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Disabled children living miserably
The Daily Mirror (Zimbabwe)
January 18, 2006

http://www.zimmirror.co.zw/daily/index.cfm?

CHILDREN with disabilities lead miserable lives as society continues discriminating against them – thus relegating those affected to second-class citizens.

Affected parents told The Daily Mirror that life had become a nightmare for them and their handicapped children as society labelled them outcasts.

The co-ordinator of the Harare branch of the Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA), Teressa Makwara acknowledged the need for massive awareness to educate society to accept and live with the reality that the disabled exist.

"Truly speaking, society has to be educated and be destigmatised about the perceptions they have on disability. This has tended to worsen the already bad situation by discriminating disabled children and their parents," she said.
Makwara criticised the treatment the children were getting as unacceptable, adding that they too have rights like any other children.

She said: "Society needs to appreciate the fact that these children or their parents did not apply for these disabilities."

As a result of the disabilities, the children face a lot of challenges ranging from lack of adequate schooling facilities, transport problems and accommodation, among others.

Most of disabled children spend the better part of their time indoors as their parents try to hide them for fear of victimisation by their able-bodied counterparts.

Parents of disabled children, mainly single mothers interviewed, echoed similar sentiments saying life was terrible for them.

Edna Bhunu chronicled a harrowing experience she went through after giving birth to a handicapped child. All hell broke loose, she said, after her husband and in-laws rejected her for being a "witch."

They even refused to accept the child in their clan and she found herself having to return to her parents.

Maria Zakaria of Epworth, who also has a disabled child, said life had become unbearable. Had it not been for ZPCHA, she said, she could have committed suicide long back because of the pain she went through.

Said Zakaria: "I accept the gift that God gave me and now I understand that I am not the only one with such a problem. After years of encouraging each other on our predicament, we have learnt to accept the reality and forge ahead with life."

Makwara said Operation Restore Order/Murambatsvina, which had forced them to relocate to rural areas where conditions are even terrible for disabled people, affected most members of their association.

She said lack of facilities and drugs for the disabled in hospitals had also complicated the children’s conditions.
ZPCHA is a welfare organisation consisting of parents of children with disabilities.

The late Zimbabwe pop star James Chimombe who died in 1990 was one celebrity who talked and sang highly about the disabled.

He went an extra mile by penning and producing the hit – ‘Kudakwashe’ that defended people with disabilities.
The song was dedicated to his disabled son, Kudakwashe, who later benefited from his estate following a year-long dispute in the courts.

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