St. Francis Central Hospital with support from Hope and Healing International, and various cooperating partners have donated a wheelchair to an eight-year-old girl in Katiula Ward of Katete District.

The donation is aimed at enhancing accessibility and ease of movement for the girl.

Speaking during the donation, St Francis Central Hospital Physiotherapist Brian Nkhoma said the donation was a collaborative effort between St. Francis Mission Hospital, World Vision Zambia and the Zambia Persons Living with Disabilities (ZAPD).

“So, over the past two weeks we have screened 200 persons living with disabilities and the majority of these cases are physical disabilities. What we see is that there is a need for assistive devices in many of our communities,” he said.

And World Vision Zambia (WVZ) Women Economic Empowerment Specialist (WEES) under the Sustainable Land Restoration project (SLaR) Beatrice Sakala said her institution has reaffirmed its commitment to assisting vulnerable groups such as women, the youth and people living with disabilities.

Ms Sakala explained that her  organisation’s project was focused on ensuring natural regeneration of forests through Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR)

“In an effort to regenerate the degraded landscape, the project has been working with farmers and among them are women and persons with disabilities. 

” The project has been very deliberate to bring on board persons with disabilities as well as women; reason being that they are the most affected when it comes to climate change. 

” So right now, we have been conducting a disability screening with our partners, so that we can establish the kind of support that our farmers with disabilities require,” she said.

And Dorika Kwenda, the mother of the eight-year-old child, appreciated the timely assistance that will ease the movement of her child and enable the child to go school.

Ms Kwenda narrated how challenging it was to lift her child while attending to farm work.

Meanwhile, the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disability (ZAPD) Provincial Coordinator Chisomo Zulu echoed the need not to hide the persons with disability, as they would miss out on opportunities that will help their lives.

“My word to families who are keeping persons with disabilities in their homes, is that It is difficult for organizations like World Vision Zambia to put them on a program and to also link them,” she said.