Children living with disabilities express challenges
By Ibrahim S. Bangura
Children living with disabilities in the Western Area Rural District have expressed that they are lack of funds to support their schooling, lack of shelter and other necessities that could help improve their living standards as persons with disability, therefore, they are living with no hope for future.
Speaking on behalf of her colleagues, Isata Koroma,18, a physically challenged person in Morabie community in Waterloo in the Western Area Rural Area told Premier News that, they have stopped attending the inclusive school (Saint Joseph Junior Secondary School) which they used to attend, because they got discriminated against.
She said, inclusive school which they are currently attending has also been difficult for them to cope with the situations in the school, saying that, as a result of ill-treatment and discrimination they usually have confrontations with others, which has discouraged them to extend of causing some to quit school.
“The disables had never been treated nicely by any society. We have never been treated with more kindness, understanding and respect. Most of us had left behind and considered not worth educating. There is no school in Waterloo which is meant for the PWDs. The best way to help us in this deprived community, is to open school meant mainly for the disables,” she stressed.
She said both disabled boys and girls were always discriminated in the inclusive schools. “Discrimination for us is in two ways. First, if we are attending schools, we always struggle to get to schools that are far from our houses. Secondly, at the schools, we often face a lack of accessible toilets and hygiene assistance while special services are often given to able-bodied pupils. We like to be in school, because, we learn more things every day and that would help us in the future. But we are deprived. The conditions which we found ourselves in, was not our fault. We did not chose the life ourselves, but God does,” she emphasized.
She said that there are other set of disables (the blind, the thumb and the deaf) who are given the opportunities to go to school, saying that, there are schools for the blind and the deaf. “But why not us? Are we not disables?” she asked.
“We call on the government and other humanitarian organizations to help us with schools, vocational centers for our parents, shelter, food and medical facilities,” she concluded.
Bumi Cole aka Sufferer, a mother of three children in Morabie community, said that, their children were not considered as people in the schools they usually attend, adding that they often complain how badly they usually get treated by able-bodied persons.
She further stated that they are given less attention by nurses in all hospitals there they usually go for treatment even if they had money.
“Our children do not easily access medical facilities. Recently, I lost one of my kids at the Cottage hospital due to less attention from the nurses. We heard that free medical facility is given to all the disable people, but we have not seen anything like that.
Salman Jalloh, the Assistant Secretary of the Polio Brothers and Sisters Association in the western rural area, said that, over 300 polio are living under the umbrella of the association, saying that they had not been given any attention by the government.
He said that, person’s with disabilities faces severe challenges to access Medical facility, Learning institutions , vehicles and seeking greener pastures, seemingly feels left out in society.
He asserted that, situations led them to go on the street begging for their livelihood, saying that, disable person needs to be empower as disability is not inability.
He said, “We have orphans, widows and other sets of disables. Some of them are children and wives of our late brothers and sisters who died during the war and the Ebola crisis. We are not recognized by the government for quite a long time now.”
He further explained that they usually find it difficult in accessing public transportation, citing that, drivers never allow them to onboard their vehicles, saying, “Drivers don’t allow us in their vehicles either the commercial bikers. They always regard us as evil people. The condition we are living in, is not our decision and we are not happy to be in such situations.”
He said he usually pays more than sixty thousand Leones to and fro with his wheelchair every day he goes to town.
He appealed to the government to provide buses for PWDs so as to help ease some of their challenges amid transportation.
Santigie Kargbo, the National President of Sierra Leone Union of Disability Issues (SLUDI), explained that, recently, they had targeted places where the PWDs are located so as to get them assisted with all the necessary things that could help improve their lives.
He said, the free medical facility is provided to every persons with disability and that, every hospital is freely open to every one of them.
Kargbo further added that, there is no school available for the disable children in the western rural areas for now, but promised to work with the government to see that they are provided schools in those areas. “Schools are only available for the blind and the deaf, but we are working very hard to see that the other set of disables in the western rural areas are provided with schools,” Kargbo stated.
He said they have tried to raise awareness to stop the discrimination against persons living with disabilities in the societies, adding that, though there is an existing act of parliament on person with disability but is not been implemented or recognized by society and enforcing authorities.
He said, in the western rural areas “We only have inclusive schools for the disables. We are also trying to see how the society would appreciate them and how they would accept among the able persons in the schools and the societies.”
Note:
“This story was written and produced with support from Journalist for Human Rights (JHR) and Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) media fellowship.”
