Stigma gives Rwenzori PWDs sleepless nights
Challenge. Jeremiah Kule (with walking stick), a blind Senior Three student at St Agnes College, finds his seat at the school recently. PHOTO BY MORIS MUMBERE.
What you need to know:
- A report by NUDIPU in the post-election violence in Rwenzori says people with disabilities have lived in more fear and pain as they strive to survive, with local leaders saying more than 400 orphans have been left to fend for themselves in Busongora North alone.
- Going forward, NUDIPU has started engaging young pupils in class activities such as sports to bring together all the ethnicities so that they grow up and co-exist in peace.
KASESE/BUNYANGABU. The Rwenzori Sub-region has over the past three years been at the centre of a conflict that has left more than 300 children orphaned and more than 100 disabled.
The conflict, that has persisted since 2015, is largely linked to ethnic identity and dispute over land, culminating in the bloody joint army and police raids on the Rwenzururu King’s palace on November 27, 2016.
“Many people concentrate on the deaths from the conflicts in the Rwenzori and most times forget about the number of disabilities left after the violence and how the disabled persons are coping with the situation in the communities,” says Mr Solomon Collins Nkulinga, the programmes assistant for disability and human rights at National Union of Persons with Disabilities of Uganda Nudipu.
Ms Monic Biira is blind and is one of the victims from Maliba Sub-county in Busongora North. She says she stopped going to church for prayers when she realised that she was often the topic of discussion among churchgoers.
She laments that when she tried to join the church choir, many of the members called her names and mocked her blindness, forcing her to stay away from the public.
She says she developed eyesight problems as she and others fled to the bushes in Maliba during the clashes.
But she has since been relocated to Rapseed Primary and Secondary School, a school for persons with disabilities (PWDs) at Kidodo in Kasese Municipality.
Mr Jeremiah Kule, 22, a Senior Three student at St Agnes College, is also blind, having lost his sight some time back.
Kule says: “It is by God’s grace, he kept me alive, in isolation. The communities had given me nicknames and my father had denied responsibility, saying he can’t pay fees for someone who is disabled since he has no value and future.”
But after roaming the streets for many years, one priest; the Rev Wilson Mali, visited Kule at his home and decided to offer him school fees to joins one of the schools for PWDs.
With support from the National Council of People with Disabilities and the European Union, Kule completed Primary Seven and later joined St Agnes for secondary school education.
But Kule says the school lacks brailie papers used by the blind to write on, which he says is a big challenge to most of the disabled at the school.
Kule also painfully recalls a day when he asked one of the learners to teach him how to use a computer, but he laughed so hard about it instead of offering help.
But Kule is also talented in music and performs in church and raises money for his daily upkeep without begging.
Kule says his father gave land to three of his bothers except him because he is considered disabled, saying this has caused him huge psychological torture.
Mr Martin Kyansi, 33, a father of four and a resident of Kaburaisoke village, Rwimi Town Council, Bunyangabu District, lost his four limbs and moves in a wheelchair.
He says he lost all his friends as soon as he suffered disability when high voltage electric wire hit him, leaving him in misery.
Due to stigmatisation, Kyansi has since started a group, Abalema Kweyamba, through the National Council of Persons with Disabilities, which fights for their rights.
Also, Nudipu has since made him a peace ambassador in the region.
Light at the end of the tunnel
Nudipu, in partnership with Action on Disability and Development (ADD) International with support from the European Union, are implementing a three-year project aimed at seeing how best the life of people affected by conflicts can be made better in society. The project started in 2017.
Mr Nkulinga says most of the people who promote peaceful co-existence in societies tend to focus on minorities or the marginalised groups, but at times forget to include disability among the models for building respect for human rights.
Mr Nkulinga says since the conflicts, government has not yet designed any programme to help the victims cope.
Government urged
Recently, the acting Country Director, ADD International, Mr Thomas Kyokuhaire, called on government to include PWDs in its development outreach programmes.
Mr Kyokuhaire says government has, to some extent, left behind PWDs in its programmes such as Operation Wealth Creation, women empowerment projects and Youth Livelihood Programme yet they can immensely contribute to the country’s development.
