A day of hope

It was not until after I returned to the hotel and we were praying for the people we met today that I shed a tear.

We had driven out to a remote settlement in Amuria District to meet members of the nascent Disability Support Group that is forming with help from the Global Care team. Already they have formed 5 local cells and elected a committee. David says they are gaining confidence and the ability to talk about their lives and their needs and ideas for how to tackle things. Rather than lecture them on the way forward, we decided to use the time to interact and work together towards a consensus.

My plans for three focus groups and a participatory workshop took a backward step in the face of a hot mud-brick-and-thatch little church, crowded with men, women and children. Still, we managed to get nearly everyone to speak and tell something about the challenges they face in this, probably the most rural area I have ever visited, where there is practically nothing to do except subsistence agriculture. Understandably there was much focus on poverty and the near impossibility for most people of generating enough income or crops to feed their families, due to lack of access to land and the impairments they have. Add to this additional costs for care needs, aids and medical interventions (many of them futile and accompanied by long journeys), along with exclusion from education and participation in village life and you have the familiar fundamental reasons why disability is so closely associated with poverty. 

We have some experience of how a support group can work against stigma and exclusion, support its members in income generating projects, raise its own funds from microfinance schemes and subscriptions, and attract grants from Government and donors. Perhaps most importantly, it can help them believe in their own capacity and worth.

So, whilst gently deflecting a few direct requests for help with medical costs etc., we trust that we were able to support the direction of travel and raise hopes that will not be in vain. How, in this out-of-the-way place, they will be able to create alternative livelihoods and generate funds to help with buying wheelchairs and operations, is beyond our understanding at present, but with faith and perseverance, we want to travel with them.