A Tale of Three Cities

By Wairimu Nyambura

Nov 2010

A new era of democracy had dawned in a country where only one voice is law. To crown this six years of multiparty democracy, is the staging of a teacher’s and bank strike. But with the blowing of this wave of democratic freedom, a new enemy emerges, terrorism. 

A terrosits bomb rips apart the co-operative building and the United States Embassy in the central business district, on the 7^th of August 1998 in Nairobi, Kenya.

On the Northern side of Eastern Africa; Democracy and the sanctity of life takes a back seat as two brothers’ war.  The city outskirts are engulfed in wailing as mothers, daughters, sisters and wives take the head spear in the home as the men lay sprawling in war fields; the Ethiopia/ Eritrea border dispute 1998.

Further in the Middle East, in the fields of Afghanistan, lay a quiet enemy with an explosive jab, landmines, left as forgotten evidence of war, 1998.  

It is in this period of changing tides; two years before the new millennium that Douglas Sidialo, a typical Kenyan man, finds himself, trying to arch out a living for his family in post democratic Kenya.  This changing tide would flow to the booby trapped mine fields of Afghanistan, where thirteen year old Viroz Azizda plays. Seven year old Aynalem Zenebe from Ethiopia would feel the effects of this changing tide as she sleeps innocently in the comfort of her home.

This is a tale of three cities, in the same period of time, with one face.

Surrounded by the pounding sounds of the Thika-Nairobi highway construction; regional representatives from the East African region are treated to the massive taste of superhighway Kenya, the juice that is to propel the economy to greater heights. But what has gathered this lot at Kenya School of Monetary Studies (KSMS) is not infrastructure but accessibility of such services and other matters that concern the forgotten faces of persons with disability.

It is in this meeting organized by handicap international that I meet the three, Douglas Sidialo from Kenya, Aynalem Zenebe from Ethiopia and Viroz Azizda from Afghanistan, what binds them together is that there are all victims of bombs, landmines and cluster submunitions.  There are here as survivors and advocates to urge governments to put in place a national action plan on victim assistance.

“I now understand my rights”, she says in her heavily influenced Amharic English. Aynalem Zenebe is now 18years old; she is just about to graduate from high school. As she pours her heart out to a room full of people some of whom have walked in her shoes, she struggles to express herself as she responds to questions from the participants.

Her journey has not been easy, at the age of seven, Eritrean soldiers threw a cluster munitions near her home in the town of Mekele. Her family was injured but she felt the brunt of the war.  Most of the details of her ordeal are fuzzy, but the magnitude of what had taken place became evident when she realized she couldn’t play normally like children her age.

One of her legs was amputated. Through help from NGOs, Aynalem was able to get a prosthetic leg which helps her in mobility. She is now a passionate ban advocate.

Viroz understands when Zenebe calls on governments to implement policy on victim assistance.  As he narrates his ordeal, he talks of discrimination and the lack of support from the society as most people did not understand him.  As an energetic teen, Viroz would get into mischief as most boys his age did. It is during one of these expeditions in the Afghan fields, that a landmine would explode.

What would follow later would be several months of hospitalization, and in the process he lost one of his legs from the knee and the other from the thigh. His life would take on a new chapter that he and his family had never imagined.

“There is no deadline on victim assistance “, he says as he addresses the participants. Citing his own example and that of a relative, he stresses the need to offer psychological support to people faced with disability.

Douglas Sidialo, Couldn’t agree more, to him having a strong faith base was core in dealing with bitterness and anger at terrorists who had taken him from the light into darkness. He may need a guide to help him move around, but Sidialo has achieved feats that those with sight cannot claim.

He is the first black man to finish the 12,000km ‘Tour d’ Afrique cycle race from Cairo to Cape Town in only 95 days. He has gone as far as climbing Mt. Kenya and Mt.Kilimanjaro. After losing his sight, Sidialo developed a love for sports working closely with the Paralympics team in Kenya.

There are over 650million people in the world with disability (PWDs), a large percentage from developing countries. Access to basic health care for persons with disability in developing countries remains at an all time low of 2%, with 98% of disabled children unable to acquire basic primary education. 

As the three tell their story it is apparent that a lot needs to be done to increase access and affordable emergency medical care for victims. Most developing countries according to H.I lack budgetary allocations for PWDS with most relying heavily on donors and NGOs to provide assistive devices.

According to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) it is the right of Pwds to access health, Education and financial services without discrimination, Kenya has ratified the CRPD.

Sidialo cites mobility for PWDS as a major challenge; he says the likelihood of one falling into a pool is high as most building are not constructed to cater for pwds. The disability act 2003, stipulates that persons with disability are entitled to a barrier- free and disability-friendly environment to enable them to have access to buildings, roads and other social amenities, and assistive devices and other equipment to promote their mobility.

The Mine Ban Treaty celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year.

cluster bomb, or cluster munition, is a weapon containing multiple explosive submunitions. These containers are dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground and designed to break open in mid-air, releasing the submunitions and saturating an area that can be the size of several football fields. Anybody within that area, be they military of civilian, is very likely to be killed or seriously injured.-Source http://www.stopclustermunitions.org

Published in Nov 2010