The Sunday News
FROM outside, the Jairos Jiri Centre in Bulawayo’s Nguboyenja suburb is nothing out of the ordinary. It is just like any other building in the suburb except that it is known to house people living with disabilities. Like any such institution in the country, whatever is done inside seems to be no-one’s business and yet a lot of homes in the city and country at large are decorated with artifacts made by inmates at the institution.
The centre is one of the biggest institutions in the city where people living with disabilities are taught various skills so that they become economically independent. Some are taught how to write using their mouths and toes all depending on their disabilities while others are taught different technical skills.
The centre is a hive of activity where a sense of seriousness is felt from all the activities and administrative work being carried out at the institution.
The old but spacious building houses a lot of amazing talent. Right next to the management office lies a clinic which the inmates make use of whenever they need medical attention. Next to the clinic is the physiotherapy department where they all come once in a while to exercise, stretch and get physically fit.
They, however, spend the greater part of the day in their classes, learning and gleaning from their committed lecturers. Students at the centre are by far different from the usual students in other schools — they have various physical impairments which they have courageously overlooked so as to pursue vocational education training.
Among the students is 22-year-old Tyler Nkala, a man whose aptitude in weaving various artifacts caught the attention of this publication.
Like him, most of the inmates who are into weaving are visually impaired but it is their dexterity using their hands and minds to navigate their way around this craft that is surprising.
Ordinarily, basketry is made from a variety of fibrous or pliable materials — any material that will bend and form a shape which can range from pine straw, stems, animal hair, hide, grass, thread, and fine wooden splints depending on the environment and part of the world weaving is done.
Here, they use grass and they weave baskets, chairs and various other artifacts that are useful in homes.
Nkala is rated among the top students in this class although he does not have any particular background in weaving. An orphan, who lost his father at the age of three and then his mother eight years later, Nkala is determined to ensure that his disability and being an orphan will not stop him from pursuing his dreams and doing what he enjoys most.
He was doing Grade 7 while staying with his mother in South Africa when she died and when he got back to Zimbabwe he never went back to school although his eloquence in the Queen’s language doesn’t show this.
“I started weaving just last year and I thoroughly enjoy doing this. I just enjoy using my hands and I hope one day I will be able to start up my own business and help myself financially. I wish to have a family and children someday and this is one way I think I can take care of them. I will need assistance though because when I finish the training here I will need money to start up if I am to go the independent route,” said the soft spoken Nkala.
Nkala said he would want to go back to school so that he could get a chance to make a difference in the world.
“Disability is not inability. I am a human being and an individual like any other person. I have dreams and ambitions too. I do wish I get a chance to pursue my dreams in a way that my peers experience them. I can literally do everything besides my visual impairment. I am also a Zimbabwean and I want to contribute to my country’s success and honestly it’s hard to do so sometimes when you have a disability like I do.
“I learn a lot from my peers, especially from my facilitators. They have been instrumental in making me the person and weaver that I am today,” he added.
In his spare time, Nkala sings gospel music as he has since discovered that he is also talented in that respect.
For the past six decades, the Jairos Jiri Association has evolved into a unique humanitarian and developmental agency which has continued to function as a great catalyst in the transformation of lives of people with disabilities in Zimbabwe.
Through the 60 years of growth and maturity coupled with the inspiring vision of its leaders, the success of this organisation can be attributed to a philosophy that is worth recording, mainly its view of the need to enhance independence, dignity and self confidence among people with disabilities.
The institution offers courses such as welding, secretarial studies, weaving/basketry, woodwork, leather technology, clothing technology, basic computer literacy and electronics.
Recently, the centre started an integration programme which has seen it moving from exclusively offering the courses to the people living with disability to offering them to anyone interested in short courses.
