Home Visits: Zenab & P5 boy

The first person we visited was Zenab who has a small business selling tomoatoes and other vegetables in the Kalerewe Market (picture on the left). She is in a wheelchair because she had polio and has had a wheelchair for six months. Since she lives in a swamp area it's difficult to keep her wheelchair clean. Although she has a business and at first glance you may not notice that she is disabled (she scoots around while working), she is segregated from the other sellers. Her area is a blanket clearly distinct and in front of the line of vegetable sellers. Although many of them have shade and a table, she does not. While we were there Fatuma had a chat with the manager (apparently there is some organization to the chaos?) about that. She encouraged him to think of people with disabilities as a responsibility of the community. A very active lady, she would be interested in going into a group with some of the others and expanding her small business.

After visiting Zenab, Fatuma, Steven (Fatuma's driver) and I went to St. Jude Primary School to visit a boy who was in a wheelchair at the school there. Right now the place is completely unaccessible.


In order to even get up the step to his class he needs a bit of assistance. His chair also isn't very fitted. The cushion is good, though, so I suspect he's using that so that he can grow in the wheelchair. He's in P5 right now and seems to be doing pretty well for now, but his classes in P6 & P7 aren't remotely accessible. Fatuma talked to the headmaster about everyone contributing and helping.


Here he is with his class. He generally sits in the back with some friends, but when the kids crowded in the front I insisted on being able to see everyone. The kids were super cute. On the way out we moved at a snails pace with the car because all the kids wanted to wave bye and Steven was driving very carefully.

Fatuma is of the mind that disabilities must be supported by the community and it's admirable that she makes that effort. She was telling me today that she wants MADE to expand to also focus on advocacy in the times where it doesn't have a lot of wheelchairs to build. She had a meeting with the director of Disability Rights Fund. (ironically, located in Boston!) The advocacy would be for making private schools accessible. Public ones are mandated by law to be accessible (although law and reality are completely different), but there is less regulation on the private ones. Here's hoping Fatuma's application is successful! =)


And random: I saw this little guy outside my hostel when I got back from the home visits. I think he was greeting me. Now I just need a banana so we can be friends...