Emhaya Group of Disabled People

[For a longer article Lani wrote about this visit, look here (Word document) or here (PDF document) - she won 1000 US dollars for the Emuhaya group with this from Backpack Nation!]

Emhaya Group of Disabled People are the group whose harambee Heather, Mark, Melissa and Rosa went to before Christmas (pictures here!). We were due to meet the group after their monthly meeting, as Naomy had agreed. I wanted to meet them, but didn’t know what it was going to be like: this was a grassroots group of disabled people and I wanted to ask them about what their lives were like and find out more about the organization. We got to the meeting place and were told that they had only just started their meeting - that’s African time for you!

We were greeted like royalty, everyone seemed so happy to see us! There were lots of people, about 40 - I was expecting about 15! After we were greeted and prayers were said (there seemed to be a lot of religion involved which was strange for me) I sat in front of the group and asked them what it was like being disabled in Kenya. After a while I realized that I had opened the flood gates and that I could learn a lot from them.

Disabled people all over the world get a raw deal compared to the rest of the population in the country they live in. Here in Kenya, where there is so much poverty, disabled people’s lives are harsh. People began to tell me how they often couldn’t get out of their houses, particularly when the rains come - this meeting was the tip of the iceberg, there were countless more people who just couldn’t get here. One women told me how her son couldn’t do anything for himself and she didn’t know what to do anymore.

Many impairments are caused by poverty and their effects are obviously exascerbated by poverty - sickness that could be prevented, poor living conditions and malnutrition. Because of the extent of poverty here, and maybe also because of other beliefs, many people think that if you have a disabled child it is an act of witchcraft and is something to be ashamed of, this makes it even harder and people who try and challenge the situation are really up against it. Many of the people in the group didn’t know that disabled people could be white! I think for that reason alone it was good for me to be there.

One young women told me when I asked what difference being part of Emhaya had made to her life, she said that before Emhaya Group she had felt very ashamed of being disabled and had felt very alone, she said that the group had given her confidence in herself and her abilities, and she was now proud of who she was!

They all said they wanted me to stay and help with the group's development, later we joked about them offering cows for me! I was tempted to stay and work for Naomy for a while as she starts to set up her organisation and I could do some work with Emhaya as well, but I can’t change my ticket…! One thing about being white here is that where ever you go people want you to solve all their problems and, I’m sorry, but I can’t - not single handedly anyway. Being here and going to that meeting has made me think about HOW IMPORANT it is for disabled people to fight together internationally against oppression and poverty.

- Lani