The Sunday News
Lungile Tshuma Sunday Leisure Correspondent
ORPHANS and people living with disabilities are usually regarded as the forgotten in society where many seem to have accepted their condition of living in perpetual poverty and not expecting much from the same society that frowns and disdains them. Stalked by the grinning poverty, many people in these two groups often struggle to make ends meet, barely managing to cover their basic needs.
The harsh city streets are where most end up, braving extreme heat, rain or cold depending on the season. And to them anyone can be a Messiah. They look up to these Messiahs on a daily basis for provision of such things as food and clothes.
Touched by the life of this vulnerable group of people and using her personal experience, one woman who was orphaned while in Grade Seven but has somehow defeated the odds that life threw at her has dedicated her life and resources to helping others in similar circumstances.
Sakhile Sibanda, a Canada educated and Zimbabwe born nurse has devoted her life to helping orphans and children living with disability. She is indeed an emerging philanthropist at a time when people thought the era of such people as the revered Mother Theresa is long gone.
Instead of spending her time in Canada, where most always wish to be, Sakhile retraced her roots back to Zimbabwe, as she felt she had to “be the difference” the society needs.
She said she is guided by the principle that, “What matters in life is not the mere fact that we have lived and probably died, but the difference we have made in other people’s lives.”
A third born in a family of five she lost her father when she was about to enrol for Form One. Life, she recalls, looked miserable and thought that was the end of her academic life but her uncle, Dr Obert Mpofu (Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development), assisted her family to get proper education.
Sakhile completed her O-level studies at Townsend High School, went on to study A-Level at Bulawayo Adventist High School and proceeded to do a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing with York University in Canada. She is currently studying towards her Masters Degree in Public Health with the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
MUSI Trust Zimbabwe is the brain child of Sibanda which started off as a Facebook group blanket collection for Mpilo Central Hospital which was a global social media campaign. The aim of the initiative was to collect 1 000 blankets for the hospital. The initiative collected baby blankets and clothing items and became a success as they managed to raise enough funds to purchase 1 700 blankets which were donated to Mpilo and Ingutsheni Central Hospitals, five city orphanages and Ekuphumuleni Old people’s Home.
The happily married mother of two — a boy and a girl — Sibanda said she was now working towards building one of the biggest projects for children living with disabilities.
The building will be a $130 000 dormitory for 100 children with various disabilities and teachers at Fatima Primary School. The school is located in Lupane, a distance of 222,5 kilometers north of Bulawayo and is the only special needs school in Matabeleland North Province.
“This is the project which we are eager to make successful. In fact it has to be successful. Children with disabilities are mainly neglected and some treated as outcasts,” said Sibanda.
“The school currently has 28 children with speech, hearing and visual impairments. Most of these pupils are orphans and are from very poor families. While the school has the capacity to enrol many children with disabilities, accommodation remains an impediment. When we went to assess the school last year in April we realised that from January to April, 12 potential pupils with disability were turned away because there was no more space at the dormitory.
“That jolted me to help the school and build a dormitory that is going to help pupils.
“This project has to be successful because these children are our future leaders. I think we should not close the door before children can realise their potential. These children must be given the opportunity to showcase their capabilities. Education is the key to success and people who are not educated are finding it hard to survive and the situation is worse for people with disabilities.”
“We therefore appeal to the business community to assist us on this journey. We need their support. I believe we should play our part in changing other people’s lives in line with our motto ‘be the difference,’ we have to be the difference and open doors for orphans and children living with disabilities.”
She said she had plans to open an orphanage which she said would not be too dependable but rather sustainable and keep family members together.
“If you take a look at most children’s homes and or orphanages in the country, they tend to separate the family where grown up children are taken away from their younger brothers and sisters. I would love to keep them united. More so, we will want to get a plot where we can do farming so that we are not dependent but we sustain ourselves,” said the philanthropist.
