By TAONGA HARA and WILSON MUSONDA Jr
FINDING a job and earning a living is a challenge for many. If you are disabled, blind or deaf, it may seem even more difficult. However, some people defeat the odds, and manage to develop skills and get a job.
Stanley Mulenga, 23, is both disabled and unable to properly use his hands, but still he owns and manages a business. Mulenga makes a living by selling sweets, pens, calculators, office devices and stationery and rents a house in Lusakas Mandevu.
Life in the sprawling shanty township is hard, but he is coping.
Mulenga´s day starts very early. He takes the bus out of the township and arrives at his place of work at 08:00 hours in the morning. But this also seems to pay.
I have a lot of customers, I make between KR70 and KR100 per day, he says.
For the money that he earns, he manages to rent a house, and buy clothes and food for himself. Despite completing high school and having lots of opportunities to pursue higher education, Mulenga does not want to go back to school since he thinks he has succeeded, anyway.
But there are also many challenges in his daily life, being disabled and running his own retail business. When he was six years old, he contracted a disease which he still does not know. As a result, he has difficult walking and his hands and body shake. It is a struggle for him to carry the goods he buys to his business centre.
Life has not been easy, he says.
People with disabilities face a lot of challenges coping with everyday life at home, school or around friends and the workplace seems to be no exception. For example, other peoples negative attitudes can be a problem, but Mulenga has his own strategy to handle this.
When discouraging comments are passed, I just dont pay attention, he says.
Someone who has his own personal experience of feeling discriminated against and mistreated because of his disability is Katolo Mungandi. Katolo is a blind beggar along Lusakas Cha Cha Cha Road who was once self-employed. He worked at one point for the council as a cleaner, but he says that because of his disability, it has been hard for him to get a job although he is qualified.
I am both a farmer and a craftsman but I have never been employed in any of these fields. Since I cannot find a job in the fields I am skilled in, I have resorted to begging. I dont want to stay at home doing nothing; that´s why I decided to beg on the streets as a way of surviving, says Mungandi.
Mungandi lives in Misisi compound and is led by his grandchildren to the central business district every day. He still hopes that the government or a well-wisher will step in and provide start-up capital that would enable him to do crafts work and farming.
As much as the disabled may struggle, some make it in life. One such example is Mr. Isaac Muhanga who is the sssistant director at the Bank of Zambia.
I am one of the few privileged disabled persons in Zambia, he says, but I understand the problems the disabled go through.
Mr. Thomas Mtonga, who is also visually impaired, is the chairperson for the Programme on Health and Disability and Social Education. He thinks there are many reasons for unemployment among disabled persons.
Lack of education amongst the disabled is one of the i factors. Most are unable to access education at all and if they do, they only reach Grade 12.
Mr Mtonga also highlights the role of politics and legislation as well as societys attitudes in relation to the rights of persons with disabilities.
The policies and legislation that support the employment of persons with disabilities are insufficient. Most organisations and companies have a negative attitude towards people with disabilities and insist that they cannot perform if hired, claims Mr Mtonga.
He thinks it would be good if the Government looked into the issues of policies, education and other forms of legislation that affect persons with disabilities. He wishes to see the newly enacted Peoples Disability Act put into effect, since it aims at looking into the welfare of the disabled including employment issues.
There is a need for political will from Government if the betterment of the disabled is to be achieved.
The attitudes in society and among employers, Disacares director Mr. StanleyLupobe, are as a key to understanding unemployment among disabled persons. Disacare is an organisation that strives to provide the disabled with cheap and affordable machines that can compensate for their disability.
Mr Lupobe says that the reason why most young disabled people have no decent jobs isn´t because they are not capable but because there are insufficient jobs that support the disabled in Zambia.
Employers think twice about hiring the disabled, with the fear of additional costs. Society also has a high degree of pity for the disabled. If there were a lot of disabled people in top positions others would be inspired by their achievement instead.
Facts:
Around 0.8 percent of Zambias population are disabled and a majority of these are youths.
The Persons with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination in employment based on disability.The National Policy on Disability aims at providing persons with disabilities equal opportunities.
Fifty-two percent of the disabled population are in self-employment and only 12.8 percent are employed or employers.
Zambia rati?ed the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in February 2010.
When ILOs report: Decent Work Country Profile ZAMBIA, 2012 was produced, there was no data available for the employment situations of workers with disabilities to enable measurement of discrimination by disability.
(Sources: ILO, Zambia Central Statistical Office)
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