations that he had been bad-mouthing his wife, something which he said he never did.
He said his efforts to reason with the landlord to have the conspirator brought forward to substantiate his story failed as he (landlord) refused to reason with him. When he entered his house, he heard the sound of the window breaking only to find that the landlord had smashed it with a block and a shovel. When he tried to talk to him, he started fighting.
This time he was in the company of a friend, who is also a tenant at the same homestead. His wife is also said to have played a part in the alleged assault as Nyaka said she was the one who gave her husband the bush knife with which Nyaka was allegedly assaulted.
Tenant gave landlord E800 loan
THE rage between Nyaka and his landlord stems from an E800 loan the tenant gave to his landlord. Nyaka said his landlord took the loan last year so that he could pay his electricity bill after their electricity was disconnected.
The arrangement was that he will not pay rent until January. However, in December last year, the landlord started demanding that Nyaka pays rent yet the agreement period had not elapsed.
Nyaka said he refused to pay the rent and told him that he was going to pay only at the end of February as per their agreement. Since then, he has been receiving ill-treatment from his landlord.
Report matter to us - Police PRO
THE landlord who allegedly assaulted a disabled tenant is a police officer.
Information gathered from sources close to the matter said the landlord had served in the police service for less than a year.
Police Public Relations Officer Wendy Hleta advised the aggrieved person to report the matter to the police. She said as it were, there was no way the aggrieved person could be assisted as he had not taken his case up with the police.
She said for them, to intervene, a report had to be made after which officers would be assigned to investigate the authenticity of the allegations.
She said the police would not be biased when dealing with this case just because the accused is a police officer. She said if he was to be found guilty, he would have to pay the price just like any other ordinary individual.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=20799
SD addressing plight of the disabled
The Swazi Observer
08 February, 2011 10:58:00 By Sibusisiwe Ngozo
SWAZILAND has made significant strides in addressing the plight of people with disabilities.
Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini said the country’s constitution made it clear that in Swaziland people with disabilities had the right to respect and human dignity.
The PM was speaking during the official opening of the third Africa Contact Group of Mental Health and Deafness.
The five day conference is held at the Happy Valley Resort. It is attended by over 170 delegates from 35 countries. The constitution urges government and society to take the appropriate measures to ensure that those people realise their full mental and physical potential.
“It also actively encourages the enactment of laws that protect people with disability to assist them in achieving productive and fulfilling lives,” he said. Dlamini said government had fully committed itself to the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
He said Swaziland entirely supported its purpose of promoting, protecting and ensuring the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and freedoms by persons living with disabilities.
The premier said Swaziland’s progress could be gauged through programmes such as the community based rehabilitation outreach service.
He said its aim was to bring the services closer to people with disabilities and their families. “We are now working on the drafting of a National Disability Policy; all stakeholders will be involved throughout the drafting process.
This will provide comprehensive strategies fro dealing with the challenges of people with disabilities,” he said.
The PM said the National Disability Profile, developed in 2007 from the national census, had now completed the data on disabilities in Swaziland.
He said this, together with the policy, would provide a solid baseline and guidance to government and the private sector when preparing programmes targetted at addressing the plight of people with disabilities.
Before officially opening the conference, Dlamini said it was expected that the delegates would leave with new and refined regional strategies that would address the issues of mental health and deafness.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=20860
【付記2】以下はこの会議の主催団体HPです
http://acgmhd.org/
Disabilities give rise to mental health problems
The Swazi Observer
08 February, 2011 10:59:00 By Sibusisiwe Ngozo
Disabilities such as deafness can give rise to mental health problems such as depression.
Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini said in the real world disabled people were more prone to mental challenges such as frustration stress through communication and physical access barriers.
He made these remarks when opening the 3rd Africa Contact Group of Mental Health and Deafness. The theme of the conference is ‘working together for a better future for deaf people.’
Dlamini said if everyone could support the ancient maxim that a problem shared was a problem halved, everyone could understand how essential it was to be able to communicate the cause or symptoms of depression and how much of a challenge that represented to a deaf person.
“Arrangements need to be in place for the deaf people in our respective countries so that they are able to communicate, have equitable experiences of, and outcomes from health and other services, “he said.
The PM said the gift of hearing was one such facility which was often not fully appreciated until it was lost. He said whether through age or some medical complaint, hearing impairment was a challenging deficiency with which to deal. “Deafness is not an immediately visible disability and this frequently leaves the deaf misunderstood and lacking the necessary sympathy and support, “he added.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=20861
Miss Deaf World offers all-expenses paid trip
The Swazi Observer
09 February, 2011 10:19:00 By Nokukhanya Aimienoho
OUT-GOING: Current 2009 Miss Deaf Swaziland Simphiwe Magagula The President of the Miss Deaf World and Miss Deaf Europe Pageants Josef Uhl？？ has made an irresistible offer to the organisers of the national pageant.
Miss Deaf World and Miss Deaf Europe will be held from July 1 to July 11 in the Prague, Czech Republic.
Uhl？？ has offered an all-expenses paid trip to the Miss Deaf Swaziland titleholder and her chaperone.
The international pageant will cover travel expenses for a return air tickets for the pair.
Accommodation will also be provided for the local titleholder and her chaperone at the Praha Blazimska in Prague which is also a main sponsor of the pageant.
The Swazi delegation will also receive three meals a day.
Every competing girl will receive clothing free of charge, such as T- shirts, summer trousers, summer shoes, caps, jacket and bathing suit, which they will wear during the swimsuit parade.
The girls will get to keep the items.
The current 2009 Miss Deaf Swaziland, Simphiwe Magagula had to abandon her trip to Las Vegas in 2009 because of financial constraints.
She needed E80 000 for the inaugural Miss Deaf International contest.
Although she never represented the country at that pageant, she still made the country proud when she emerged as First Princess during the Miss Deaf World contest in 2009.
“All we need from participating countries is a fully filled and signed definite application for pageants Miss Deaf World 2011 and Miss Deaf Europe 2011 on time. The latest submission should be by March 15. After registration, every participant will be guaranteed everything free of charge during their stay in Prague,” he said.
He urged the national organisers to fill out the application forms obtainable on their website and send two professional photos of the titleholder as soon as possible.
...Uncertainty clouds Miss Deaf SD’s participation
Miss Deaf Swaziland has not been held for sometime.
There is no telling when Simphiwe Magagula’s successor will be crowned, especially because national pageant organiser, Sizwe Ndlela is now a member of the Swaziland Beauty Pageant Association (SBPA). Ndlela explained that a tendering process had been introduced not only for the Miss Swaziland pageant but for the other pageants as well, including Miss Deaf Swaziland pageant.
“We have to follow the right channels with the framework’s guideline.
Although, it’s a terrific offer, we need to ensure that things are done properly, so that the problems that crept up within the industry that prompted a commission of enquiry into the operations of the Miss Swaziland pageant don’t reoccur,” he said.
Possibility
There is a possibility that the Miss Deaf Swaziland will be held after the Miss Swaziland contest after April 30.
Josef Uhl？？ said: “If a competing girl has still not been chosen, all we will need is definite conformation that the country’s representative and her chaperone will be able to make it from July 1 to July 11. An application can be sent later as soon as the name and surname of the competing girl is known. That will give the delegation a 100% guarantee, that they will receive an all expenses paid trip.”
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=20894
Need to show compassion to people with intellectual disability - NGO
Accra, Feb. 9, GNA - Inclusion Ghana, an NGO working to promote the rights of persons with Intellectual Disabilities, has called on Ghanaians to show love and compassion to such persons especially during this year's Valentine Day celebration.
An intellectual disability is when an individual's Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is lower than that of an average person and has limitations in their functioning and adaptive behaviour capabilities.
They include Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism which could be developed before, during or after an individual's birth.
A statement issued in Accra on Wednesday by Mr Auberon Jeleel Odoom, Project Manger of Inclusion Ghana, said Valentine Day was an opportune day to show love to friends, relatives, and all loved ones.
"Inclusion Ghana wants to draw attention to a group of people that is worth our love but is often forgotten," it said.
The statement said Valentine Day, celebrated on February 14 annually, was an important day to help Ghanaians understand this health crisis better and the need for compassion and acceptance for them and their families.
It said intellectual disability could cause problems in schools, work place, social and communication skills and currently there was no cure for intellectual disabilities but certainly there were some treatment and hope.
The statement said persons having IDs were socially stigmatised, ostracised and sometimes killed in Ghana, and urged agencies, organisations, and individuals not to forget about these people since most of them lived in their communities.
Inclusion Ghana, a member of Inclusion International, is an umbrella organisation and a platform working to achieve a higher level of inclusion and active participation of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_health/r_25281/
スーダンの障害者支援にも活躍！全盲のNGOスタッフ・福地さんインタビュー
スーダン障害者教育支援の会理事で、現在、日本赤十字社のスタッフとして活躍Kenya: Matatu Owners Get One Year to Comply With Disability Law
Daily Nation On The Web
13 February 2011
Nairobi - Public service vehicle owners have been given one year to redesign their vehicles to allow disabled persons to board them easily.
Gender, Children and Social Development permanent secretary James Nyikal called on PSV owners to comply with the Disability Act of 2003 by next year.
The Act under Article 23 states: "An operator of a public service vehicle shall adapt it to suit persons with disabilities in such a manner as may be specified by the Council."
"Non-compliance is an offence," said Dr Nyikal.
This may see public transport operators put up an inclined plane on vehicles to allow disabled persons using wheel chairs or other assistive devices easily get on board.
Most vehicles have a staircase of three steps and a narrow door that prevents disabled persons using assistive devices from gaining easy access.
Speaking in Westlands during the inauguration of members of the third National Council for Persons with Disabilities, Dr Nyikal urged operators to cooperate to ensure disabled persons were catered for in the sector.
The Act also under Article 22 requires all buildings to put in place suitable features to cater for the disabled by 2015.
Gender minister Dr Naomi Shaban said her ministry had spent about Sh175 million on economic empowerment projects targeting disabled persons and plans to spend an additional Sh25 million on persons with severe disabilities, who require dedicated care givers to attend to them round the clock.
However, Dr Shaban said that Sh200 million allocated by Treasury to finance projects for the disabled was yet to be disbursed. She called on employers not to discriminate against disabled persons during hiring.
"If most people living with disabilities continue to live in poverty, Kenya will not achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the Vision 2030," she pointed out.
The new board of 22 members will be chaired by John Halake and will serve for a three-year term.
The Council will administer the use of the National Development Fund and coordinate activities that serve the interests of disabled persons.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201102150416.html
Matatu owners get one year to comply with disability law
02月14日 Daily Nation -
A city matatu picks up a passenger. Most vehicles have a staircase of three steps and a narrow door that prevents disabled persons using assistive devices from gaining easy access.
Posted Sunday, February 13 2011 at 20:37 Public service vehicle owners have been given one year to redesign their vehicles to allow disabled persons to board them easily.
Gender, Children and Social Development permanent secretary James Nyikal called on PSV owners to comply with the Disability Act of 2003 by next year.
The Act under Article 23 states: “An operator of a public service vehicle shall adapt it to suit persons with disabilities in such a manner as may be specified by the Council.”
“Non-compliance is an offence,” said Dr Nyikal.
This may see public transport operators put up an inclined plane on vehicles to allow disabled persons using wheel chairs or other assistive devices easily get on board.
Most vehicles have a staircase of three steps and a narrow door that prevents disabled persons using assistive devices from gaining easy access.
Speaking in Westlands during the inauguration of members of the third National Council for Persons with Disabilities, Dr Nyikal urged operators to cooperate to ensure disabled persons were catered for in the sector.
The Act also under Article 22 requires all buildings to put in place suitable features to cater for the disabled by 2015.
Gender minister Dr Naomi Shaban said her ministry had spent about Sh175 million on economic empowerment projects targeting disabled persons and plans to spend an additional Sh25 million on persons with severe disabilities, who require dedicated care givers to attend to them round the clock.
However, Dr Shaban said that Sh200 million allocated by Treasury to finance projects for the disabled was yet to be disbursed. She called on employers not to discriminate against disabled persons during hiring.
“If most people living with disabilities continue to live in poverty, Kenya will not achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the Vision 2030,” she pointed out.
The new board of 22 members will be chaired by John Halake and will serve for a three-year term.
The Council will administer the use of the National Development Fund and coordinate activities that serve the interests of disabled persons.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Matatu%20owners%20get%20one%20year%20to%20comply%20with%20disability%20law%20/-/1056/1106950/-/ag70yy/-/
Sierra Leone: Makeni University to Cater for the Deaf, Blind
AllAfrica.com
Ibrahim Jaffa Condeh14 February 2011
Freetown - In a bid to ensure quality education for blind, deaf and mentally-retarded school-going children across the country, the director of Special Education Programme at the University of Makeni has disclosed to Concord Times that the college intends to train teachers in the country on how to teach disabled children.
Daniel Erchick said this is the first time in the country for teachers with Teacher's Certificate (TC), Higher Teacher's Certificate (HTC) and with advanced experience in teaching to acquire special education in the university and later earn themselves certificates, diplomas and degrees respectively.
"This program is important in the country for persons with disability who are mostly left out in accessing quality education," Erchick said.
He added that training of the teachers is being done in collaboration with St. Joseph's school for the hearing impaired in Makeni; a programme he said started sometime in 2005 and founded by the Cordaid group in the Netherland.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201102141445.html
Ghana Tourist Board shares chocolate with mentally challenged Wa
Feb. 15, GNA - Management of the Upper West Tourist Board has presented boxes of chocolate to some mentally challenged pupils at the Wa School for the Deaf to mark Valentine Day on Monday.
Mr. Henry Yeludor, Acting Regional Manager of the Tourist Board, said the presentation was to show love to the pupils and make them feel part of society.
He said the celebration of the event had been dubbed "Chocolate Day" to help promote the consumption of chocolate.
He said people had misconstrued Valentine Day as a day for engaging in amorous relationships.
"The celebration of the day requires everyone to show love by sharing gifts especially chocolate to all manner of persons in society as expected of them by Go," Mr Yeludor said.
Madam Comfort Nabugu, the Headmistress of the School, thanked Ghana Tourist Board for coming to show love to the needy especially to the mentally challenged pupils.
She appealed to other organisations to follow the example of the Board.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.modernghana.com/news/316499/1/ghana-tourist-board-shares-chocolate-with-mentally.html
Assemblies urged to remove bottlenecks in disbursing disability share of Common Fund
Tema, Feb. 15, GNA - Mr Joseph Adu-Boampong, National President of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled (GSPD), has urged District, Municipal and Metropolitan assemblies to remove bottlenecks that impeded the smooth disbursement of the Society's three per cent share of the District Assembly Common Fund.
Mr Adu-Boampong, who made the call at an advocacy and awareness-creation seminar by the Tema branch of GSPD in Tema at the weekend, said the timely release of the fund would go a long way to assist the Society to achieve its annual set goals and objectives.
The Seminar aimed to sensitize members on advisory services to enhance their rights, privileges and responsibilities as enshrined in the Persons With Disabilities Act 2006 (Act 715) of Article 29 of the Constitution.
The theme was: "Advocacy/Awareness Rising on Rights and Responsibilities of PWDs, Towards National Development in the Metropolis".
Mr Adu-Boampong urged the Government to ensure the full implementation of the Disability Act and to also ratify the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDS), which Ghana is a signatory.
He appealed to interested Ghanaians to support members of the Society with employable skills, funds and to help to reduce the high unemployment rate among members.
Mr Adu-Boampong regretted that unemployment among PWDs was high, and attributed it to the fact that in situations where PWDs were employed, the question normally arose as to whether, with their disabilities, they would be able to work satisfactorily.
Mr Daniel Djabatey, Chairman of the Tema branch of GSPD, asked members to take advantage of seminars and workshops not only to enable them to be abreast with current events, but to also learn more about their rights and responsibilities in society.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_social/r_25439/
FIFA lends more support to Ivory Coast
The offices of the Cote d'Ivoire Football Federation (FIF) in Abidjan provided the venue for two very important ceremonies last Saturday.
The first of them involved the signing of a partnership agreement with FIFA for the implementation of the GOAL IV Project, and the second the presentation of balls and shirts for the Ivorian Deaf Sports Association (FSS).
In the latest phase of the Goal Project, which is being co-funded by the FIF and FIFA, the headquarters of the governing body of Ivorian football will be extended to incorporate the head office of the country's professional league, which is currently located elsewhere.
Work will begin at the end of February and is scheduled to last 18 months. FIFA will allocate $400,000 for the project, with the FIF providing $310,000. Part of the outlay will be spent on fitting out the various offices and the conference room forming part of the extension project.
"The choice of Cote d'Ivoire as the beneficiary of the Goal IV Project is an indication of the faith FIFA has in the country," said Kablan Sampon, FIFA Development Officer for West Africa, who represented world football's governing body at the signing ceremony.
Also taking part was FIF President Jacques Anouma, who also sits on the FIFA Executive Committee. "More than anything else, FIFA know we will make good use of their grants, and that's why they're taking an interest in Cote d'Ivoire," he said.
Approved last October, the Goal IV Project agreements were signed by Sampon, President Anouma, the project consultant and a local businessman involved in the initiative, with a number of journalists and FIF committee members also in attendance.
In the day's other ceremony FIFA presented 60 footballs and three sets of shirts to the Cote d'Ivoire Deaf Sports Association, which governs eight different sports played by the country's hearing-impaired athletes. The donation, valued at $2,000, came in response to a request made by the Association for support from FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.
As well as thanking Blatter for his assistance and expressing his gratitude to Sampon and President Anouma, FSS President Nde Atse Sebastien also took the opportunity to ask the FIF for technical support in staging the African Deaf Sports Championships, to be held in Cote d'Ivoire in 2012.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://gbcghana.com/index.php?id=1.290208
ナイジェリア：高齢者介護サービス施設への需要が高まる
Geriatric care givers address the complex needs of older people, focusing on health promotion, prevention and treatment of disease and disability in elderly. Comprehensive health care of the aging patient takes place in acute, and long term care settings. This is usually provided by a multi?disciplinary team that may include a geriatrician, geriatric nurse practitioner, primary care clinician, nurses, pharmacists, and others.
In Nigeria and other developing countries, the diseases that are most frequent causes of death are slow, so that time between diagnosis and death may be relatively long. Observations have shown that, for people who are terminally ill, 90 per cent of the last years of their lives is typically spent in their own homes, despite the fact that a majority actually die in hospitals.
Formal care for the elderly people-the chronically ill and disabled, the sick and dying, has never been a priority for either health or social services in Nigeria, though common in developed countries.
Formal institutions rendering geriatric services in the country are few. It is a new area which many have never thought about. The few ones operating in the country are NGO-based, and the services rendered are scanty. Most of the services rendered to the elderly and chronically ill and disabled in our society are offered by close relatives at home. This can be very demanding and strenuous on the care givers. The hectic schedules of urban workers have left them no option than to seek a care providing home where their aged ones can relax and be properly cared for. The perennial demand for health care services, especially for the age ones, adequately illustrates the wide market that awaits this project.
There are bright prospects for geriatric care services, and care of the chronically ill and disabled, especially in the urban cities where most people are on the fast lane of life. Many middle/top level executives and business people in urban cities, have their aged ones to care for at home. Often, these aged ones are chronically ill, physically and mentally disabled. This observed trend is high and growing rapidly daily. It is influenced by population growth, rapid urbanisation, growth in industrialisation, educational institutions, social awareness, eating habits, etc. Moreover, as a result of the continuous rural urban drift and the traditional desire to care for loved aged parents, geriatric services will continue to command high demand. Increase in population will naturally lead to increase in the demand for the envisaged services of this project.
Geriatric care services will include, among others, the followings: Treatment/management of diseases; provision of comfortable home; prevention of disease and disability in elderly people; provision of right diet for longevity; offering of personal attention, assistance and support to meet needs of the elderly, chronically ill and disabled; counselling and support services; provide physical, spiritual, emotional and practical needs of the elderly, chronically ill and disabled; providing surroundings to make their stay as comfortable as they have never had before.
There are no specifically standard charges for services offered by either private or government hospitals, nor for care giving home services. The charges for consultations, treatment and residential will be competitive with prevailing charges of similar institutions. Those with serious disability and chronic, life ? threatening illness will definitely be charged higher. Bed space could be graded and charged monthly.
A duplex sized Geriatric Care Services Home, set up with N25 million, in any urban cities, stand the chance of reaping huge incomes for the promoters. A turnover of about N175 million of its 45 per cent installed capacity utilisation at first year operation is possible. This will give a first year after tax profit of about N31.5 million, which is 18 per cent of the turnover.
This project stands a good chance of attracting loan facility from the bank. We are also positioned to source offshore funds for both existing business and off-takers. A well-packaged feasibility report is a prerequisite to securing both local and international finance for the project.
For details on how to implement this project or any other (over 5,000 on our researched list), please contact us. We are willing to assist potential investors on any aspect of the project. Prospective investors may get in touch with us at the address stated hereunder. CHRIS-ED VENTURES (Brilliant Consulting), By: Edwin Agbaike (Projects/Financial Consultant) Telephones: 08023381900.
E-mail : edwinagbaike@yahoo.com.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/business/personal-finance/27293.html
Ellen Sponsors Deaf Student in South Africa Publication
02月17日 Liberian Daily Observer
Updated: February 16, 2011 - 9:49pm
News Section:Community News
Charles Saypahn posing with his certificate
By: Abednego Davis
The learning atmosphere in post-war Liberia is not restricted to a particular class of people, as such, a deaf Liberian student, Charles Saypahn, has returned to the Country with a certificate of achievement in project management from the International Capacity Development Institute in Edenvale, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mr. Saypahn, executive director of the Deaf Agricultural/ Development Farm Project, left Liberia for South Africa in December, 2010.
He underwent advanced training in project identification, formulation, design, organization, procurement, monitoring and evaluation.
He was sponsored by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to study in that country. Mr. Saypahn walked into the offices of the Daily Observer, On McDonald Street in Monrovia shortly upon his return.
Mr. Saypahn expressed gratitude to President Sirleaf for sponsorship that enabled him to clearly understand, among other things, the nitigrity of project development and management.
Mr. Saypahn added that he will apply what he had learned from the training to help improve the lives of the deaf community in Liberia through the implementation of the Agricultural project.
This training, he added, is in line with the implementation of Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS).
Mr. Saypahn however, expressed his desire to meet with president Sirleaf for formal briefing as it related to the learning opportunity accorded him abroad.
0Copyright Liberian Observer - All Rights Reserved. This article cannot be re-published without the express written consent of the Liberian Observer. Please contact us for more information or to request publishing permission.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.liberianobserver.com/node/10562
Namibian disabled athletes praised
Namibia Sport
Submitted by editor on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 16:08. Disabled Sport
The Namibian team that participated at the 2011 IPC World Championships in New Zealand received praise for its achievements from high ranking officials of the International Paralympic Committee at a press conference in Windhoek on Tuesday.
The president of the Africa Paralympic Committee, Leonel Pinto and the chief operating officer of the International Paralympic Committee Georg Schlachtenberger addressed the media following meetings with the Namibian Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture.
“We are very proud of Paralympics Namibia. They sent a team of only four athletes to the IPC World Championships, but they won two medals, while three of their athletes qualified for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. That’s an achievement in itself,” Pinto said.
Competing in the F35 and F36 class, Reginald Benade won a silver medal in the discus throw with a distance of 38.37m, while Ananias Shikongo won a bronze medal in the T11 400m in a time of 53,90 seconds.
Schlachtenberger said that Namibia’s performance was the best from the African countries, in comparison to the number of athletes that it sent.
“I congratulate the success of the small Namibian team. There were very few countries from Africa, but in comparison, Namibia did the best with its few athletes,” he said.
Pinto said they held fruitful discussions with the Deputy Minister of Sport Pohamba Shifeta and the president of the NOC, Agnes Tjongarero.
“Our strategy starts with a government approach and the Namibian government received it very well. At our next election, we will make sure that people with the necessary commitment are elected so that they can help disabled people reach their dreams. We will also make sure that there is proper administration and that the funds are used correctly,”
he said.
Schlachtenberger lauded the efforts of Disabled Sport Namibia.
“There are still many challenges, but I am thrilled to see the significant steps that have been taken for people with disabilities in namibia and I congratulate the success of your team. These athletes are great ambassadors for Namibia,” he said.
He said some of the biggest challenges facing disabled sport in Africa, was the implementation of the correct classification systems and the dearth of adequate competitions.
“One of the main challenges is to improve the technical expertise, especially with regard to the classification systems, to ensure that we remain true to the concept of fairness in sport. Activities also need to be better coordinated. We must start organising regional competitions and use them as international qualifying events throughout Africa,” he said.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.namibiasport.com.na/node/16492
Parliament may pass bill on disabled people
02月18日 AngolaPress
MP Cesaltina Major
Luanda - The National Assembly may approve during the current legislature ending by 2012 a bill on the disabled people intended to grant all goods, services and benefits in the favour of handicapped, said Wednesday in Luanda the MP at the parliament group of ruling MPLA party, Celestina Major.
Celestina Major was speaking at the presentation ceremony of the number of landmine victims identified in south-western Namibe province by National Inter-sector Commission of De-mining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH).
According to the MP, the National Assembly is collaborating with the government for the creation of conditions enabling the approval of legal document in the favour of disable people.
She underlined that the article 83 of the Constitution of Republic of Angola stipulates that the disabled citizens enjoy fully the rights and subjected to the duties enshrined in the new Constitutional.
Zimbabwe: Major Boost for Miss Deaf
AllAfrica.com
Richmore Tera16 February 2011
THE Miss Deaf beauty contest that catered for deaf models has received a major boost after the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority endorsed the pageant and renamed it Miss Tourism Deaf.
Under the new set-up, the deaf models will be ambassadors of Zimbabwean tourism to the deaf world.
Miss Tourism Deaf was unveiled last week and saw a total of 10 deaf models taking part in the contest.
At least four contestants - Lavender Matimbira (22), Mercy Batanamoyo (23) and sisters Nancy (23) and Norleen Mataga (20) - will battle for the title to represent Zimbabwe at the Miss World Deaf pageant scheduled for the Czech Republic in July.
Prominent beauty trainer Kiri Davies, who is also a businesswoman, said she was thrilled that the ZTA, through their chief executive Karikoga Kaseke, had finally recognised that deaf models also deserved a chance just like the other models.
"I am glad that the ZTA has accepted them and this is a big breakthrough for the models. I have no doubt that this is their time to shine.
"This shows the world that disability is not inability.
"They can do what others can do, like walking in the streets just like anyone else with pride. They can also look for jobs and work like anyone else," said Kiri.
She said the models would proceed to the Miss Deaf Zimbabwe contest to be held towards the end of this month.
"The winner will represent Zimbabwe at the Miss Deaf World to be held in the Czech Republic.
"She will be in camp in the Czech Republic for a week, so we are appealing for cash sponsorship so that the model will be able to travel there and represent the country," she said.
Kiri said she decided to work with the deaf models after being approached by Madeline Yohane, the brains behind the inaugural Miss Deaf contest.
"I started training and grooming the models after Madeline Yohane approached me so that I train them in building their confidence," Kiri said.
Bibet Marume is the reigning Miss Deaf, having lifted the crown in 2009.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201102170259.html
Botswana Society of the Deaf receives classroom blocks
Mmegi Online - 2011年2月18日
MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO STAFF WRITER
Botswana Society for the Deaf received a donation of three blocks of classrooms from First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) on Wednesday. The society, which is tasked with advocating for people with hearing difficulties, and helping to build a better environment that recognises their challenges and accommodates their needs, had approached the bank for assistance on the development of Ramotswa Centre for the Death.
When handing over the blocks of classrooms worth P1.3 million at Ramotswa Centre for the Deaf, FNBB CEO, Lorato Ntakhwana said that they continue to commit to the development of Batswana, and they believe that pupils with hearing impairment equally deserve to be empowered.
She said that they had found the need to assist the society after embarking on an assessment of the centre. "We realised that there was great need for us to help these special pupils," she said. She said that it was not the first time they had assisted the centre as they had previously donated books for hearing impaired pupils. The society, owned by Botswana Council for the Disabled, is a NGO and a non-profit making institution that provides nursery and primary education centres for hearing impaired children aged between three and 18 years in the country. Ntakhwana said that they are concerned that an estimated 20,000 people in Botswana are badly affect by hearing difficulties, and of this number, 50 percent are children. She said that statistics also indicate that due to inadequate resources, only 514 out of the 10,000 have access to formal education. Currently there is a waiting list of up to 214 children seeking enrolment.
Addressing the gathering, Executive Director of Botswana Society for the Deaf, Reverend Phillip Butale said there was a serious need for the donation as two classes had been sharing classrooms. He commended FNBB for the assistance adding that as a society they face the challenge of developing plots that they own. He said that the society has plots in Masunga and Tati Siding and called on other communities to assist in the development of the schools.
Guidance and Counselling Senior Teacher at the centre, Monica Nkwe said that currently they have 193 students from around the country and other countries. "Pupils here are not necessarily from Ramotswa. They are from different places around the country and even outside the country,"
she revealed. She said that they have only 10 classrooms that are inadequate to accommodate all the pupils.
She said pupils are assessed for special needs at Central Resource Centre in Tlokweng, which then refers them to the centre. While the society revealed that it receives annual grants from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, the funds are used on daily operations. Since its inception the society has established two schools for the hearing impaired, in Ramotswa and Francistown.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=1066&dir=2011/February/Friday18
Syllabus must be modified for the deaf
02月22日 Mmegi Online
MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
STAFF WRITER
Ramotswa Centre for the Deaf has appealed to government to re-view the syllabus in consideration of those with hearing impairment, as the current one for the 10-year basic education does not benefit these pupils.
Speaking at the handing over of classrooms by First National Bank Botswana to Ramotswa Centre for the Deaf on Wednesday, Deputy School Head, Olivia Mosaanana revealed that the pass rate is poor and pupils proceed to junior school with Ds and Es as the current primary school curriculum does not favour them. She said that the syllabus contains material for people with hearing and listening capabilities, which is a great challenge to pupils with hearing impairment. Mosaanana revealed that in their institution they only use the mode of 'total communication,' which involves use of gestures, body parts and sign language. "So it is very difficult for our pupils because they sit for the same examination as pupils who do not have any disabilities.
This is a serious restraint in their development," she said.
However, she revealed that pupils excel in hands on work like woodwork and brick laying. She appealed to the government to accredit the hearing impaired pupils in areas that they excel in.
"Hands on work is easy for them compared to work with lots of wording because you just demonstrate and they follow suit.
We therefore request that these pupils be accredited in those areas because it might be a prerequisite somewhere and might benefit them,"
she said.
Member of Parliament for South East South, Odirile Motlhale also expressed frustration with the system saying that the government is failing the pupils since nothing has been put in place for them to excel in. "Government should provide for the hearing impaired pupils for them to be in a position to benefit from the forced education. Otherwise we cannot say pupils failed if we did not provide everything they needed to pass like all the other pupils. These kids are not failing, we are the ones who are failing them," he said.
Monica Nkwe, Senior Teacher for Guidance and Counselling also revealed that the centre is faced with other challenges like lack of specialised teachers. She said that they continue to lose specialised teachers through promotions and transfers, which puts the remaining ones under pressure. "It takes too long to get specialised teachers so we are understaffed," she said.
She said that there is serious shortage of resources relevant for pupils' impairment as pupils need to learn colours, which is currently difficult as their printer only prints in back and white.
"How do we teach them colour and signs if they cannot see it?" she said.
Nkwe said that there is also lack of sign language resource books, which are very critical in the pupils learning. "Our pupils therefore continue to fail because even the syllabus is not modified for them," she said.
The centre has 193 pupils.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=1121&dir=2011/February/Monday21
Disability body demands accessible poll centres
postzambia.com
Mon 21 Feb. 2011, 04:00 CAT [270 Reads, 0 Comment(s)]
THE Federation of Disability Organisations has called for serious implementation of constitutional and international instruments pertaining to people with disabilities to enhance their right to participate in elections.
According to the submission by various organisations to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) signed by a human rights consultant Wamundila Waliuya following a Disability Access Audit which included selected voter registration centres and polling centres, the organisations stated that it was difficult for people with disabilities to access most centres.
“All the registration centres audited were not accessible. They were physically inaccessible and not hygienic to allow persons with disabilities and the blind to use them. The registration officers had no knowledge of sign language thus posing difficulties in communication with the deaf,” the federation said. “In view of this many persons with disabilities will remain adamant and apathetic with voter registration and voting due to the inaccessible centers.”
The organisations demanded that registration centres, which were also used as voting centres, be made accessible to them.
“The registration and voting booths and tables should be low in order to enable wheelchair users and people with dwarfism to vote independently. A specific and disability tailored registration and voting system should be put in place to encourage people with disabilities to exercise their right to participate political and public life,” they said.
The organisations also highlighted the need to ensure correct information on Braille templates to enhance the principle of secret ballots.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=18413
Kenya: Teachers Needed for Pupils With Hearing Problems
Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Justus Ochieng
23 February 2011
The government should employ more teachers for children with hearing impairments.
Kenya Society for Deaf Children chairman Francis Ng'ang'a said the organisation was alarmed by acute shortage of teachers for children with hearing problems.
Ng'ang'a was speaking at Joyland Special School for the Physically Challenged in Kisumu. He is on a tour of schools for the physically challenged in Western and Nyanza provinces.
He lamented that the government was not keen on staffing and equipping such schools.
"The physically challenged need more teachers and equipment so that they are able to learn and understand whatever they are being taught," he added.
Ng'ang'a who is a former Knut secretary-general said that just like other students, the physically challenged need attention from the government.
He said it was unfortunate classes for physically challenged students were overcrowded and handled by a single teacher.
He said the physically challenged such as the deaf needed more attention than the able-bodied ones.
"Such a class should not have more than twelve children," he said.
Ng'ang'a expressed concern that there were some parents who still hid handicapped children at home denying them a chance for education.
He pointed out that out of more than 200,000 deaf children in the country only 7,000 went to school.
"This is a poor trend which the government and the relevant ministries need to address immediately so that we ensure the empowerment of the group," he added.
He also called on the government to provide interpreters so that the deaf are not left behind.
He said they have rolled out a programme that will ensure that they give bursary to deaf children who get an opportunity to go to school.
"Currently only fourty pupils have benefitted from the programme but we are optimistic that more funds will be allocated for the project," he added.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201102240607.html
Global Cargo Supports DO-Ghana
GLOBAL CARGO and Commodities, a shipping and logistic company whose services include shipping, clearing, forwarding and haulage, with its headquarters in Tema, has presented a cheque for GH?1,000 to top up an initial amount of GH?1, 500 it had earlier presented to Disability Options Ghana (DO-Ghana), a non-governmental organization that helps disability sports in the country.
Presenting the cheque to Ms. Anne Doe, founder and president of DO-Ghana, Mr. Jacob Gbati, Managing Director (MD) of Global Cargo and Commodities noted that the presentation was part of his company's social responsibility and to support DO-Ghana in its activities towards preparing the disability team that would represent Ghana in the Paralympics Games to be held in London in the year 2012.
Mr. Gbati told DAILY GUIDE SPORTS that the decision to support DO-Ghana stemmed from the fact that disability sports in the country had received less support compared to other sporting disciplines.
'I hope that the amount we at Global Cargo are presenting to DO-Ghana will not only help them in their preparations towards future tournaments but it will motivate other companies to come to the aid of disability sports which has been neglected for far too long in this country.
I also want to assure DO-Ghana that what we are witnessing here today is a continuation of a partnership between them and Global Cargo which will help place disability sports here in Ghana on the world map,' the Global MD remarked.
Ms Anne Doe for her part thanked Global, and promised to put the amount donated to her outfit to good use.
>From Razak Mardorgyz Abubakar, Tema
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://accra-mail.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32670:global-cargo-supports-do-ghana&catid=62:business&Itemid=211
リビアと国際障害者年そして提案者の非業の死
揺れているリビアは障害分野で、Visually impaired students top sighted students
The visually impaired students of Okuapemman Senior High School have proved to their peers that disability is not inability.
They marched their sighted colleagues boot for boot and wrestle academic awards at the 54th Speech and Prize Giving Day.
Five of them received awards for being best students in their various classes.
Okuapemman Senior High School has been the first integrated school for both the visually impaired and the sighted students south of Ghana since the 1983/84 academic year began.
There are 31 girls and 37 boys who are visually impaired in the school.
Wenchi and Wa Senior High Schools have joined Okuapemman to train the visually impaired.
One interesting aspect of this integration of sighted and visually impaired students is they are all taught in the same classroom by the same tutors.
The only option for the visually impaired is to depend on their frame or Perkins Braille which most at times disturbs the sighted students.
Despite all these challenges, some of them were able to top their classes and were given awards at the schools 54th Speech and Prize Giving Day.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://gbcghana.com/index.php?id=1.293758
Great handwriting without hands
Daily Nation - Monday February 28, 2011
As the Ministry of Education releases the 2010 Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education exam results on Sunday, one candidate will be looking to exel after she defied some of her relatives and friends who did not want her to be in school for what they considered an extreme disability.
But today Ms Pauline Kemunto Nyanaro is optimistic that she will receive good results that will allow her to continue with her tertiary education.
Ms Nyanaro, 18, wrote the exams despite her incomplete development of both hands and a leg. Her hands end at the elbow while one of the legs ends at the knee. But you cannot beat her in hand writing.
Despite the physical and financial challenges she faced, Ms Nyanaro struggled, determined to make her dream of becoming an accountant come true.
Mrs Nyanaro, a sixth born of Mr Evans Nyanaro Ombui and Mrs Mary Moraa of Kiabiraa Village of Mageri Sub-Location of Nyamira North district is ever happy.
Her family has eight children, four daughters and the same number of sons who have no physical challenges. When she was born with the missing limbs, her parents were shocked. But unlike some parents in the area, they did not hide her.
Through the help of the minstry of education, Mr Nyanaro said he was able to access a rehabilitation school for his child at St Ann's Nyabondo Rehabilitation Girls' Primary School where she joined Standard One twelve years ago.
She faced a serious challenge as she struggled to learn how to hold a pencil using two of her incompletely developed hands to write.
In her KCPE, Ms Nyanaro scored 227 marks and was admitted to Kisumu's Joyland Special Secondary School.
During her first term in Form Four, Pauline scored 405 marks out of possible 800 marks. She took posision 14 out of 45 students.
Come the second term, Pauline took position 10 in her class after scoring 415 marks out of 800. She was given grade C (plain) during her mock exams. She says she expects to get C+(plus) and above in KCSE.
"I want to be an accountant because I like maths. I hope I will get sponsorship to realise my dream once I received my KCSE results," she told the Nation at her home.
Pauline was awarded a certificate of participation from Maseno National School in a mathmatics contest in 2007.
Although Pauline can dress her self, take baths and perform a few basic chores, she says she is unable to wath clothes, cook or wash utensils.
"I thank my primary and secondary school mates who helped me to wash clothes," she said. She also pays tribute to her parents for securing her an artificial limb that has helped her to move with ease.
She said she could as a result visit her friends in their homes with ease instead of scrolling on the ground. "After completing my education I strongly believe I will get a man who will marry me despite my physical challenges since disability is not inability," she said with a smile.
Her parents said they wanted her daughter to realize her dream despite being financially challenged.
"I thank the World Vision for paying half of secondary school fees for my daughter. I will not also forget a Catholic missionary, Mr Stokuis who financially helped us while our daughter was in primary school in Nyabondo," Mr Nyanaro said.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Great+handwriting+without+hands+/-/1056/1115960/-/5nx5xbz/-/index.html
Zimbabwe: Disability - Media Has Role to Play
AllAfrica.com
Sifelani Tsiko 1 March 2011
PEOPLE with disabilities struggle daily with social stigma and discrimination.
And, analysts say the media is the number one culprit in perpetuating stereotypes, which create social barriers that prevent disabled people from functioning fully in society.
Farai Mukuta, the director of the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped says the media has a big role to play in educating the community to break down stigma and social restrictions.
"Journalists as professional communicators are in a unique position to shape the public image of persons with disabilities. The words and images they use can create balanced views or insensitive portrayal that reinforce common myths and promote discrimination", he told journalists at a workshop recently.
"We hope the workshop will promote recognition and respect for the human rights of disabled persons and make their contributions and concerns more visible in the media and society".
The media workshop was organised by NASCOH to sensitise Zimbabwean journalists on disability and discuss the various factors that result in disability exclusion.
The event brought together journalists from the print and electronic media, disability activists and other experts and it provided an opportunity to share professional experiences, promote co-operation and support balanced reporting on people with disabilities.
The intense two-day event provided a combination of theory and practice.
Participating journalists gained insights into the concerns of people with disabilities, received statistical data, information on NASCOH programmes for people with disabilities as well as disability-friendly terminology through a series of informative lecture discussions.
Disabled people are one of the most marginalised, socially excluded and poorest groups in Zimbabwe.
It is estimated that there are approximately 1,4 million disabled people in Zimbabwe although there are no reliable statistics to verify this.
Fambaineni Magweva, the NASCOH disability technical adviser defined disability and outlined the causes, basic concepts and the impact on society and the individual.
His presentation centred on the basic principles and values that helped journalists to get an appreciation of what disability entails.
Zimbabwe, he said, was losing 25 percent of its Gross Domestic Product through the exclusion of disabled people. He estimated the loss to be around US$200 million per year.
"Definitions of disability are still in use that evoke negative connotations and that contradict integrative concepts by over- emphasising the limiting effects of impairment", he says.
"A new view on the matter is needed now. Zimbabwean society needs to recognise disabled individuals as citizens endowed with rights and abilities. The media must play an active role to change negative perceptions.
"When accurate, balanced and fair reporting is done on disability issues, the disabled can be empowered to take charge of their destiny as adults who want to take part in the mainstream of social and economic life."
He told journalists that efforts must continue to instill among communities a sense of solidarity that does not use flawed concepts of disability as grounds for the careless exclusion of fellow citizens.
"Between excessive care and neglect, there should be a sober conception of disability, which neither mystifies nor underestimates its consequences. Disability can, but need not always provide the grounds for specific measures. It should in no case provide a justification for discrimination and social exclusion," Mugweva says.
Visually impaired Nyamayabo Mashavakure who is also a member of NASCOH shared his thoughts and insight on disability and the attainment of Millennium Development Goals.
"The media has been silent over the sidelining of disability issues in the MDGs. The fact that disability is not mentioned in any of the eight MDGs, the 18 targets set out to achieve these goals, or the 48 indicators for monitoring their progress is worrying", he said.
"We get very concerned when journalists forget about our issues. We are Zimbabweans and our issues must also feature prominently in the media.
Journalists should locate disability issues within the discourse of the MDGs.
"It is critical to foreground the meaning of disability and underscore the reasons for the disabled people's absence from the agenda of the MDGs. Without addressing our concerns MDGs will never be attained in 2015".
Langton Mugova, a journalist with disabilities, says it is important for the media to use disability-friendly terminology that does not promote out-dated, insulting or patronising views of disability and people with disabilities.
"It is disturbing that some media reports inadvertently show attitudes that are paternalistic or condescending. Misguided language and many prevailing attitudes promote outdated beliefs that people with disabilities are sick, disadvantaged, needy, and, in general, not like us ", he lamented.
"The language we use to interact with others matters because it reflects our inner ways of thinking about one another. Journalists must re- examine the language they use and the perspectives they have about persons with disabilities".
The media, he said, has a critical role to play in promoting attitudes that are more inclusive, accessible and welcoming.
His presentation generated ardent debate with journalists arguing that the media used blunt and inappropriate language to sell papers or because of space limitations.
Entrenched media position on language use are evident but Mugova argues that the media needs to take practical steps to limit the use of language that portrayed the disabled as people of less value, less ability, restricted, deprived and deviant.
"It is important for the media to learn from observations made by disabled persons on language use to help Zimbabweans interact sensitively and respectfully with one another", he said. "The media should report factually and refrain from treating the disabled as helpless and childlike persons. Identifying and sensitising reporters and editors (gatekeepers) to help in covering disability issues in a fair, balanced and accurate manner is critical!"
Journalists, said Mugova, must be guided in their work by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which is clear about disability rights to live free from degrading treatment, to respect on an equal basis to others, and to live free from exploitation, violence and abuse.
"Journalists must desist from using language that encourages the idea that disabled people are "less than fully human", he said.
Kudzai Shava, who is blind, and a NASCOH activist, gave a detailed presentation that provided useful insights and valuable information on enhancing disability coverage in Zimbabwe.
His presentation deliberated on wide-ranging issues that primarily focused on ways to increase media coverage of disability issues, the constraints and opportunities.
"The media must change and desist from focusing on sensational, cloying and misinformed disability reporting that undermines public policy and legal advances of the disability movement", he said.
"We need coverage that raises public awareness and helps to end disability discrimination. Media images and stories influence thinking and establish social norms".
"We have endured misrepresentation, defamation, and lack of representation in the media news and entertainment. Many Zimbabweans still do not understand disability issues as rights issues because fear and stereotypes about disability are deeply ingrained in the Zimbabwean culture and reflected in media coverage", Shava maintained.
"People with disabilities are seldom seen as individuals beyond the framework of their disabilities. The media has a big role to play in the struggle to end demeaning, isolating, and institutionalising people with disabilities".
The media, he argued, must not perpetuate stereotypes and misinformation on disability issues but be a potent force in countering stigma and misinformation and a powerful ally in changing perceptions, eliminating discrimination, and raising public awareness.
More than 10 percent of the world's population have a physical or mental disability according to UN statistics. These persons often contribute to their own socio-economic development and that of their family but this contribution is often neither recognised nor valued.
The workshop was part of a campaign by NASCOH to promote media initiatives and information that seek to be inclusive of persons with disabilities. NASCOH implements a range of activities in its field of competence to support broader social participation by disabled people.
Journalists were encouraged to give an in-depth and thoughtful attention to disability issues to counter stigma and misinformation and change perceptions, eliminating discrimination, and raising public awareness.
NASCOH pledged to continuously train journalists on disability issues in order to inform disability coverage in news reports with the goal to advance accurate reporting of disability issues and promote positive images of people with disabilities.
Some of the recommendations which were proposed included:
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201103020094.html
NPC Rwanda Celebrates International Disability Day
2 March 2011
Supported by UNICEF through Right to Play/Rwanda the National Paralympic Committee of Rwanda celebrated the International Disability Day in primary schools, and Special Centers for children with a disability.
Every year NPC Rwanda celebrates this day by organizing sports activities and participating in other activities organized by various disability organizations. This year NPC Rwanda chose three sports which could be practiced by the children on that day including Boccia, Goalball and Sitting Volleyball.
The celebration took place at Amahoro National Stadium in Remera, with more than 120 children from 8 primary schools and 6 special centers participating.
The day was concluded by the guest of honour Honorable RWAKA Pierre Claver the representative of all people with a disability in the parliament of Rwanda.
NPC Rwanda will continue organizing this event in the future and aims to increase the number of participants. In addition to this, NPC Rwanda has a is co-operating with the Ministry of Education to see how sport for children with a disability can be developed and to start organizing inter classes and schools competitions.
For more information on the activities of NPC Rwanda, please visit the official NPC website at www.npcrwanda.com.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.paralympic.org/Media_Centre/News/General_News/2011_03_02_b.html
Tanzania: The Justice System Fails People With Developmental Disabilities
Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
2 March 2011
Salma Maoulidi
column
Treatment of disability in the legal system is an area that is under explored in the country and largely ignored. My engagement with numerous organizations of people with disabilities paints a stark picture of Gender Based Violence, GBV, committed against people living with different types of disabilities.
Yet, almost universally in Tanzania they do not seem to benefit from the legal protections against this heinous crime. Indeed, without exception I have been introduced to people with physical or developmental disabilities, mainly women and children, who in most cases have been sexually abused.
Otherwise, I have read files and police reports detailing incidents of abuse against persons with disabilities. Sadly, and without exception, most criminal cases against people with disabilities do not go very far in the legal system, especially when they have been the victims or survivors of crimes generally and GBV crimes specifically.
Estimates suggest that the number of people with disabilities who experience violent or sexual assault is ten times higher than the general population. Disability places people, particularly with developmental or emotional disabilities in positions of extreme vulnerability, and reduce their ability to defend or protect themselves.
Disabled women, disabled girls and disabled children generally are routinely abused by family members, care takers and strangers. Men with developmental disabilities are also susceptible to abuse.
Ruth Luckasson describes the criminal justice system as the last frontier of integration for people with developmental disabilities. Although significant advances in providing support to people with developmental disabilities in education with the adoption of the policy for inclusion, not all societal institutions have responded with the same speed or thoughtfulness.
The criminal justice system, in particular, takes little cognizance of the special circumstances of people with developmental disabilities. The inadequacies of the law enforcement system -the police, the prosecution, and the courts- leave crime victims with disabilities exposed and defenseless, resulting in their further injury during investigative and legal procedures.
Several studies and reports in the US indicate women with disabilities often have negative experiences with police officers, which makes it unlikely they will pursue future contact with them.
The reports suggest that many of the attitudes, stereotypes, and myths held by the public regarding women with disabilities are also prevalent among members of the police force. For example, the general disposition and actions of a person with mental disability under duress may make them come across as unstable, unintelligible and offering conflicting accounts which may lead the police to judge that they lack credibility.
This results in a situation where most people and organizations of people with disabilities choose not to pursue criminal complaints effectively denying them an opportunity for legal redress against harm committed against them. There are many reasons why offenses against people with disabilities go unreported.
Davis, for example claims that most rape crisis centers do not have staff members who know about developmental disabilities and may never even recognize that a person needs accommodation. Some victim assistance centers may be overwhelmed by the needs of this population and are not trained how to assist victims with disabilities.
Another obstacle to reporting is the victim's fear of not being believed or taken seriously. To overcome this possibility, some states have attempted to improve the rate of reporting by enacting legislation. For example, Connecticut passed legislation in 1985 making it mandatory to report suspected abuse of adults with mental retardation.
Although such laws can help educate others about victimization among people with developmental disabilities, Davis suggested, they hold little power if attitudinal barriers are not addressed by building significant, ongoing collaborations among the systems involved.
As noted, disability is a wide term explaining different physical and mental conditions. It is defined as the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the community on an equal level with others due to temporary or permanent physical, mental or social barriers.
Such a loss or limitation could be aggravated by community and institutional perception of disabled people disability is associated with prejudice and negative attitude. The United Nations Resolution No. 27 (a) (iii) of 20 December 1948 states that all human beings are born free with equal rights and dignity.
Tanzania is a signatory to various disability specific United Nations instruments which include the declaration on the Rights of People with Disabilities (1975), Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993).
At the continental level Tanzania is a signatory to the Plan of Action for the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (1999- 2009) and a member of African Rehabilitation Institute (ARI).
Tanzania was also committed to the realization of the finalization of a comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.
In 2004 Ministry of Labour, Youth Development and Sports issued the National Policy on Disability (2003 in Zanzibar). The scope of The National Policy on Disability aims at providing a conducive environment for people with disabilities to engage in productive work for their development and the utilization of available resources for improved service delivery.
The policy's emphasis on opportunities for work for people with disabilities has meant that aspects of legal protection for people with disabilities have been downplayed. Consequently other than recognizing their livelihood needs, the policy fails to address the justice needs of people with disabilities.
This is unlike the situation in the US when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, bans discrimination based on having a disability. In addition to guaranteeing equal opportunity for people with developmental disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunication relay services it provides people with developmental disabilities the civil rights protections similar to the rights provided on the basis of race, sex, national origin, and religion.
Title II of the ADA specifically prohibits state and local governments from discriminating against an individual with a disability. State and local government services include police, court, and corrections systems. The ADA has improved the response of the criminal justice system to people with disabilities in a number of ways since 1990.
For instance, it requires that reasonable accommodations is made for people with disabilities upon request, unless such accommodation fundamentally alters its activity or structure or involves an undue financial burden.
Accommodations are now being used in classrooms, in court testimony, and in some instances in interrogations. With this in mind, it defies the imagination why in Tanzania the legal and judicial system continues to fail a segment of the population that is in need of special protection allowing them instead to be doubly betrayed- by their abusers and by a justice system that is bent on protecting and promoting the interests of the able and powerful.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201103030896.html
IEC to empower visually impaired voters
BuaNews Online (press release)
Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System
Date: 03 Mar 2011
--------------------
By Nthambeleni Gabara
Johannesburg - For the first time in the history of local government elections, visually impaired voters will have a new way of casting their votes in the 2011 municipal elections.
"This time, we are going to use huge touch screens, Braille machines for the visually impaired and for those voters with low vision..." the chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Dr Brigalia Bam, told BuaNews.
The new Braille machines will have earphones which can be used to listen to recorded content on the ballot paper.
Bam also announced that for the first time in local government elections, they will also introduce special votes for those who are frail, seriously sick and those who will be travelling abroad before Election Day.
However, registered heavily pregnant women and those who are sick and want to be considered for special votes, should notify their nearest IEC offices in order to be visited at hospitals and at home.
Bam, who spoke to BuaNews shortly after her opening remarks at the IEC one-day summit in Johannesburg, said special votes will be conducted two days before the actual day of the 2011 municipal elections.
"On the first day, we will be visiting those who are sick at hospitals and those who are unable to walk at their respective homes. On the second day, we will open our voting stations for those who are sick, but who can walk and those who will be travelling abroad," she said.
Bam also urged leaders of political parties to put more women on their candidates' lists of the upcoming elections.
"South African women are more interested in the voting process and on our voters' roll, the women are the majority. This shows that women voters are committed to deepening our democracy.
The summit was organised with the aim of creating political tolerance, robust competition and campaigns that are conducted in a responsible manner.
"As most of the delegates at this gathering are coming from several stakeholders, we want them to make a contribution towards creating an environment conducive to free and fair elections.
"At the end of this summit, we want all delegates and politicians to be able to make a commitment to each other ... and to South Africans in general, that we will conduct the upcoming elections without fear of any form of violence," said Bam.
"We are here to inspire each other, so as to create an environment that will make voters feel enthuastic about participating in elections, because we know that our people are eagerly waiting to vote in the municipal elections."
The IEC chair also urged political parties crippled by internal squabbles to urgently resolve their problems before the municipal elections are held.
Inuka Kenya Trust boss, John Githongo, used the opportunity to share his experience of the Kenyan 2007 elections, warning South Africans to avoid ethnically-based clashes.
Githongo, who also applauded South Africa for successfully hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, reminded those in power that corruption causes deep resent amongst the electorate.
"When the youth and ordinary people see those whom they have put in power buying new vehicles and houses all the time, they become very angry," he said.
Githongo further said both the IEC and the judiciary system should always act independently and with dignity in order to keep their trust from the masses.
The IEC has granted eligible South African voters another opportunity to register for the upcoming municipal elections.
Voting stations will be opened at 8am until 5pm countrywide for the final voter registration weekend this coming weekend, 5 and 6 March.- BuaNews
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/11/11030313051002
Breaking the silence around her
Nation Online
Saturday, 05 March 2011 16:41
Paida Mpaso
Juliana Likomba (Nee Mwase), president of the Malawi National Association for the Deaf (Manad), and newly elected spokesperson for the deaf in the Sadc region, on losing her hearing and being entrapped in a world of her own at a tender age, living above her disability and striving to make a difference in the worlds of many.
Were you born deaf?
No, I lost my sense of hearing after a short bout of malaria in April, 1983. It was a painful experience considering that never in life had I anticipated that one day I would lose hearing and become a Sign Language user. I was in Std 3 then and our class had a passion for music. I enjoyed dancing and singing (No wonder our class produced one of the best singers on the local scene, Mlaka Maliro). The realisation that I was in a strange world, a world of silence made me shed tears each time I failed to grasp what somebody was trying to tell me.
I no longer joined my colleagues in singing but just watched them with admiration. As a child growing up on the shores of Lake Malawi, I liked swimming, going to the mountain to search for fruits and also being a ‘ born free’ during the one party era where we danced during government functions. Suddenly, all this drastically changed. I felt isolated as I could no longer join my colleagues in doing these things.
How did the people around you react?
The toughest bit were the squabbles that erupted between my parents. My mum was more understanding. She believed that my hearing loss was just a natural cause while dad was on the contrary. He believed that I was bewitched and he consulted witchdoctors who tattooed my body and administered different herbs on me but that did not work.
A lot of money was wasted in the process. My mum took me to various hospitals. At Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, I was referred to the Education Centre for the Deaf in Chiradzulu. Here, I underwent audio logical testing and was told that my condition was irreversible.
I was admitted to the centre and enrolled at Montfort Demonstration School. That was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. That same year, my parents divorced and I went to live with my mum. There was a lot of talk among people in our community. At school, my fellow peers were a menace. They would surround me during tea-break and gaze at me as if I were a strange object. Some made fun of me. It was too much for me to handle and I dropped out of school. I only resumed studies after my mum, who had the vision and determination of educating me, told me that it as unthinkable for me to just sit at home.
Picking up your life must have been challenging...
Being raised by a single parent was the biggest challenge. There were eight children at that time since dad had decided to walk away, my mother had her hands full. The other challenge is that it was difficult to get audiological services and assistive devices (Hearing Aids and batteries) in hospitals close to home as the services were not readily available. The only medication I got was to have lukewarm water pumped into my ears.
I had to go all the way to Chiradzulu to get services from the Education centre for the Deaf, the only available audiological centre then. Getting to Chiradzulu was a challenge on its own because we had to use our own resources to travel.
What motivated you to hold on during these challenging times?
I am a God fearing lady, and in whatever I do, I put God ahead of everything. I always quote the Biblical verse that says ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ (Phillipians 4:13). I believe that I have a social responsibility towards my colleagues with disabilities in general and the deaf community in particular.
Your late husband was also deaf...
Yes. His name was Elias Likomba (whose biological father is the Balaka based singer Enort Spear Mbandambanda. He adopted the clan name Likomba because he was raised by his grandparents). We were both admitted to the Education Centre for the Deaf and attended the same primary school, besides we came from the same diocese (Mangochi).
As Catholics, our sacraments were given to us by the same bishop, late Bishop Allesandro Assolari. We had a lot in common. He lost his hearing abilities at almost the same age and liked singing too. We were just like a brother and sister during our primary school days and started dating in 1998. He died in June 2005.
Losing him was devastating. We had planned to celebrate our youngest daughter, Chrissie’s birthday which falls on June 27th together, but their dad died on June 23 and the celebration had to be turned into mourning.
And you threw yourself deeper into your career...
Yes and despite my hearing problem, I have beaten the odds. I am educated and I have a job. I am living independently, taking care of my siblings, my own children but above all I advocate for the rights of people with disabilities in general and the deaf in particular. I have represented and spoken at high profile meetings nationally and internationally, which prove that given the chance, people with disabilities can perform wonderfully.
What challenges do deaf people face?
The sign language we use is not recognised by the majority of the population, which means we are left out of a lot of things. In education, for example, most deaf people are uneducated or drop out of school not because they are dull but because the method used when teaching is not accessible to them.
The deaf can learn better when taught through sign Language and this is stipulated in the Salamanca Statement of 1994 and UN Convention on the Rights of people with Disabilities Article 24. And if the Education For All goal is to achieve anything, sign language must be used in the education of the deaf.
information is vital in one’s everyday life. However, the deaf are the last to be informed because the mode of disseminating information is not friendly to them. Going to church, finding employment, accessing health information on reproductive health, HIV and Aids and so on as well as representing others in decision making bodies are all challenging for people who are Deaf.
You are the spokesperson for the deaf in the Sadc region...
Yes and it is an honour, considering that I was chosen from a group of 10 Sadc countries’ representatives. It was inspiring to represent my fellow deaf at high profile meetings, one being in the year 2009 when I was invited to represent my colleagues at a meeting with various donor organisations in Johannesburg, South Africa and later attended mediation talks with Zimbabwe Association of the Deaf in Harare.
The last was the conference of Linguistics Association of Sadc Universities (LASU) held at the National University of Lesotho in Maseru, where I presented a paper on the challenges deaf people in the Sadc region face. All this has been made possible with funding and support I got from the Linguistics Department of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa(Osisa) based in Johannesburg.
What would you want to be changed or revised?
The domestication of the UN Convention on the Rights of people with disabilities is the focal point considering that most states in the Sadc region have ratified the convention but with no implementation strategies on the ground. People with disabilities continue to be marginalised. The incorporation of sign language in policies and programmes is also vital for people who are deaf. The absence of laws to protect the rights of people with disabilities is another point. Take for example here in Malawi; the Disability Bill has stalled for close to six years after its formulation with no sign of its passing soon.
What do you want people to see when they look at you?
I want people to look at me as an ordinary Malawian woman, one with ambition and one who would like to achieve greater goals, a Mrs Likomba (Nee Mwase), a responsible mother and leader not a disabled woman who speaks through sign language.
Fast facts:
Did her primary education at Monkey Bay full primary school from 1980 to 1983.
>From 1983 to 1991 she attended Montfort Demonstration School where she got selected to Providence Girls Seconday School in Mulanje.
Enrolled with the Polytechnic for secretarial and accounting studies. Currently doing management studies through correspondence with Amity University of India
コートジボワールのふたつの政権と障害者団体
西アフリカ、コートジボワールの政局については、PWDs want stigma law passed
New Vision, Uganda
8 March 2011
By Juliet Waiswa
THE Government is to set up stringent measures to curb discrimination and disrespect against persons with disabilities (PWDs), the state minister for the elderly and people with disability, Suleiman Madada, has said.
He was speaking at a national consultative workshop on the amendment of the PWDs Bill in Kampala recently.
Madada cautioned institutions against discriminating against the disabled when recruiting staff, arguing that the act was against the law.
Laura Kanushu, the director of Legal Action for Persons with Disability, said the penalty against those who discriminated against them was light.
“We want the public to know that we are entitled to equal rights,” she said, adding that the punishment of sh200,000 was small and could not bar culprits from committing the offence.
Kanushu also said special attention should be given to the PWDs, especially in schools.
“We want the disabled to have the facilities they need,” Kanushu said.
Alex Ndeezi, the MP for persons with disability, said they want the law passed before the commencement of the ninth Parliament.
He, however, told the participants that the issue of the penalty needed to be debated, warning that if the increment was high, the Government may fail to implement it.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/19/748535
Music is road to riches for handicapped Congolese
By Adia Tshipuku Kamanga (AFP) - 6 days ago KINSHASA - Two years ago, Papa Ricky slept in the streets of the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, but an album by a band he leads has opened the way to wealth for some handicapped Congolese musicians.
"Now I have a home of my own!" exclaims Papa Ricky in the house being built for him in Kinshasa. Papa Ricky Likabu, 58, heads Benda Bilili, which has gone in a few years from being a street group of handicapped people to a touring band with a successful first album, "Tres, tres fort!" ("Very, very strong/loud!").
Five handicapped performers and the rest of the group, three other musicians from the poorest parts of Kinshasa, returned to the DR Congo at the end of 2010 after a tour that took them to Europe and Asia.
They own land, vehicles and clothes that they never dreamed of possessing one day, until the band attracted attention with its lively, funky rumba style and also drew a couple of movie makers.
The "miracle" of Benda Bilili has been followed and filmed by Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye in a documentary named after the group, which was selected for the prestigious Cesar awards -- France's version of the Oscars -- last month, but did not win.
"My life has completely changed. Today I eat copiously and I wear designer clothes. I have become a totally different person," says Roger Landu, a former street kid who deftly plays a kind of lute he fashioned out of a string and a tin can. He is clad in a tuxedo and a white hat, with leather shoes.
"With my wheel chair, I spent two hours at the bus stop," recalls Kabose Kasungo, a 37-year-old singer in Benda Bilili. "Many drivers refused to stop when they saw that I was handicapped."
But now he is seated in a large green limousine, the door ajar with a pair of crutches attached to the handle. Kabose combines his singing job with that of a used car salesman. He owns four vehicles himself and employs two people, one of whom is also handicapped.
"I'm a boss, people are interested in me these days. Unfortunately, it's often to ask me for money," he says with a mocking smile.
Montana, the drummer who goes by one name, 35, runs a bistro and a bar in a remote part of Kinshasa.
"I've become a role model for a lot of people in this district," he says, adding that he is waiting for the money from the band's "next tour, to begin to build apartments".
Benda Bilili are due to fly to Europe in early March for a new tour when they will give more than 40 concerts in two months.
"Since we came back, we haven't been resting. We get a lot of concert invitations," says Papa Ricky. He too is counting on making money from the next tour to recover some of his goods currently held by customs at the port of Matadi.
The group rehearses five days a week and gives free shows on Saturdays. The rehearsals no longer take place in the street or notably in the zoo, which now is a zoo in name only. Benda Bilili performs in a small hall dubbed the Cabaret Sauvage in tribute to their concert at a Paris nightspot of the same name, the Cabaret Sauvage.
Many expatriates join the Congolese who turn up to hear the music, which includes numbers from "Tres, tres fort!" and new songs that the band is working on. A second album with about a dozen songs is scheduled to come out at the beginning of 2012.
"Those who mocked us have their jaws dropping now," says Papa Ricky, who is proud that Benda Bilili has made adepts in Kinshasa, most of whom also hope to see music change their lives.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jwaeygTcrtu0jdWIoSCNtoM6NxTw?docId=CNG.bc8144acc612b87b41bd3ad3483f7612.5f1
Minister defends creation of associations in commerce area
04月04日 AngolaPress
Luanda - The minister of Commerce, Idalina Valente, last Friday in Funda commune, Luanda’s Cacuaco Municipality, appealed to the communities to get organised in associations to get involved in business activities.
The minister said so to the press during a visit she paid to the Association of Disabled Traders and Hawkers (ACAPODA), located in Caop Velha ward.
“Our coming to this association is due to the fact that we recognise that for the development of commercial activity it is necessary the existence of solid associations, which must be properly organised and structures” she said.
The minister also commended the work being done by the association, which has about 1.800 affiliated members.
2,000 deaf Ugandans receive hearing aids
New Vision
Monday, 14th March, 2011
Janet (left) watches William Austin place a hearing aid on one of the beneficiaries By VISION REPORTER
LIVES of over 2,000 Ugandans with hearing defects will soon change after they are fitted with hearing aids donated by American-based Starkey Hearing Foundation in partnership with Uganda Revenue Authority and Hope Medical Clinics Uganda.
The one-week mission dubbed “So Ugandans May Hear” during which each beneficiary will be fitted with a hearing aid worth $2,000 (sh4.7m), totalling to sh10.9b, was on Sunday launched by the First Lady and Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Janet Museveni, at the Uganda Revenue Authority headquarters in Nakawa.
The beneficiaries included students from schools of the deaf of Ruhaama, Ntinda, Mengo, Katalemwa, Butambala, Mulago and Mukono, plus women, children and the elderly from the central, eastern, western and northern regions identified by the URA Ladies Club through their communities and churches.
In addition to receiving customised hearing aids, they will also be sensitised on how to look after the aids and on general awareness of hearing health.
Launching the mission, Mrs. Janet Museveni said according to statistics from the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT)department at Mulago Hospital, 10 % of the population in Uganda have hearing impairments and therefore applauded this initiative trying to address the problem.
She said the Government recognises that people with disabilities also contribute to the welfare and development of the country and that is why they qualify to be represented in Parliament.
She noted that Government parastatals have always given the disabled low priority and commended URA for its corporate social responsibility and their public private partnerships with Hope Medical Clinics Uganda, Transform International and Starkey Hearing Foundation in this venture which she said will positively impact many lives, making them realise their potential.
The URA commissioner general, Allen Kagina, urged individuals and organisations to join the mission in opening up the world of sound to hearing-impaired Ugandans, which she said URA will make an annual event.
William Austin, Founder of Starkey Hearing Foundation, said they were dedicated to building better lives for the hearing-impaired by providing hearing instruments and were on a 24-day mission to deliver more than 22, 000 modern hearing devices to children and adults across Africa. The mission is in Uganda from March 13 to 19, 2011.
Some of the causes that damage hearing are noise, corporal punishment, diseases like malaria and measles, and side effects of drugs like quinine.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/749130
Jos？ Sayovo a national pride - Official
AngolaPress
Luanda - The deputy chairperson of the “Funda？？o Lwini”, Joana Lina, said Tuesday in Luanda, that the world visually impaired runners record breaker, Jos？ Armando Sayovo, is a motive of national pride.
Joana Lina was speaking to journalists at Luanda’s “4 de Fevereiro” International Airport, short after the arrival of the Angolan Paralympic team that attended the 4th World Games of Turkey for visual impaired runners, where two gold, one silver and two bronze medals were won.
“Funda？？o Lwini is here to witness one more feat by Sayovo and his colleagues.
To us it is a motive of national pride, it is relevant our being here in representation of everyone, to thank for this joy he is giving to the national sport and society,” she said.
According to Joana Lina, Sayovo shows that no matter being a physically impaired person, one can reach high achievements, which is gratifying to Angolans.
Among Sayovo’s feats, stress goes to three gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metres in African Games of Cairo, Egypt, in 2001.
He also got gold in the 100, 200 and 400 metres in Athens (Greece) Paralympic Games in 2004, and gold in the 400 metres in the World Championship of Quebec (Canada), in 2003.
Thirteen years after he initiated as a sportsman, Sayovo wins two gold and one silver in the World Championship of Turkey.
44 hearing impaired students enrolled
AngolaPress - 2011年3月16日
Luanda - At least 44 students with hearing impairment are attending special school this year in Cacuaco district, Luanda, Angop learned.
The information was released recently by the institution’s director, F?tima de Jesus.
According F?tima de Jesus, the students are attending classes in the morning with colleagues without special needs, before they are grouped in the two existing rooms in the afternoon to learn what they failed to grasp in the previous period.
This, the source, said, is carried out by teachers skilled with techniques to deal with children with special needs.
He said special programmes will be implemented in the localities of Funda and Kicolo, as soon as the classrooms under construction be complete in 2014.
10,000 disabled people attend professional integration programmes
AngolaPress
Luanda - Some 10,000 disabled people have been integrated in social and professional programmes, under the “Come with Me” project, which started in 2003, reveals an official source.
This was announced by the minister of Public Administration, Employment and Social Security, Pitra Neto, on the fringes of a balance meeting on the activities developed during the last five years by the mentioned project.
The initiative is to assist disabled citizens living in various localities of the country and in need of assistance from the institutional solidarity point of view.
The programme is financed by the Ministry of Public Administration, Employment and Social Security, managed by the Lwini fund and co-ordinated by the National Associationof Angola's Disabled Persons (ANDA).
Special education teachers trained in Portuguese language for deaf
AngolaPress
Luanda - At least 30 especial education teachers are attending since Monday the second methodological course of Portuguese language for deaf students, in the ambit of existing co-operation with Brazil in the field.
This was said to Angop by the director of the National Institute for Special Education, Maria de Lourdes during the opening ceremony of the event.
Moreover, the director said that this training is aimed at upgrading national teachers so as to resolve some gaps experienced by the sector.
Maria de Lurdes also said that some teachers do not master a few tools of teaching such as the language used, and thus it has been precluding the deaf students to better learn.
The 10-day training is being attended by basic special education teachers of public institutions.
AMMIGA seeks integration of disabled persons
AngolaPress - 2011年3月18日
Luanda - The Angolan Association of Disable Persons and Ex-soldiers(AMMIGA) is engaged in an awareness project designed to integrate people with physical disability into the labour market around the country.
The information was repeased by AMMIGA chairman, Domingos Martins Ngola, who was speaking to Angop on the gains obtained by the country from the peace.
Domingos Ngola said AMMIGA has been running projects that contribute to reduce the number of ex-soldiers with physical disability in the streets.
He announced that professional kits will be supplied by the Ministry of Social Welfare to ex-soldiers.
Association to co-operate in disabled people's reintegration in Kuando Kibango
AngolaPress - 2011年3月20日
Luanda - The Angolan Association of Disabled People and Ex-Soldiers(AMMIGA) will co-operate with the authotires in the reintegration of war disabled people abandoned by opposition UNITA party in the districts of Mavinga and Kuito Kuanavale in eastern Kuando Kubango province.
This was said to Angop on Sunday by the chairman of AMMIGA, Domingos Martins Ngola, in the ambit of the gains of peace in Angola.
According to him, AMMIGA will only outline strategies to help the disabled people and ex-soldiers when the real number of handicapped persons is assessed.
He highlighted that his association is opened to receive all war disabled people, regardless their political party membership.
Norwegians build dorm for the deaf
THE NEW VISION
Monday, 21st March, 2011
By Richard Drasimaku
THE Lions Club Sandnes/Riska, a Norwegian charity organisation, has constructed a girls・dormitory and kitchen for deaf pupils at Eruba Primary School in Arua district.
Fully equipped with beddings and solar power, the new facilities were in addition to a cassava stalk multiplication project, a library, bath shelter and another dormitory that the charity has constructed through the Lions Club of Arua at a cost of sh80m.
Einar Varaas, the president of the Lions Club Sandnes/Riska and Brodhoth Oho, the director of Lions Aid Norway, presided over the commissioning of the new building on Friday.
They promised to support other projects, starting with a borehole to ensure that the deaf pupils have clean drinking water.
The Norwegian delegation also donated textbooks, footballs, netballs and T-shirts.
Eruba Primary School has 844 pupils out of whom 28 boys and 21 girls are deaf.
They are enrolled from different parts of West Nile.
The headmaster, Sebastian Zoyia Enzama, appealed to the officials to help the school to acquire an infirmary and employ a resident nurse to treat the deaf pupils.
They frequently fall sick and we spend a lot of money on medical bills,・he said.
Zoyia said the school administration wanted to train all their teachers and the parents of the deaf pupils to effectively use sign language but they do not have the funds for that purpose.
He asked the Government and the Lions Club to help the deaf pupils with education through secondary schools or vocational institutes if they were to achieve their full potential.
Arua municipality MP-elect Dr. Gabriel Aridru who was the chief guest at the function, thanked the Norwegians for supporting the deaf unit at the school and asked for a continued partnership.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/16/749788
Deaf, blind association want census
THE NEW VISION
Monday, 21st March, 2011
By FLORENCE NAKAAYI
THE National Association of the Deaf and Blind (NADBU) has appealed to the Government to carry out a census of the deaf and blind people in the country, so as to plan for them effectively.
“Our needs and problems are not catered for because our existence is unknown,” said Yona Waswa, the NADBU programme officer.
Waswa was addressing an advocacy workshop at NADBU offices on Kanjokya Street, Bukoto in Kampala recently.
He said programmes advanced toward person’s with disabilities mostly benefit those with physical disabilities, leaving out the deaf and the blind.
Waswa said the deaf and blind can benefit from government programmes like UPE and USE given the right devices.
He said failure of government to engage them in development programmes had made them more disabled.
Fred Lukabule, a member of the group, urged the Government to carry out compulsory immunisation against rubella, one of the causes of deafness and blindness.
People classified as deaf and blind include those with partial sight and low hearing impairment or both.
NADBU consists of 200 members some of them professionals such as auditors, lawyers, accountants and teachers.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/749786
第4回関西からアフリカのエイズ問題を考える
斉藤@AJF事務局です。Disabled persons get sh2m
New Vision -
Tuesday, 22nd March, 2011
A group of persons with disabilities in Bundibugyo district has received sh2m from the gender ministry to help them start a savings and credit scheme.
“The money is intended to help them start a revolving fund in order to improve their livelihoods,” the district LC5 vice-chairperson, Aida Mbambu, said.
He made the remarks while handing over the money to the leaders of the group last week.
Mbambu advised the group members who had gathered at Bundibugyo district community hall to use the money to set up income-generating activities if they were to get more funding.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/18/749906
NGO invests over one million to support disabled people
AngolaPress - 2011年3月23日
Lubango - About USD 1.4 million is being invested this year by the American NGOs “Free Wheelchair Mission” and “Shercicle”, in a project of purchasing tricycles and wheelchairs for disabled people.
In an interview to ANGOP, the coordinator of the National Association of Support to Education and Instruction of Minors, in charge of developing projects, Bebiano Ant?nio Cassule, informed that at the first phase about 10, 000 wheelchairs will be purchased to be distributed to provincial departments of welfare and social Reintegration.
“The last purchase made at the beginning of the year, allowed to distribute until the end of February 1,550 wheelchairs for the beneficiaries in the provinces of Luanda, Kwanza Norte, Lunda Norte, Moxico, Malanje and Hu?la”, he stressed.
The provincial department of welfare and social reintegration controls 1, 331 disabled people.
Tanzania: Varying Degrees of Developmental Disability and Legal Competence
03月25日 AllAfrica.com
Salma Maoulidi23 March 2011
analysis
As noted in past articles, competency, in the sense of having competence to do something or to stand as a witness on something, was historically conceptualized in law and science as a capacity that is intrinsic or inherent to the individual.
Hence, competency was regarded as an attribute that a person has or lacks. Such a conceptualization ignores the fact that there are the different types and degrees of developmental disorders. What is widely termed as mental retardation syndrome includes conditions such as foetal alcohol syndrome, fragile X, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, deafness, Tourette's syndrome, and mental illness.
In view of the fact that there are varying degrees of developmental disability the criteria established by the American Association of Mental Retardation (AAMR) applies the diagnostic term "developmental disability" in the case of individuals who meet the following criteria:
record an IQ below 75, as measured by an individually administered IQ test; demonstrate evidence of significant impairment in adaptive functioning such as social skills, independent living skills, etc.; and if the onset of the developmental disability occurs before age 18.
Medically, individuals who are developmentally challenged are assessed as functioning within the moderate to borderline range of developmental disability and record an IQ range of 40-80. The term "borderline disability" refers to individuals who upon assessment are found to have below average range intelligence but who do not technically meet the criteria for developmental disability i.e. do not have an IQ score of below 75.
Such individuals may have some difficulty in adaptive functioning and may require some social support. Ramey & Finkelstein writing over three decades ago estimated that individuals assessed as functioning within the moderate to borderline ranges account for over 95% of people with developmental disabilities.
To appreciate the range and versatility of mental conditions we look in some detail at some of the features of specific conditions developmental or mental disorders. Hopefully, this analysis will aid courts and people generally to not lump categories of population in homogenous categories while in fact there exists differences among those groups.
Down syndrome is set of mental and physical symptoms that result from having an extra copy of chromosome 21. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development notes that even though people with Down syndrome may have some physical and mental features in common, symptoms of Down syndrome can range from mild to severe.
Usually, mental development and physical development are slower in people with Down syndrome than in those without it. People with the syndrome may also have other health problems. They may be born with heart disease or may suffer from dementia. They may have hearing problems and problems with the intestines, eyes, thyroid and skeleton.
Thus their competence will depend on the extent any of these conditions plagues them.
An increasingly published condition in medical journals and among behavioural scientists is autism, a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. Previously, autism was diagnosed as anti-social behaviour and it took some time before doctors began to comprehend it more fully.
However in a setting like Tanzania it may take time to identify the condition among children such that sufferers may spend years before receiving assistance for the condition, something that may aggravate it.
Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviours and is a "spectrum disorder" that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees.
This means that there are substantial variations in how the condition is manifested in autistic people and also the degree to which they are impaired by the condition. Asperger's Disorder is a milder variant of Autistic Disorder marked by eccentric behaviour in childhood. Both Asperger's Disorder and Autistic Disorder are in fact subgroups of a larger diagnostic category known as Autistic Spectrum Disorders in European countries, or Pervasive Developmental Disorders ("PDD") in the United States.
A world-known authority in Autistic Spectrum Disorders is Uta Frith who has published extensively on both Autism and Asperger Syndrome shading much light on the condition. Another leading scholar on autism Lorna Wing makes reference to "the autistic continuum". Their scholarly work is useful in demystifying the conditions for legal practitioners as well as the lay population.
Epilepsy is amore common condition in Tanzania but hardly categorized as a mental or development disorder. Epilepsy is a neurological condition, which affects the nervous system. Epilepsy is also known as a seizure disorder. It is usually diagnosed after a person has had at least two seizures that were not caused by some known medical condition like alcohol withdrawal or extremely low blood sugar.
In rare cases epilepsy can be diagnosed after one seizure, if a person has a condition that places them at high risk for having another. The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury or a family tendency, but most of the time the cause is unknown. The word "epilepsy" does not indicate anything about the cause of the person's seizures, what type they are, or how severe they are.
Some sufferers may be aware when they have seizures while others may be unaware and they may loose consciousness. Cerebral Palsy is another common disability although most people afflicted by this condition are hidden by their families from public view. Cerebral" refers to the brain and "Palsy" to a disorder of movement or posture.
A diagnosis of cerebral palsy means that an injury to their brain(cerebral) results in a person being unable to use some of the muscles in their body in the normal way (palsy). Children with cerebral palsy may not be able to walk, talk, eat or play in the same ways as most other children their age. Cerebral palsy is not a disease. Thus it is neither progressive (it does not get worse) nor communicable (it is not transferable) nor is it "curable" in the accepted sense of the word.
Nevertheless education, proper and continuous therapy as well as applied technology can help persons with cerebral palsy lead productive lives.
Spastic Cerebral Palsy is the most common diagnosis of cerebral palsy characterized by "spastic" muscle movements and difficulty getting around. There are three types of spastic Cerebral Palsy and only one type Spastic Quadriplegia, the severest of the three, is associated with mental retardation.
Most conditions associated with Cerebral Palsy affect motor skills and therefore the limbs and muscles, not so much intellectual competency.
However weak muscle tone and the inability to control one's motor skills may make one appear as dumb or disabled. For example in the case of Athetoid Dyskinetic a patient may have trouble controlling facial muscles and therefore drool even though they are of normal intelligence.
It will thus be unfair to attribute what is a physical disability that results from motor impairment and not intellectual competence as a blanket excuse to exclude such persons from testifying in court solely because they are classified as having a development disability. In sum, it is unfair to dismiss people with any type of disability from a judicial process on the face of their disability before ascertaining the extent to which their condition impacts on their ability or competence as witnesses.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201103240513.html
Government should commit to “inclusive education” of visually impaired children
Participants at a day’s forum in Ho on Wednesday urged government to demonstrate commitment to “inclusive education” for children with visual impairment.
They said few children with disabilities who found themselves in segregated special schools have difficulty integrating into the larger society after their training and that children with disabilities have the right to “inclusive education”.
They asked government to implement the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD because a “good” number of children with partial disabilities remained out of school, hidden away from the public view.
Mr Eric Ofori, an Executive Member of New Horizon Foundation of the Blind (NHFB), a Ho-based NGO, which organized the forum said “society and environment” were further disenabling the disabled.
He said it was unfortunate that Ghana has only two special schools catering for the over 8,000 children with visual impairment.
Mr Isaac Kodobisah, Ho Municipal Chief Executive, said the Assembly was collaborating with NHFB to establish a centre for the visually impaired in Ho.
He called for closer collaboration with other NGOs and the various disabled associations to help create the “enabling environment” for the education of children with disabilities.
Mr Japhet Buamah, Ho Municipal Peripatetic Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said the system of education based “solely” on reading and writing was not the best as it disadvantaged the disabled.
“It is not only those who can read and write who constitute the best human resource base of this nation”, he added.
Mr Buamah said “inclusive education” was “suffering” because of low budgetary allocations adding that sometimes, workshops aimed at training teachers in handling disabled students are not held due to inadequate funds.
Uganda People News: UNAPD Organises Fare Day For Disabled
03月25日 UGPulse.com
First published: 20110324 9:36:26 AM EST
The Uganda National Action on Physical Disability (UNAPD) has organised a Career Fare Day for Persons with Disabilities come Tuesday March 29th, 2011.
The venue for the Tuesday March 29th event is Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
Several employers and Human Resource Managers from MTN, Uganda Telecom, Warid, Orange, Nile Breweries, Mukwano Group of industries, The New Vision, The Daily Monitor, Uganda Peoples Defence Forces and Uganda police among others.
The Information Manager of UNAPD, Dr. Hamad Lubwama says persons with disabilities of all categories will interact with employers to increase their chances of finding job opportunities.
He says registration and attendance for the event is free. To participate in the event one needs to register with UNAPD on email:
unapd@utlonline.co.ug, or lubwamah@yahoo.com.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=UNAPD+organises+fare+day+for+disabled+&ID=18657
GCOE生存学ウェブサイト内アフリカ関連情報データベースとアマゾン・アフィリエイト
斉藤@AJF事務局です。Public called upon to promote use of sign language
Mrs Lydia Asamoah, National Women's Secretary for Deaf Women in Ghana, on Friday called on Ghanaians to learn sign language to enable deaf people to access information since they have a lot to contribute to the development of the nation. She said sign language should also be promoted so that people who were deaf could mix with their counterparts who hear while deaf children could have the opportunity to go through mainstream education without any hindrance.
Mrs Asamoah, who was one of 29 ladies who participated in a programme in the United States of America last year, shared her experiences with the GNA as part of International Women's Day. The US programme, Women's Institute of Leadership and Disability (WILD) organized by Mobility International USA (MIUSA), was aimed at increasing leadership capabilities and promoting the rights and responsibilities of women with disability. Lydia, a 30-year-old woman married to a man without any disability said: "No matter who you are, disabled or not, you can contribute to development."
She said in the US sign language interpreters were paid well and people yearned to learn sign language. "The family that hosted me in USA are not deaf but they said they wanted their children to become sign language interpreters in the future, hence accepting me to live with them for the period," she added.
Mrs Asamoah, who is a teacher of Social Studies at Mampong School for the Deaf, said the MIUSA programme made her realize her potentials and her leadership skills and affirmed that she was a leader. "As a person who is deaf, I need to be loud, proud and passionate," she said, and pointed out that the programme in the USA taught her to be just that.
"My way of teaching has changed for the better; now my students respond to my assignments well." Mrs Asamoah who studied Business Ad ministration and Human Resource Management at the University of Ghana, sharing her life story said, "I had to struggle through my education. At a point, the University nearly sacked me because they taught I wasn't doing well." Lydia said it took the intervention of the Disability Coordinator of the University to enable her to complete her course in 2006. She said she did not know sign language because she went through the mainstream education and used to hear people only by reading their lips.
Hinting about her future plans, she said she intended to make a documentary about disability with a special focus on deaf people and called for support in that direction to enable her to educate Ghanaians about disability.
"Disability can occur at any time in a person's life," she said. Explaining why she could speak but not hear, she said she became deaf at age 10 when she had already acquired language. Mrs Asamoah also said the Ghana Association of the Deaf, would also focus on sexual and reproductive health this year since it was usually not talked about in the Association. "I have been able to brave the odds in life and I realize that it is important for one to face his or her fears in life," she said, adding "my husband is proud of me."
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=204842
School for the Deaf Needs Boy's Dormitory
The headmistress of the Savelugu School for the Deaf, Mrs. Immaculate Atoriyah, has appealed to the government and other stakeholders in education for support to complete the school's boys dormitory.
"The facility which started four years ago is still not completed and management of the school is finding it difficult to house the male pupils, especially when the rains will be starting soon," she said. Addressing an Open Day ceremony to mark 32nd Anniversary of the school in Savelugu/ Nantom District of the Northern Region at the weekend, Mrs. Atoriyah said, the school needed to urgently fence its compound to prevent people from encroaching on its land and also to protect the pupils against accidents.
The day was set aside by the School Management Committee and Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) to honour past students who had excelled in their fields of endeavour and also to demonstrate that disability is not inability.
Under the theme: Thirty-two years of Deaf Education, Success, Challenges and the Way Forward," the occasion was also used by stakeholders to take stock of their stewardship for the past year and draw up strategies for the future.
Mrs. Atoriyah said the school was located very close to the road, which poses danger to the pupils, saying, "there is the need for us to get support to be able to build a fence wall to prevent the pupils from playing close to the Tamale- Bolga Road, which is a very busy road."
"Prevention, they say, is better than to cure." She Atoriyah said most of the teachers posted to the school did not turn up due to the many challenges there, including lack of decent accommodation.
She, therefore, congratulated teachers of the school for their zeal to help educate the children.
Giving an overview of the school, Mrs. Atoriyah said the Savelugu School for the Deaf, which runs only disability programmes for the deaf, was established in 1978 as a unit under the Nyohini Rehabilitation Center in Tamale but was later moved to its present location with an initial 12 pupils. It now houses 308 comprising 186 males and 122 females from all over the region. She called on parents who had children with disabilities to send their wards to school because disabled children had potentials, which when harnessed would help the child contribute to nation building. Mr. Sam Nasamu Asibigi, the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, also appealed to parents with children with disabilities in the area to make education a priority in order to acquire enough skills relevant for nation children.
He said"Education holds the key to one's success and with adequate knowledge one would attain greater heights. I implore parents not to spend all their money on clothes but use it to provide educational materials for your children."
Mrs Rosemond Blay, the Director of Special Education Division of the Ghana Education Service, in a speech read on her behalf, said integrated and inclusive education programmes had been developed on pilot basis in selected districts alongside the existing segregated special education.
She said that was to enable children with special needs such as the deaf and dumb and the mentally handicapped to gain equal access to equal and quality education from early age to change people's perceptions and impressions about children with disabilities.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=204977
Groups in war of words over funds
Daily Nation
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By LILLIAN ONYANGO laonyango@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, March 29 2011 at 22:00
IN SUMMARY
The National Council of People with Disabilities on Tuesday denied it had misappropriated Sh400 million allocated to it by the Gender ministry.
The chairman of the council’s Board of Trustees, Mr Geoffrey Mwathigo, said about Sh325 million had been disbursed to groups in the last two years.
He said Sh70 million went to community-based organisations, Sh3 million for scholarships, Sh98 million to learning institutions and Sh12 million set out to service providers.
Other beneficiaries from the kitty included universities and national organisations that got Sh92 million, while Sh25 million was spent on social protection and National Development Fund Investment, which received Sh25 million. The money was disbursed by the Ministry of Gender.
But the explanation was immediately challenged by the Kenya Society for the Mentally Handicapped (KSMH), which has accused the council of misappropriating the funds.
“We received a proposal from KSMH but it did not meet the guidelines and released Sh1 million to them which they rejected,” Mr Mwathigo said.
However, Ms Edah Maina the KSMH chief executive told Nation the Sh400 million was meant for disabled people to set up businesses and not what the NCPWD has spent it on.
“The money should have gone directly to the people who need it and we want to know where it is and why we have not received it,” she said.
Further, Ms Maina blamed the Gender ministry for holding on to Sh700 million allocated by Treasury for the mentally-handicapped and elderly persons.
“This is totally unethical and is being done to frustrate persons with mental disabilities, which clearly shows the strong discrimination against them and their families,” she said.
Ms Maina added that the society will today carry on with demonstrations it had planned last week against the ministry.
NCPWD, which runs and manages the funds, dismissed calls for the demonstrations, saying that funds it had got were well spent.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Groups+in+war+of+words+over+funds+/-/1056/1135432/-/39klrw/-/
Kenya: Disabled Claim Centre's Plot
AllAfrica.com
Brian Otieno
29 March 2011
The controversy surrounding the sacking of 15 disabled persons at the Bombolulu Cultural Centre took another twist yesterday after a group of handicapped people claimed the land on which the centre was established was grabbed from them.
The group of 22 handicapped persons under the umbrella of Coast Workshop for the Handicapped said they bought the 13-acre piece of land back in 1974.
Agnes Said, a member of the group, said they bought the land from a private owner who she only identified as Thomas at a cost of Sh40,000.
"We only welcomed APDK's Seifert to work there for a period of time as he had shown an interest in helping us and other disabled people," said Said.
But the Association of the Physically Disabled of Kenya national director Hubert Seifert dismissed the claims as attempts by the disabled persons to get sympathy from the media and the general public."We have been hearing such claims for the last two years now. They always make up stories like these so as to gain the general public's sympathy," said Seifert.
Seifert said they have even instigated two court cases against the group.
The cases are pending in court. Said said they discovered that they been duped after they consulted a lawyer identified as Solomon Oguk, who allegedly alerted them on the issue.
The group wants to file criminal charges against Seifert and a trustee identified as Morris Mwenda, whom they accused of colluding with Seifert to grab their land. Seifert said they have the genuine title deed to the piece of land."APDK is a national NGO with 24 branches and over 500 employees, 150 of who are government employees, across the country. We cannot engage in such practices as grabbing land," said Seifert.
Fifteen of the employees were in January declared redundant and have since received their termination letters. They are expected to leave work by March 31.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://allafrica.com/stories/201103300389.html
Disabled athletes keen to win gold for Kenya yet again
Daily Nation
Samuel Muchai (centre), his guide James Boit (left) and other athletes train at Mosoriot Teachers College in Nandi. Fifteen athletes leave on Thursday for Antalya, Turkey, for the Visually Impaired World Championships. Photo/JARED NYATAYA (Eldoret).
By JONATHAN KOMEN jkomen@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, March 30 2011 at 20:35 From one end of the training pitch to the other, they ran. Briskly under the keen help of guides, their hands tied onto theirs. For they can’t see.
Their trainers skilfully issued tips, one track after the other. For that, keen onlookers flocked the rather quiet atmosphere of Mosoriot Teachers Training College in Nandi to witness a special training they believe will put Kenya’s name on the world athletes map, yet again.
A group of 15 special athletes, with visual difficulties, staged their final training ahead of their departure to a key competition in Turkey on Thursday.
At the end of the training, one visually impaired runner Samuel Muchai said he was confident he would prove the theory that disability is not inability right, when he leads the Kenyan charge to the Fourth International Blind Sports Association (Ibsa) World Championships and Games in Antalya, Turkey, starting Friday.
Muchai, the 2008 Beijing Paralympics 1500m silver medallist eyes a gold medal in his T11 cadre in the Turkey’s Southern City. (The cadre T11 is for those totally unable to see.)
He also has the 2007 All Africa Games 1,500m gold and World Paralympic Championships silver medals tucked to his trophy cabinet.
“Despite the challenges that we encounter over our disability, I will strive to bring home two gold medals for the first time at the world championships,” he said of his determination to excel.
“While we train on the roads, we sometimes tumble into potholes and stones, but I believe such experiences only harden us.”
He wants the Paralympics team to match the athletics team that bagged the overall title at the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain, a fortnight ago.
Of the 15 runners who will travel to the Turkey’s southern city, more than 10 of them are already successful athletes in Eldoret.
Anne Ng’endo, another jewel in the visually impaired world of sports, has cut a niche for herself in global shows and wants to go one better in Turkey.
Ng’endo, the Beijing Olympics long jump finalist, said: “I have put my fortunes in field events, and 200 metres race but athletes from Jamaica, USA and Nigeria beat me.”
“I will now shift focus to 800 metres in which Kenyan runners perform better as I prepare for next year’s London Olympic Games.”
Athletes will use the Turkey show piece to attain qualifying marks for the London Olympics, one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
Joseph Lomong, who has represented Kenya in Paralympics competition since 1995, said their five-day training camp in Mosoriot had prepared them adequately.
“We must now be ready to battle the world,” he said.
“But we should know that athletes around the world have taken up Paralympics in high numbers unlike before.”
He called on the team to remain confident and have the determination to emerge winners.
He called on the government to support the team fully so as to boost its morale saying Paralympians ? who get little appreciation from government kitty ? need an equal share.
The teams’ coach Mr Albert Korir said the team of 15 comprises four guide runners for the T11 class.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Disabled+athletes+keen+to+win+gold+for+Kenya+yet+again+/-/1056/1135988/-/d8no0h/-/
Disabled thief electrocuted attempting to drain oil from ZESA transformer
The Zimbabwe Mail 30 March, 2011 04:50:00 Staff Reporter
HARARE - A daring disabled 33 year old man was burnt and seriously injured by live electric current while attempting to drain oil from a ZESA transformer in Harare’s Eastlea suburb.
The one handed man, who was identified as Gilbert Chocha of number 4630 Jacha Road in Epworth, sustained burns on his left side including the left hand after the transformer he was trying to drain oil from exploded leading to him being seriously injured.
Chocha appears to have taken advantage of the transformer’s position as it is surrounded by shrubs which provides cover.
Some people who stay close to the transformer said they heard a loud explosion, followed immediately by a power blackout and decided to investigate.
“We heard some screams and rushed out to investigate only to find a man writhing in pain near the transformer,” said one Eastlea resident.
A 20 litre container and a travelling bag belonging to Chocha were also found at the scene.
The angry mob that gathered at the scene said Chocha’s disability restrained them from meting out instant justice as they will now go for days without electricity until the transformer is replaced.
The electricity utility has been losing millions of dollars due to vandalism of transformers and theft of copper cables.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/7681.html
School for the Deaf finds solution to polythene/sachet plastics
The Vocational and Information and Communication Technology department of the Volta School for the Deaf at Hohoe, in the Volta Region has taken giant strides to recycle polyethylene and water sachet plastics on a pilot base to help to reduce the plastic menace.
Under the initiative of Mr Scott Davies Anderson, an American Peace Corps Volunteer and in collaboration with the Research Action for Sustainable Development (RASUD), a Hohoe-based not-for-profit organisation, the polyethylene material was identified as raw material for use by pupils and students of the special school.
He told the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday that instead of relying on paper and fabric templates for designs and sewing, students made use of cheap sachet rubbers sewn into large sheets to serve the same purpose.
Mr Anderson said already some 300 messenger bags and about 100 purse or wallets have been produced for sale, confirming that proceeds have been used to procure eight computers, colour and black/white laser printers and other accessories for the ICT department.
He added that other products from the department include pillow covers, bedspreads, fabric bags, apron from fabric and rubber with the main production material being cut-offs collected from tailors and dressmakers
Mr Anderson said the best local ingenuity was the manufacture of umbrella by students from sachet rubber, which is being fine-tuned for the market.
He said its clientele base was largely network volunteers in the Hohoe Municipal area and other tourists, who were anxious of carrying exceptional artifacts and souvenirs to their home countries usually settled with their products, which costs between eight and 12 Ghana Cedis.
Mr Anderson said its internally generated funds were used to procure additional five looms and threads for the weaving industry in the school, producing Kente hats, bags and assorted dresses.
He said his outfit was planning to domesticate the weaving of baskets with sachet threads instead of the traditional palm fronds to create more usage for the rubberized nuisance on the environment.
The Peace Corps said plans were afoot to acquire an outlet in Hohoe in the short-run while targeting one in the capital city in the near future to display its wares.
Mr Anderson said the source of raw material was the environment, particularly market squares, public gatherings among other areas.
He said his major motivation would be to create the necessary public awareness that off-the-cuff thoughts, which were unscientific, could assist in the fight for the menace of polythene and mitigate its effects on the environment.
Mr Lloyd Titus Amedume, Executive Director of RASUD disclosed that a target of 25,000 empty water sachet bags found littered all over would be collected and used as receptacles for nursing palm fruits and other tree crops.
He said RASUD would collaborate with a US-based volunteer group, Trellis to collect about 25 per cent of polythene bags throughout the region and sachet as re-cyclical materials sewn into spread sheets and used as weed killer.
Mr Amedume called for replication of the concept towards the sustainable management of the environment while securing it for generations yet unborn.
Mr Daniel S. Cudjoe, Head of the School, said with the inception of the innovation about a year-and-half ago, signs of visible changes could be identified in pupils and students' attitude towards the disposal of waste in general and especially polythene plastics.
He acknowledged the nobility in the ground-breaking feat for enhancing the raw material base, principally, in the vocational department, which consist of carpentry, weaving, batik/tie and dye, dressmaking and tailoring.
Mr Cudjoe said the school continues to grapple with obsolete equipment, lack of rehabilitation of old blocks and bad access roads.
He appealed to stakeholders to re-channel their corporate social responsibilities towards supporting the School to equip students with the requisite skills, which would take them away from the "begging phenomenon" and make them self-reliant after completing training.
Governments and research institutions are still exploring measures towards finding lasting solutions to the menace of the environmental pollutant, polyethylene plastics, which are not biodegradable.
Researchers are working to develop biodegradable polythenes that will disintegrate due to bacterial action or exposure to sunlight.
For instance researchers are incorporating starch molecules into some plastic resins during the manufacturing stage with exposure to sunlight facilitating its decomposition.
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_science/r_26943/science/school-for-the-deaf-finds-solution-to-polythene-sachet-plastics
Driving school for the disabled
Independent Online - 2011年3月31日
March 31 2011 at 04:17pm
By Motoring staff
Driving Ambitions is an organisation devoted to help teach disabled people to drive.
Sarah Nkgeng, a paraplegic employee of Primedia, could never have thought that from an emotionally painful experience in obtaining her driver’s licence, when she was faced with harsh discrimination, could arise a driving school for the disabled. Yet that is exactly what happened.
Her story was shared with Wayne Duvenage, chief executive of Avis Rent a Car, by Simon Gear of radio station 702, and it quickly became the inspiration to him to assemble a team of like-minded partners, including the QuadPara Association of South Africa (QASA), Masterdrive and others, who could help those in similar situations to achieve their goals of mobility, and so Driving Ambitions was born.
The school provides driver assessment and training for people with disabilities. The first vehicle, a Hyundai i20, fitted with permanent hand controls and a dual brake, was sponsored by Avis. QASA is running the project and appointed Caroline Rule, an occupational therapist, to help teach disabled people to drive a specially adapted vehicle.
Barloworld, which counts numerous people with disabilities in its corporate ranks, has already stepped up to the plate with a R150 000 contribution to start Driving Ambitions’ engines.
“Cars with specially adapted hand controls for the disabled are a normal part of our Avis fleet,” says Duvenage. “It seemed logical that Avis should be the driving force behind the initiative.”
“This is just the first phase of a longer-term vision,” explains Ari Seirlis, national director of QASA. “As the project expands and more sponsors come on board, we intend establishing a Centre of Excellence at Zwartkops Raceway, where people with a range of mobility impairments can be fully and properly assessed and taught to drive using different types of hand controls.
“This type of Centre is quite common in Europe, but a first in South Africa, and it is definitely an excellent solution in assisting people with disabilities to integrate into mainstream society.
When the project reaches this stage, Masterdrive, a driver education company in South Africa, will bring its own expertise to bear, providing the safety element for the programme. “The track and skidpan at Zwartkops will provide excellent facilities for training across a spectrum of eventualities, including potential accidents and hijackings, ” explains CEO, Eugene Herbert.
Sarah herself was ecstatic that her experiences had led to the creation of a project that will benefit other disabled people. “It makes the hurt and opposition I went through worth it,” she says. “It’s wonderful to know that Driving Ambitions will give other disabled people independence.”
The driving school is based in Gauteng for now with a national roll out planned eventually.
For more information contact Driving Ambitions on 0860 Rolling (7655464) or visit their website on www.drivingambitions.co.za
【付記】上記ニュースのURL
http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/driving-school-for-the-disabled-1.1050323