MONROVIA – Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have been equipped to write and publish stories about Human Rights-related problems affecting them and their colleagues across Liberia.
“We are going to produce longer stories, articles, about Human Rights violations against our welfare and wellbeing, in line with the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” Mr. Heylove Mark explained to this writer at the venue of a four-day Workshop (28-31 August, 2019).
The Workshop was held at the Head Office of the National Union of Organizations of the Disabled (NUOD) of Liberia, located on 19th Street, Sinkor, Monrovia.
Mr. Mark said the Workshop is a part of an Initiative titled “Accessibility Project for Inclusion with Persons with Disabilities” under the auspices of the West African Federation of Organizations of the Disabled (WAFOD)
WAFOD, with Headquarters in the Republic of Mali, is an umbrella body for all Organizations for Disabled persons in the western part of Africa.
Mr. Heylove Mark, a member of the Liberian Christian Handicapped Association (LCHA), and current Treasure of NUOD, is WAFOD’s Administrator for five English-speaking WAFOD’s member-Countries—Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Gambia.
“These articles will be edited by our in-house editors and posted on a special website established by WAFOD. The website is www.proadiph.org. Stories from WAFOD’s member-Countries can be read from this website,” Mr. Mark added.
The Workshop is an outcome of Mr. Mark’s attendance at WAFOD’s four-day Conference (17-20 June, 2019) in Mali, he disclosed.
Some visually impaired (blind) persons were also part of the Workshop. Two explained their respective impressions of the writing-tutorial session to this writer.
“I feel good about this Workshop, because I’m being taught to write stories about issues that affect my happiness,” Mr. Peter B.K. Flomo, NUOD’s 1st Vice President, said.
“I’m excited about this WAFOD’s story-writing Project, because Liberia’s disabled people are about to tell their own stories, through writing, to the rest of the World,” said Joseph Barfeh, president of the Maryland County Association of the Blind (MCAB)
Six persons were selected, from different Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs), as Editors for the Liberia’s branch of the WAFOD Project.
“The editorial part of the Project comprises IT (Information Technology) knowledge—uploading stories with photos,” said Editor George K. Morris.
On his impression of the Project, he said, “The Initiative is laudable, because it is equipping disabled persons to write about their inaccessibility into public buildings, typical examples being the new Annex of the Liberian Parliament House and the new Ministerial Complex.”
Another Editor, Mrs. Bindu Buttler-Mendua, from the Inclusive Development Initiative (IDI), said, “There were criteria set to be selected an Editor for the WAFOD’s Project in Liberia. The criteria include: You must be a High School graduate; you must be computer-literate and have a computer; and you must have knowledge of the Convention on Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Mr. Alonzo Dorian Dickson, Executive Director of the Inclusive Development Initiative (IDI), and NUOD’s Secretary General, is the Local Administrator of Liberia’s Operations for WAFOD.
“My task is to supervise all the Editors here, to make sure stories for publication on WAFOD’s Website are facts-based or void of any form of exaggerations,” he said during interview.
The Workshop was conducted by Mr. Mamadou Sissoko, a member of Mali’s Federation of Persons with Disabilities, and representative from WAFOD’s Headquarters in Niger.
“My task here, Liberia, is to help train members of WAFOD’s member-Country and do supervision on the Communications Networking through writing,” Mr. Sissoko said during an exclusive interview with this writer at the Workshop.
The Malian said he was in Liberia for the first time, but he had heard about Liberian disabled community’s problems in 2010 through NUOD’s president, Ms. Naomi B. Harris, at a disabilities-related Conference in Republic of Benin.
“In Cotonou, Benin Republic, Madam Harris and I shared stories concerning plights of disabled persons in our respective countries,” he recalled.
Mr. Sissoko narrated, during the interview with this writer, his country’s disability issues.
“Persons with disabilities in my Country were not protected against attacks and killing,” he disclosed. “But a Regional Action Plan, established by the African Union, has stopped such gross Human Rights violations against PWDs in my Country.”
He stated that the period between 1997 and 2012 was the “most horrible period” for PWDs in Mali, promoted by political leaders’ “less concern to many people’s homophobic attacks on persons with disabilities,” he added. “But, after a coup d’état in 2012, political leaders started responding with empathy to these Human Rights violations.”
“The biggest challenge for Malian advocates for the protection of the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, Mr. Sissoko, explained further, “was to agitate resiliently for the passage of the National Disability Law. This Law was finally passed in 2018.”
According to the WAFOD’s rep. in Liberia, the Mali’s Federation for Persons with Disabilities pins much of its focus on Education for deaf and blind children; free medical treatment or reduced cost for women and children with disabilities; and employment for PWDS into national government and the private sector.
On question on his observation about the Liberian environment and Liberians’ actions, the Malian declared: “Liberia is a good place with a good climate. Liberians are hospitable people.”
On question on performances of Liberians at the Workshop, the WAFOD’s representative said, “They are anxious to learn. Such eagerness is an indicator of early success in the life-time Project they started at this Workshop.”
For the success of its ‘Writing Project’ in Liberia, WAFOD is working with NUOD—an independent Liberian advocacy body engaging national political leaders to remove all “barriers” in the way of Liberia’s PWDs, as enshrined in the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (UNCRPD)
“NUOD joined WAFOD in 2014, and we have been sharing disability-related information with the Headquarters since that time,” NUOD’s president Ms. Naomi B. Harris said to this writer.
The first WAFOD’s Project NUOD participated in is named “Zero Project”, an information-sharing Initiative among WAFOD’s member-Countries using Information Technology, in 2015, Ms. Harris said.
“The Zero-Project looks at accessibility to Information Technology, in Internet Café, Government’s buildings, et cetera, for Persons With Disabilities,” Ms. Harris added.
On the Zero Project Program, Ms. Harris explained further, WAFOD supports each member’s information-sharing project with IT equipment.
“For the Writing Project in this year, being done through this Workshop, WAFOD’s Headquarters has supported with eight Tablets, IT equipment. One be used by the president of NUOD; one to be used by WAFOD’s Regional Administrator; and the rest to be used by the six Editors,” the NUOD’s leader explained.