Disability group salutes Joyce Banda
Members of the Malawi Fellowship for the Disabled (MAFED) have hailed state Vice President Joyce Banda for showing concerns and assisting the vurnalable people including persons with disability in the country.
This was registered by the MAFED leadership when the second citizen hosted their members a reception at her official Area 12 Residence in Lilongwe on Tuesday.
During the reception, the members of the organisation had an opportunity to interact with the Vice President and discussed with her issues affecting them and the physically challenged in general in Malawi.
The Vice President donated blankets to all members of the organisation who attended the function.
In his remarks, Chairperson for MAFED Maxwell Chikho, could not find a better word to convey the organisation’s gratitude to the VP.
“With God, truly everything is possible. ….. even in our wildest dream we never thought of finding ourselves at a place like this one owing to our circumstances,” he said.
MAFED is a community based non-governmental organisation based in Area 23 that brings together the physically challenged people in the location and its surrounding areas in Lilongwe.
The group aims at addressing the many challenges and problems that the physically challenged people face.
In addition to focusing on the material needs for the physically challenged. MAFED also focuses on addressing the spiritual needs of its members.
During the meeting, the Chairperson outlined a number of challenges and problems that the physically challenged face. These include, discrimination and abuses of different forms; food shortage; lack of capital to engage in small scale businesses; lack of vocation and entrepreneurial training opportunities; HIV/AIDS pandemic.
They also facelack of aids such as walking, hearing devices; lack or constrained access to essential services such as education due to lack of friendly services for the physically challenged people in such sectors as education, health, agriculture among others.
The organisation attributed the many challenges that the disabled face to lack of coherent, and well defined policies and programmes that holistically address not only the needs of the disabled but also integrate them into all spheres of the country’s economy.
In her remarks, the Vice President indicated that the plight of the physically challenged is a constitutional issue.
She argued that improving plight of the physically challenged is a call to all of us as a nation.
Banda called for collaborated efforts to address the numerous challenges and problems confronting the physically challenged.
The Vice President announced that through, The Joyce Banda Foundation, she would do everything possible to help alleviate the many challenges and problems facing the organisation.
Said Banda, “You can count on me. I will do whatever it takes to address the many challenges that you face. In me you have a partner. To me issues and the plight of the physically challenged among other vulnerable groups is a matter of calling.”
The organisation members were accompanied by traditional and religious who hailed the Vice President for the gesture and support extended to MAFED.
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