MALAWI AGAINST PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
Map started in
1979 after it was discovered that there were so many people with different
physical disabilities and nothing was being done to assist them. The idea was initiated by Archbishop Donald
Arden of Diocese of Southern Malawi Malosa
The meeting was
called between the ministry of Health, Malawi Council for the handicapped
and service clubs like Rotary and Lions.
To assess the
magnitude of the problem, the meeting agreed to invite all persons
with physical disabilities in that area to converge at different places
like Mangochi, Namwera, Balaka, Malosa, Liwonde on a particular date
when the day came the assessors went to the mentioned places and by
the end of that day they had seen 500 people.
After the assessments,
the medical people recommended that some of the people could benefit
from surgical operations and maybe use crutches and calipers while
others would need wheelchairs straight away as correction would not
be of any benefit to them. For
the production of mobility aids like calipers, the group decided to
contact a gentleman by the name of Ronald Hackstep who had a workshop
for the production of appliances for people with physical disabilities
in Uganda. When Hackstep
came to Malawi he had discussions, gave his advises and then MAP was
born.
With financial
assistance from Rotary International, an office was set up in Lilongwe
then a workshop but knowing that one workshop could not meet the demands
of the whole country, another workshop was opened in Blantyre and
then Rumphi. Physiotherapists were employed to provide assessment as well
as physical therapy to the patients.
The first clinic was opened in 1982 at Nguludi Hospital in
Chiradzulu.
The main job
of MAP is to provide mobility to people with physical disabilities
and exercises.
MAP believes
that by making a person mobile, he/she is empowered because if mobile,
the person can engage in anything like getting employment, socializing
or do business.
MAP also knows
that although it provides mobility to People with disabilities, it
also provides impossibilities because a thing like a tricycle can
not be easily be transported because of its weight and not being foldable,
another worsening situation is the coming of minibuses and the disappearance
of the big buses and this is an issue which needs to be sorted out
by the Ministry of Transport. And MAP is suggesting that where there are no big buses operating,
at least an introduction one, or a few of the big bus so that people
with wheelchairs can easily travel.