Branton Matondo
Women with disabilities from all four corners of Zimbabwe will on September 24 converge in Harare for an assembling day when they will be spearheading a crucial themed event underpinned on women independence and how best they can come out of their isolation and dependence shells.
The upcoming pioneer event resting on the theme ‘No To Dependence Syndrome’ is meant to address women with disability issues that range from self-empowerment, self-motivation and issues that hover around #Youcandoit.
Zimbabwe Women with Disabilities advocacy leader Nyasha Mahwende said the programme will be held in the capital at St Marceline Children’s Village in Hatfield.
She urged women with disabilities to be part of the one day event as it seeks to tackle issues on why women with disabilities in most cases look up other people for survival, a behaviour that has matured into a syndrome.
“Yes, the event will take place in the capital. We have seen that women with disabilities look down on themselves but this event is meant to uplift and instill in them confidence such that they are able to look and empower themselves. Our target is to wipe out dependency syndrome even on the basic of needs. We want to show the world that women with disabilities can do what other able bodied people can,” said Mahwende.
The event which is self-funded has one attached partner, Reach Out Foundation.
Reach Out Foundation has assisted in sourcing a convenient venue and printing of T-shirts.
Besides that, all the logistics and planning is managed by women with disabilities who will be in attendance.
“This event is self-funded. We encourage women living with disabilities to be part of the event. Only US$ 10 entry fee is required. We haven’t found donors and partners yet since we are basically funding ourselves, a sign that we can do it. The only notable partner is Reach Out Foundation which helped us in sourcing the venue and printing of T-shirts,” added Mahwende.
The aim of the September event, according to Mahwende is to produce a complete woman who can stand her ground and do what is done by others.
“At the end of the event, we wish to create a complete and confident woman who works for herself without basing on other people’s assistance. We aim at creating a woman who does not rely on his husband’s pocket. We objectively aim at the removing the barrier between women living with and women living without disability preaching the gospel of unity. We are all women and should support each other,” said Mahwende.
Sinikiwe Kademaunga who will also be part of the event said the event is an eye opener as it seeks to empower women with disabilities.
“It is very important for us to have such an event because a lot of women isolate themselves to such an extent that they rarely come out of their houses to interact with the society. Such an event gives women with disabilities an opportunity to interact and feel loved. When people come together, the usual tendency is laughing, sharing and motivating and that’s what we want to achieve through this September event. They will get to realise that they are not the only people going through the same problem,” said Kademaunga.
She added that a lot of gaps and misinformation exist in society when it comes to women with disabilities’ priorities though the September event is meant to cover such gaps.
“A lot of information is fabricated when it comes to fundamental women with disabilities issues and events like these are an eye opener as we will be divulging correct, educated, proved and tested discourses,” she added.
