Pamba disability action group

This morning we had the meeting to set up the Pamba Disability Action group. It was due to start at 10.30 and by 11 I had thought of abandoning it as so few people had turned up. We were waiting under the mango tree in the Pentecostal church grounds, while a noisy prayer meeting was going on in the actual church building. However by 11.30 there were plenty of people. I had wanted the locals to facilitate their own meeting but they didn't really seem to know how to proceed so I had to lead them to some extent by proposing the agenda and asking questions about how the meeting should proceed. We started by everyone stating their reasons for being present and hopes for the meeting. There was a good age range and young and older people with various disabilities and carers were all represented. One 7-yr old girl had no feet and walked in wearing home made bootees on her stumps. The family could not afford proper prosthetics for her. She was also deaf or at least so hard of hearing she had not learned to speak but had not had a formal hearing test. Her mother had made up a rudimentary sign language but this was no use for communicating with anyone else and was very limited. As things stand, she has no chance of going to school as the local one can't teach her and the school for the deaf is too expensive. I tried to link her mother with the local teachers of sign language, though it is already late to start learning. Ignorance is such an enemy here; even when help is available, people don't know they need it.
The people had lots of good ideas about what the group could do for them, and not too many relied on donor funding, so we could define the purpose and the name was agreed. Then we decided on the committee structure and conducted an election for officers and committee members. I did advise them against nominating the Pastor, lovely man though he is, as the board needs to consist of people with disability and carers. They included young people on the board, one of whom is the token male, but I think he will manage.
Everyone was very happy and grateful for the initiative and the first meeting is scheduled for 10 days' time. There are a few people around who will provide support and guidance as it gets started, so I am very hopeful that it will achieve a lot.
Tom told me that the group in Atiira that started less than two weeks ago now has over 100 paid-up members, is finalising its constitution, and plans to use the collected funds to act as a credit union that can provide loans to members for income-generating schemes. All power to them!