Homework for a new nation [part 2]: Better care for people with disabilities

At South Sudan’s independence day ceremony on 9 July, President Salva Kiir asked everyone present to rise and observe a moment’s silence in honour of those who paid the ultimate price for the nation’s freedom and dignity.

Now is also the time to assess what we have done for their loved ones who have survived them,” he said afterward.

All we want is a decent life.” Daniel Sebit JustineDaniel Sebit Justine, 55, who lost his right leg to a bullet wound in a battle with the Sudan Armed Forces in 1992, hopes those words will translate into action.
 
We are the living dead,” he said, referring to thousands of people living with physical disabilities caused by Sudan’s 22-year civil war. We shed our limbs for this land.”
 
Yei County, one of the five in Central Equatoria State, has registered over 2,400 war-disabled citizens living in squalid conditions, according to a recent survey by the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare. Further north, Unity State is home to nearly 3,500 disabled veterans.

We can’t be employed,” said Justine. We look to the new government for support. A number of times we have voiced our complaints, but to no avail.”

In July 2008, Justine helped form the South Sudan War Disabled Association to campaign for more assistance than the War Widows and Orphans Commission granted them. In Yei, soldiers with disabilities are paid a monthly salary of 375 Sudanese pounds, or about 140 U.S. dollars, for brick making outside the settlement camp at the Hai Teacher Training College. They also receive 50 kg. of sorghum.

But with inflation, this can’t cater to our needs,” Justine said in an anguished tone. We have responsibilities and big families to look after.”

Sports lift spirits

At a recent football match between players with disabilities, teams from Yei and Juba put on an impressive performance, with the Yei side winning 6-0 in a 40-minute game.

A football match in Yei between players with disabilities.We need respect and physical support,” said Yei team captain Galdino Bambu, pointing out that the players were all able-bodied people before the loss of their limbs. "We all have wives and children, and we enjoy social life like others.”

But the teams’ high energy on the pitch belies a daily survival struggle.

Back at the teaching college, where his comrades are being trained in fields such as accounting and administration, Justine outlined the demands of his association: a decent salary and pension scheme, coverage of school fees for children of people with disabilities, and health care.

All we want is a decent life,” he said.

According to Agnes Kwaje Lasuba, Minster for Gender, Child and Social Welfare, the national government has taken a special stand” on former soldiers living with disabilities.

She referred to the South Sudan War Disabled Resettlement Commission appointed by President Salva Kiir, which is currently looking after more than 5,750 soldiers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army who lost limbs during the war.

We are all people like you, but in one way or another, we lost our limbs in the struggle to free our country.” Marko Lotiko at Yei’s Freedom SquareA study also found 2,861 disabled survivors of land mines at end of 2009. The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) estimates the number of war-wounded veterans in all of South Sudan is 34,000.

Their capacity building should be enhanced so these people can be active and useful,” she said. The aim is to engage them in income generating activities according to their interests.”  This makes an important contribution to nation building, she added.

Nathan Pitia Gisa, the ministry’s director general, said the entire community of people with disabilities should be reintegrated into civil society and enjoy a life of self-reliance.

We are encouraging this as a way of recognition and a means to raise money so that these people can support their families,” he said.

Read also: "Homework for a new nation   [part 1]: Alternatives for street children"          by Benjamin Majok Mon

So far, one individual has graduated from Yei's Hai Teachers' Training College with a Master’s degree in information technology. Nine others have earned undergraduate degrees, and another 45 are in graduate courses.

Editor: Alexa Dvorson