In Africa, disabled people are the rejected people. They are the hopeless and looked over ones. People think that if they have a disabled child they are cursed, so they do not tell others they have a disabled child-the child stays hidden for most of his or her life. In the Masaai tribes a person isn’t a person until they have a name, so if someone with disabilities is born they are taken into the wilderness and left for the animals. This is gruesome and inhuman but is it different than what we do in the states with abortion? Yes, are abortion is “sanitary”, but in the end a human being is still being killed. In both cases the child is not considered human.
So thousands of people live without any hope of having a good life-a life where they are loved and cherished, where they are successful and have a career. They sit on the streets begging and get spit on instead of money or food. Or they live hiding in a shed because of the shame they bring to their family. This may seem hopeless but a couple from England with a dream has given them hope-they started the Neema Craft Centre in Iringa, Tanzania. This centre employs hundreds of disabled people giving them a paycheck, paying for 90% of their health care, and more importantly they give back these peoples humanity. They show them that they do matter, are loved and have a lot of potential. For those they cannot hire because of the lack of funds or jobs they train; in TZ there is a law that says that a business but have at least one disabled person, but if they do not meet the skills required the businesses can get around it. With the training Neema provides they now have the necessary job requirements! Neema uses locally grown produce, recycled products, and they even make solar panels for the community to use so that they do not have to breath in the toxic fumes of propane candles.
The work that this shop does is beautiful and amazing. They make things such as elephant dung paper, glass beads, paper necklaces and clothing/purses. Today I had the opportunity to tour the centre, and see these lovely people in action. You could see the joy in their faces as they made these beautiful works of art. Not only does this provide an income, it provides the people with therapy as they work with their hands creating works of art. In the upstairs they have a café run by deaf people, and soon will have the only guest house in the world that is fully operated by disabled people. What a work is being done there!
I am hoping that I am able to work with the people more this month, getting to know them and just loving them. They may not understand me (as I don’t now sign language or Swahili), but perhaps them seeing me will give them more hope.
Visit their website at: www.neemacrafts.com or www.neemacradts.org.uk to see more of what they do.
Hope is being brought to this community, a hope that the disabled never thought would come. Praise God for putting this passion in the hearts of two people.
