The two did not take their disabilities as stumbling blocks on their way to success, but as challenges to be used as stepping stones to greater heights of academic and professional excellence.
No one bothered to tell Abraham how he lost his sight but he cares less since he lives a normal and happy life. He is a qualified legal practitioner in Bulawayo and a disability rights activist.
Masimba is a renowned sociologist in his own right. The two professionals are outspoken fighters for rights of people with disability.
In 1999 Masimba featured on ZTV advocating for the Electoral Act to be amended so that visually impaired people could vote with the aid of a person of their choice – not strangers chosen by the state at the polling station. The issue became nationally topical for some weeks.
“I took the fight to the 2000 referendum and caused some waves as people with conscience got excited about the proposal,” said Masimba. As his efforts failed to bear fruit at the referendum he later teamed up with five colleagues and, with assistance from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, filed an appeal with the High Court before the March 2008 elections.
A day before the presidential election run-off a statutory instrument slightly amending the Act came into effect.
After school Masimba was fortunate to take part in a Rotary International Youth Exchange Programme which took him to Australia for a year. Upon his return he enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe in the sociology department as he had lost his place at the faculty of law when he was in Australia.
In 2003 he was elected Secretary General for the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe.
“By virtue of my position in the movement I interacted with civil society and the broader students’ movement. As secretary general I was also appointed board member of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development,” said Masimba, who also contributes news articles to media houses as a pastime and hobby.
In November 2006 he joined the information department of the Students Solidarity Trust. He sits on the ZIMCODD board representing people with disabilities and is also a member of a World Council of Churches Commission called the Commission of Churches on International Affairs since 2007.
Masimba was born on 20 June 1981 and is fourth in a family of seven. His father a secretary general with the Zimbabwe Council of Churches then wondered if he would ever be able to attend school because of his handicap. But an uncle, Samson Musikavanhu, advised that he be taken to St. Giles School for the blind in Harare.
At school Masimba excelled in his studies and was well behaved which led to his nomination as prefect in 1994. The same year he wrote his grade seven national examinations and passed with nine units. He proceeded to Copota Secondary School for the blind in Masvingo where he did Ordinary Levels. His studies were conducted in Braille language.
Masimba said he owed his academic successes to Dorothy Duncan Braille Library which introduced him to the Eureka Braille computer, which is equipped with a Braille key board. This gadget enabled him to go to Prince Edward School for A Level as it could be connected to a printer for teachers to read his work. He was therefore integrated into a normal class and the computer eliminated the need for specialist teachers.
The two years at Prince Edward were a defining point in Masimba’s life as he started participating in public speaking and debating and became Chairperson of the Current Affairs Club. One of Masimba’s colleagues in the fight for rights of people with disability, Abraham, is a legal practitioner who excelled in both academic and professional studies despite being visually impaired.
He uses his legal services as a disability rights and advocacy officer with the Zimbabwe National League of the Blind. He highlighted technological advances in communication as a key area where government and other stakeholders could really make a different in the lives of people with disabilities.
“Established e-learning facilities are not friendly to people with disabilities. There is need for government to avail computers equipped with screen reading software that translates text into speech for the benefit of the visually impaired. Even at schools computer lessons leave out the blind,” said Abraham.
Government was accused of being reluctant to introduce laws aimed at improving welfare of people with disabilities, including the blind.
Abraham said government should set the framework within which organisations should operate not vice versa. “People with disabilities should be given the right to equal opportunities, independent living and granted quota allocation in all aspects of the economy among other needs,” he said.
It is estimated that 10 percent of Zimbabwe’s population has a disability, of whom five percent are visually impaired.
Abraham was born in 1982 at Mateta Village in Hurungwe under Chief Nematombo. He lost his sight at the age of two and at six was enrolled at Jairosi Jiri Centre for the Handicapped for primary education. He stayed there for only grade one studies and moved to Kuredza Primary School for grades two to seven.
After primary school he attended Copota Secondary School for one term before transferring to Kadoma School for the Blind and then John Tallack Secondary School in Bulawayo and Lower Gweru Adventist, where he did his A Levels. He went on to study law at the University of Zimbabwe and then worked for two years as a law officer at the offices of the Ombudsman.
“Our major role at the Ombudsman was to reconcile the governed and government,” he said.
Post published in: News