There was a very interesting article in the Globe and Mail. The article speaks of research in Canada regarding people with disabilities. The conclusion of the article, and I paraphrase, is that inclusion for people with disabilities is incomplete if it does not involve community and friends. The money quote from the article is:

“Dr. Snowdon said she was surprised to learn from parents and children themselves that isolation was far more painful to live with than physical or development disabilities themselves.”

I see this all the time in my travels. Last year in Kinshasa I visited a ten year old girl who was in a wheelchair. The Community Based Rehabilitation program had provided supports to her mother, exercise program, a wheelchair, and access to school. This girl was doing well in school. In talking to her she told me how much her life had changed. But when I asked what she really wished for, she said “I want friends. No one will play with me.”

All people need community, friends, and positive attitudes. That is true in Kinshasa and Lusaka. Canadian research now proves it is the same in Canada.

This Friday is an historic day in Canada! It is the launch in Canada for the World Health Report on Disability. This report has been launched in several countries already, and is the foundation for understanding and setting up programs that promote inclusivity for persons with disability. We at cbm Canada have been very active in setting up this day – with official meetings in Ottawa and Toronto. You can read further about the World Report here.

One of the key speakers both in Ottawa and Toronto is Dr. Tom Shakespeare. He is one of the principle authors of the report. I met Dr. Shakespeare at a meeting last year in Brussels and was impressed with his depth of knowledge and ability to articulate the global issues facing people with disabilities. We arranged for Dr. Shakespeare to come from Geneva for these important meetings. For those of you who are interested in seeing this launch there is a live web cast that is available January 27, 12-2 pm. You can click here for that web cast. 

I follow several blogs written by people with a disability. I have shared them with you on occasion. I came across this song and video written and sung by Dana Mase which was posted on one of them.

This is a powerful song about the institutionalization of people with disabilities. I am glad that era is over – at least in Canada. We have come a long way. As powerful as this song is, I cannot catagorically condemn people in the past for making these terrible decisions. Parents had little supports to them. Society and doctors were telling them what to do. If condemnation is needed, then it has to go so much beyond the parents and families, and to all of  the community around.

It does take community attitutudes and support to create wholesome places where all are welcome – regardless of their abilities. That is what cbm Canada is all about – changing communities so that all are welcome.

Here are the words of this song….

I came across this blog this morning and thought I would share it with you. This blog does a couple of things for me. 
 
First – this is another example of how social media allows us to share in each others lives. I have been intrigued for awhile now about how blogging can allow the world to hear more about the lives of those living with a disability. It no longer has to be interpreted through others – in this case a father shares directly with whoever wants to listen, on how it is living with a child who has downs syndrome. 
 
Second – the example of how Target included a child with a disability in its ad. This may be another indictor that our society in North America is redefining normal. For Target it is now “normal” to include the full spectrum of people in its ads – not just a small slice of what they think consumers want the world to look like. 
 
This is a good indicator for our society – which still has a long way to go. Unfortunately, when I travel to countries in extreme poverty, there is not many of these indicators.  
My quest for a person in a developing country with a disability blogging in order to share their story continues.

I got another call the other day from someone saying that with the economic crises in Canada, organizations should work more at home and less in countries in Africa or Asia. I have to say that I do have tremendous sympathy for so many in Canada that are hurting. I also am grateful that although not perfect, our country does have safety nets which do prevent people from starving or dying with no access to health services. Again, we have problems in our system which should be corrected, but at least there is a basic level of support.  

 

This is not true in so many countries and for so many people – especially those with disabilities.
 

The world is interconnected. 
 

The economic crises in the developed world has affected the whole world. It is tough. I know that people in Canada are hurting. I know that many have been laid off of work, or are under-employed, and worry about their future. I know that in the US and places in Europe it is even worse.  
 

I also was in Ethiopia in early December. What struck me again is that while people in Canada worry about their future, people in Africa worry about their present. Whereas people in Canada are concerned about saving money and not spending it on luxury items, people in Africa are concerned about feeding their families today. I just read an article which interviewed people in Kinshasa, Congo, and showed that the majority of families in that city of 6 million, are forced to ration children’s food to every other day. 
 

Children with disabilities get even less. 
 
I do understand those who say now is the time to care for Canadians first. I do want Canadians cared for. I also would challenge those same people to compare their situation with those in the slums of Nairobi or Kinshasa. 
 
The comparison will still shock you!

We had another great day visiting another CBR program about 100 km outside of Addis. After a briefing on the scope of their work our group divided up to visit some homes. I want to give just one story of one of the clients we visited.

We visited one home where we had to walk through the mud to get to. Here we met a mother of two children – 9 and 7 years old. Both children had mental disabilities and the older one also had epilepsy. We found out that the women’s husband also had a mental disability and could not work.

The CBR field worker visits this home twice a week. The mother told us that in the beginning – three years ago when she was first visited – the CBR program began by providing her with medicine for the epilepsy. They also worked with her to help her understand that this was not a curse from God, and helped her understand how to work with her children. She was linked with the community by community meetings, where the CBR program helped her and her neighbours understand the illness that her children had, and that it was not something evil. She was also put in touch with other mothers who had children with disabilities. Together they could share their stories, how they coped, and together how they were able to access government programs.

One of the important things the CBR program did then was to work with her on livelihood. Because her husband had no job, she could not provide food for her family. They had to beg others for food. The program worked with her to develop a business plan for sustainability. She began with a loan from the CBR program to buy lambs to be raised and sold. When the price of feed began to rise, she quickly sold the sheep and then built three small rooms on her piece of property. She was able to rent out these rooms and now has a sustainable monthly income.

With a quiet pride she told us that now she has enough money for food and clothes for her family. She also said that she no longer receives any free medicines for her epileptic daughter, but can buy this herself. She is even saving some money and hopes to invest in another small room that she can rent. For the first time she has certainty in her income – and that this will provide for her and her family.

As we were leaving she also told us that because of her experience, she has asked to be one of the mothers that meets new clients to give them hope. She is the one that the CBR program brings to meet new clients – telling them that there is hope. Just as someone helped her, she wants to help others.

I have often said that the heroes of almost every story I see in Africa are the mothers or grandmothers. This women with a husband and two daughters with disabilities did not give up, but worked hard to cope. With understanding, new acceptance from her community, weekly visits, a small loan, she was able to move from dependence on begging to independence and being a resource to others.

Her home is not much to look at. A small plot of land, just her home and three small rooms, along with a very muddy courtyard. She still has to carry water from a distance. Her children will always have their disability. Yet she is strong and a model for others.

Winston was in another group and he said that one of his home visits they found out that the CBR worker had found a child with a disability in the streets, and asked her to take them to her mother. This is how they found this child three years ago. Winston had asked the mother what she thought when her child, with a disability, brought home his CBR field worker. She told Winston that her thought was immediately a question: “Has God now heard her many prayers for help?”

We had a good day. We drove out about 130 km to one of the CBR programs in the network. It was a very impressive program. They began by giving us a report on the program, and went through the CBR matrix (community-based rehabilitation) and showed in each category (health, education, livelihood, social, empowerment) their targets and achievements. I have yet to see a program as comprehensive as this.

One of the interesting things to see was how this program was integrating their work with local Micro-finance partners. Their goal is to have people with disabilities included and credit worthy. They begin working with a family with training, business concepts, and a very small interest free loan. After they have proven their economic idea and capacity to manage their micro-business, they then turn them over to a local micro-finance organization. They are then treated like any client – with normal interest rates. The MF organization is happy because they get clients who already have a concept, business, and history of success. The CBR program is happy because a client is now included in regular business programs, and they can concentrate on new clients. All of the home visits I went on talked about how important this economic empowerment was to them and their families. They can earn enough now to care for their family.

On one of my visits a grandmother received a loan for an oven for enjira (bread) and the building of a shelter so she could cook in the rains. She insisted on us taking a piece of bread. She looks after three grandchildren, her daughter (mother of the children) died. One of the children is deaf.

Because she can sell the bread in the market she now has no difficulty feeding the family. She told us “I am free! I am happy and I have hope. Don’t think of me as a poor person!” She also said that she and I were now part of the same family – we were related through the CBR program. She wanted me to thank all of the people also related through this program. That is all of you!

The CBR program also includes health, rehabilitation, social, education, and everything else. Each field worker is trained in sign language, physio, etc – so they can provide the full services to the clients. The training for the CBR field workers is done through the CBR network – which is funded by the cbm Canada and CIDA.

I could go on but won’t for now. It was an uplifting day – a day that showed me again how important all of our work is.

In August 2010 Tom Little ,along with 9 others who were on his medical team, was killed in Afghanistan. This week Libby, Tom’s wife, is in our office. This morning she gave our office devotions and shared her story with us. If you ever have a chance to hear Libby speak you should make sure you don’t miss it. Her love of God, commitment to service, and humility is amazing.

As she told her story a couple of things jumped out at me. They include:

* Libby said again and again that neither she nor Tom did anything spectacular. They were faithful to God’s call, in something they loved, almost always in obscurity.

* The work that they started is continuing. NOOR Eye Hospital is thriving and training eye specialists.

* Without cbm Canada NOOR Eye Hospital would not exist.

* Tom’s dream was always to reach out from the institutions to the most remote areas. Unfortunately, as a result of the teams death this has not been possible to continue. Please pray that it will become possible.

* Tom’s view of witness was to come alongside people and have people feel and witness the work of God. Life giving work will inspire people to have interest in the Gospel.

* Libby feels a strong assurance that good will come from evil, that love will endure. She feels compelled to speak about this story so that new young people will commit to serving God.

cbm Canada will continue to support the eye work through the NOOR Hospital in Afghanistan. It is our prayer that as Libby speaks to youth conventions and universities around the world, a new generation of people dedicated to living alongside people in poverty, making a difference, and in so doing bringing the love of God will emerge.

Please join us in that prayer.

Today is World Sight Day. This is an important time to think about the gift of sight – what it means to those who do have it and those who do not. According to recent World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are 39 million blind people worldwide, 90% of whom live in developing countries. Half of all blind people are suffering from cataract, which means that nearly 20 million people could regain sight through a simple operation.

Cbm Canada and its project partners did this procedure 644,000 times in 2010 – all in all CBM-supported projects have done over 10 million cataract operations since 1966.

Second and third place in the blindness statistics are taken by glaucoma (ca. 3.1 million people) and age-related macular degeneration (ca. 2 million people).

The majority of the 1.5 million blind children worldwide and also the 1.2 million people who are blinded by trachoma live in developing countries. In the battle against this blinding infectious disease – which mainly affects the poorest people in the most arid areas – some successes have become visible during recent years, mainly due to efforts in basic health care. For example, in 2010 more than 1 million people were treated against trachoma in CBM-supported projects.

If you want to commemorate World Sight Day – think about giving a gift of a cataract surgery today. It is only $35 for an adult and $200 for a child!

Steve Jobs died yesterday.

All of us, whether we admit it or not, have been touched by Steve Jobs. I confess that I now have an iPad. Although I am late to the Apple brand (and distrust brands instinctively) I do love what it allows me to do.

However, it is not what it allows me to do that is the most important. Technology is changing the world for people with disabilities. Lap tops, iPad’s, and other devises have opened up communications in ways not thought of before. Here is one example.

The future is exciting. With an iPad and a well developed App:

* hearing testing can now happen cheaply and remotely in villages;

* blood testing can be done quicker and remotely; delivery of loans and vouchers can be done electronically;

* people with disabilities can tell their own stories from where-ever they are in the world;

* communities can be formed to offer mutual support and awareness;

The list goes on and on.

I don’t yet know how cbm Canada will make use of all of these technologies. I do want us to the on the forefront of anything that gives people with disabilities their own choices, communication links, communities, and ability to change the world. I look forward to this next era. It will be exciting.

Thank you Steve Jobs – you have enriched my life. I now can have people part of my community that would not have been if not for your vision.