In early May this year, I was asked by the editor of Disability Now to write an article on disability in Zimbabwe. I didn’t take much asking and I wrote the following article. As you read it, please remember that May was just 2 months ago, and that the figures quoted reflect those of just 60 to 90 days ago

The article was published in the internet here.

“I left Zimbabwe 8 years ago, but having lived there for almost 40 years and grown up in a family with a strong medical background, I have a very good concept of what living with a disability in Zimbabwe entails.

That I myself am now disabled is a coincidence.

Family values in Africa as a whole and Zimbabwe in particular, are high.

But in the current political and economic climate in Zimbabwe, living with a disability in a huge encumbrance. The country does not have the disability network we see in the UK. Small organisations like St Giles, Jairos Jiri and RESCU have all but stopped operating, as costs are just too prohibitive.

Families with members that are disabled, whether physically or mentally, are largely left to handle the situation on their own. Some relatives see the birth of a child with a disability as a taboo that has brought bad omen to the family. One must remember that African people are very spiritual. The subject of disability in Zimbabwe has largely been sacrosanct, and therefore, remains unresolved.

Zimbabwean families are too busy just trying to get through the present day to spend time looking after the disabled. Only the fit will survive.

Whilst society is aware of their responsibilities to the disabled, time does not lend itself to providing that care.

The political and economic woes of the country no longer lend themselves to providing a society where people with disabilities can be afforded.

The British pound fetches a little more than Z$500 on the official exchange rate, whilst on the unofficial market it will fetch in excess of Z$50000! The Poverty Datum Line – the amount of money that a 5 member family requires to break even in any given month - is Z$1.4 million, but the average worker earns about Z$50000 per month.

Disabled people in Zimbabwe routinely face exclusion from education, employment, cultural activities, festivals, sports and social events and are especially vulnerable to poverty, physical and sexual violence, lack of access to health care, emotional abuse and neglect. Only 33% of children with disabilities in Zimbabwe have access to education, compared with over 90% for the able-bodied populace.

When disabled people become too much for any family to cope with, the normal thing is to book that person into a local government hospital under a false name so that when death occurs, the government is obliged to pick up the funeral costs with a pauper’s burial. This is because the family are unable to foot the funeral costs.

An elderly black man, blind at birth, used to spend his days playing a home-made guitar and singing popular hymns - his voice loud and melodic, he was almost a landmark of First Street in Harare. His son would sit with him and ‘manage’ the few coins that were donated by passers-by. But the municipal police chased them away and today they live at Hopley Farm, in a cold, crude hut manufactured for them by sympathetic neighbours,

He eats about one small meal every three days and cannot afford to purchase a regular supply of milk or bread.

He no longer plays the guitar. He no longer sings. He spends his days sitting in silence. The joy of his music is gone. He quietly sits awaiting death.

His life is cursed. He will not survive the winter this year. He welcomes death, if only for the freedom it will afford his son.

The disabled people of Zimbabwe – hidden, ignored and abhorred – nothing more, nothing less.”

Take care.

‘debvhu