disABILITY FOCUS

The Ministry of Disability and Elderly Affairs and Federation of Disability Organisations in Malawi (FEDOMA) - in collaboration with FEDOMA affiliates, partners, and various other stakeholders –  joined the rest of the world in commemorating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDD) which officially falls on 3 December every year. For more details, please visit our FEDOMA web page here. However, in Malawi, this event was commemorated on Saturday, 14 December 2013, in Blantyre. The commemorative activities were preceded with a solidarity march from Shoprite to Maselema, from 8:30 a.m., and were officially graced by the Minister of Disability and Elderly Affairs, Honourable Mrs. Rachael Kachaje, who was invited as Guest of Honour. The main theme for 2013 IDD was  “Break barriers, open doors: for an inclusive society for all”. The IDD is observed internationally and has been promoted by the United Nations since 1992. The observance of the Da

My name is Chrissy Zimba. I was born on 15 September 1987 in a family of four children and I am the first born. I am working as the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Mzuzu SMART Centre which is in partnership with Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation under Water department at Mzuzu University. I have a Bachelor of Science in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which I obtained from Mzuzu University in 2012.  My father was a primary school teacher and he passed away in 1999. Life started to become tough for me and my siblings as my mother was not working my father was solely the bread winner. We moved to my home District Mzimba boma from Ekwendeni.  My mother started doing small scale businesses and at times she would leave me alone with my siblings for about three months and I had to look after my siblings I was just 13 years old by that time and I was in standard eight.   I wrote my Primary School Leaving Certificate Exams and got selected to Ekwendeni

Seeing a person with albinism in Malawi owning and driving a car in those days used to attract strange attention. However, this time around, it is not even a case worthy debating, as more persons with disabilities are fulfilling their dreams of doing well in life. Despite many challenges persons with disabilities in the world face, there are some who have excelled in socio-economic life. One of such success stories is a member of the Faculty of Environmental Science at the University of Livingstonia, Overstone Mkwapatira Kondowe. He is an earth scientist with research interest in Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technology. He is the man behind the first Mikrocopter / Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Malawi. He recently won the Livingstone bicentenary scholarship from the Scottish Government and UNILIA USA foundation to study Masters of Science in Environmental Protection and Management (MSc EPM) at the Polytechnic Constituent College of the Univer

My name is Scader Louis.   I was born on 30 th September 1981, in a family of 4 children and I being the only girl. My father, Ronald Louis Masanjala came from Msamati Village T/A Kalembo – Machinga and my mother, Nancy Mwalwanda came Lughali Village T/A Kyungu – Karonga respectively. They both died in 1993 and 1999 respectively. I grew up in Mangochi District where my father spent most of his working life. I did my primary school education at St Augustine 3 in Mangochi. Later I went for my secondary school education at St Monica Girls Sec. School in the same district I was in form 2 when my mum died and things turned sour for me as there was no one to support my academic needs. Many thanks to the Sisters of Divine Providence, who through my teacher Mrs. Jean Ntaba offered to, take over the responsibility of paying for my school fees. I completed my secondary education in 2001 and passed my M.S.C.E with flying colors. I sat for the University Entrance Examinations in 2002