“I’m am disabled but able to perform the hand work”

My name is Elias Moyela and I am a male who lives in Limpopo in Polokwane, Bochum Taaibosch. I met Gender Links work through Mamadi Advice Centre who are a grantee of the Women’s Voice and Leadership project.

Mamadi Advice centre has identified us people living with disability before our local municipality, which came to collaborate with them. I met Mamadi during a workshop that they held. At this workshop, we were taught about the rights of persons living with a disability.

We now know our rights as disabled people and even those who cannot to speak are now at sign language school to be educated and its has open lots of doors for people living with disability.

The dialogue on Mandela day that was hosted by Mamadi Advice Centre 18 July 2022 has made us proud; because it was the day that every person living with a disability came to understand that it not their mother or fathers’ fault that they were born with a disability. But that it was God’s creation and no one need to be blamed and we are proud because God chooses us to be disable.

On the day of the campaign, that we had later the municipal mayor drove about 160km to come and celebrate the day with us through the communication they had with Mamadi advice centre, when the mayor render her Speech is when she come with good news about us.

The mayor quoted the scripture from the bible during the workshop. I realised that they were disable people before us and live their life to the fullest. Blouberg Local Municipality Mayor and his team promised us that she is going to spend her birthday celebration with us on the 23 August 2022 and she will bring along cake, Refreshment, Wheelchair for those who cannot walk and blankets for disable people and the caregivers.

The building of disability project was two days after we had campaign about people living with disability, under the building we need to start the projects that will sustain us.

Mamadi Advice Centre has done impossible being possible for us and be recognised by the local government we really appreciate the work done by the organisation to the community of Blouberg at large.

As a beneficiary of this project I am going to ensure that I spread the word of the good work that Mamadi is doing and how this affects us as the community. I am proud that I now can speak on behalf of other people living with disabilities.