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Olalai pictured with her two goats.

Olalai pictured with her two goats.

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Disability Bill passed in Malawi

Disability Bill passed in Malawi

It was eight years in the making, but in May Malawi’s Disability Bill was passed by the country’s new Parliament. Once it’s fully implemented it will have a huge impact on the lives of people with disabilities such as blindness.

Things like printed and electronic materials will be produced with disabled people in mind, and the design of buildings will also consider the needs of people with disabilities who currently cannot access them. It will also mean equal opportunities when it comes to employment and education: a real step towards the kind of inclusive society that Sightsavers and our partners push for.

How the Bill will change lives

The passing of the bill should help remove barriers faced by people like Olalia from Chikwawa District, and help her access the services she needs. Olalia Nkhambala is a very inspiring woman. She is part of the Malawi Union of the blind (MUB), a Sightsavers partner which provides support to visually impaired members of the community.

Olalia has been blind since 1999. She had married ten years previously and moved to Blantyre. One day she woke up with a severe headache and one eye was very red. She tried to get help but found that there was nothing the doctors could do. After time her sight deteriorated in her second eye. She woke up one morning to find the sight in both eyes had gone. Her husband took her back to her home village and left her with her family. No one has heard from him since.

Through the MUB group Olalia received help and support to adjust to her blindness. But the thing Olalia was most desperate for was skills that would allow her to support and provide for her family.

A new livelihood

Four months ago Olalia received two goats as part of the project, and went on a training course to teach her how to manage them. Her hope is that she will be able to develop a small goat-rearing business. They are kept in the back yard of the house in a structure built by her brother. What’s more she can use their manure to fertilise and revive her vegetable patch that had been diminishing due to the drought, and threatening the family with food shortages.

With the support of Sightsavers and our partner Olalia has rebuilt her life after losing her sight and being abandoned by her husband. She is now an independent and confident member of her community.

It is crucial that the disability bill is now widely publicised and enforced. It is only when the bill gets implemented that change will happen. This will be a major step towards our goal of people with disabilities in Malawi like Olalia enjoying the same opportunities and rights as everyone else.