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Herald Reporter
The China Wuhan Business Society in Zimbabwe (CWBSZ), in partnership with the Zimbabwe Parents of the Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA), last week handed over an assortment of goods and food items to parents and guardians of children with disabilities at a Christmas party in Waterfalls.
Donated food items packaged in hampers included maize meal, cooking oil, sugar, salt, chocolate and candy for the children.
Dozens of parents, the majority being mothers, converged at Waterfalls District office for the party which saw them receive the food items as a goodwill gesture by the Chinese community in Zimbabwe.
The event was an initiative by the CWBS in Zimbabwe working with ZPHCA, a local NGO bringing together parents of children with disabilities.
It provides a platform for parents to share notes on how to raise the children with love and care and is also an initiative to combine their efforts towards taking care of their disabled children in a society that often shuns them for different reasons.
The organisation was formed in 1989 and registered in 1990 as a welfare organisation and now has more than 10 000 children with disability in Zimbabwe.
Some mothers bemoaned that they had been left to mind their children by their husbands who abandoned families when they realised their offspring had physical challenges.
According to ZPHCA director Ms Theresa Makwara, the men often blamed their wives for bringing curses from their original families resulting in the birth of children with disabilities.
“As parents, we realise that we have been experiencing stigma associated with disability. I am also a mother of a child with disability and despite the challenges that we have been coming across, we have realised that if we come together as mothers, we can increase our voices and visibility in terms of lobbying and advocating the rights of our children in our communities.
“Most of the children with disabilities are stigmatised by their communities because of the nature and conditions of their disabilities. When a child has disability, they are in a sort of some prison but today, the Wuhan Business Association has come here to support our children with disabilities by providing Christmas gifts.
“I would like to thank them so much for this gesture because for quite a long time, the children were not even accessing anything regarding community interaction.
“This is the very most important day as the year comes to an end that they have been enjoying and we would like to thank Song Zhuolin (chairman of CWBAZ) and his team for coming here to provide these children with food, drinks, mates and everything.”
More than 120 children attended the party where they partook of drinks, ice cream and enjoyed time on jumping castles.
They were drawn from different parts of Harare and this included the Social Welfare Ministry’s Chitungwiza district.
Ms Makwara added: “When you are a mother preoccupied with a child with disability, most of the time is used in looking after their child. So they (children) need love, constant supervision and care. They also need things like food, soap, diapers, blankets, wheel chairs, blankets, and clothing.”
The Government and philanthropists from Germany also participated in the event while Zhu Wen, captain of the 19th Chinese Medical team in Zimbabwe, also brought in 10 medical specialists to provide medical services to those in need.
CWBA chair Mr Song Zhoolin: “We were connected to this organisation by the Chinese ambassador’s wife. She said most of the mothers did not have husbands and their children needed very, very close attention, so their mothers could not go looking for proper jobs.”
“Doctors also brought some medication for the children. We want to help because we have been doing business in Zimbabwe so we have to give back to the society.
“We will continue talking to the association to see what they want so that we can help them.
“As chairman, I have told my members that we will emphasise more on the charity part. We will do donations to different organisations four times every year and it is our first time to donate to this organisation.”
Online Reporter