23 Mar 2017

Mr Bernard Matthews, 55, has lived with disability for 48 years, but the condition that affected him at a tender age of 10 in 1971 never dampened his will to lead a normal life.

Married to Dineo with six children, born between 1993 and 2012, Mr Matthews is fortunate to have gone through Tlamelong Rehabilitation Centre in Tlokweng in 1974, thanks to the Botswana Red Cross Society, which sent him to the centre for proper care.

He stayed there for six years learning, among other skills, knitting, carpentry, welding, and agriculture, all offered by the centre and charity organisations that used to visit.

Eventually, after working for various companies and gaining experience, he started his own business in 1995, which was formally registered in 2005 - a thriving business known today as Masa Manufacturing Company.

Enduring with a limp left leg, the enterprising Matthews is a living testimony that disability is not inability because he has never allowed his condition to define his life.

“People living with disability too can rock the world and make it move. We won’t succumb to our situation and negative perceptions about us only serve to make us stronger,” he says in an interview.

Born and raised at Tatisiding on the southern edges of Francistown, Mr Matthews says people without disability can also have something to struggle with in their daily lives.

“That is normal, but my aim is to prove to society that disability does not mean our brains are also gone; only we have a physical condition that we have learned to live with,” he says defiantly.

Operating from Mmopane on the northern outskirts of Gaborone, Masa supplies large companies like Botswana Power Corporation and Haskins Steel Company with electrical and metal products.

“Although I am not a special needs case because I earn my living through my own efforts, I applaud President Khama for according us special access to things like medication, jobs and education,” he says proudly.

The desire for the multi-skilled man to grow his company saw him grab a great opportunity, thanks to a P29 000 FAP funding, followed by a whopping tender from the then Ministry of Agriculture’s Arable Land Development Programme to make 63 donkey carts in five months.

And that is not all because today, Masa Company, with 12 employees, manufactures window and door frames, burglar bars, domestic and industrial gates, sofas, chairs, and porter camps, among others for sale to a wider market.

Mr Matthews encourages PLWDs to reverse society’s negative perceptions about them by all means possible so people start seeing them as normal members of society.

He says his experience comes from Premier Clothing company, where he worked as a mechanic for some time before moving to Image Textile, and then Bothakga Textile as a tailor.

His main concern is that his company is losing a lot of money every month towards payment of sub-contracted jobs; as such, he is appealing for government support so he can purchase all the necessary machinery.

He says he wants to strengthen the production of porter camps as they seem to be lucrative; the caravans are fully furnished with a toilet, kitchen, and bedrooms, often depending on customer specifications,” he says confidently.  

Mr Matthews says he has never been a dispirited person in as far as life is concerned, all thanks to self-determination and self-confidence.

At the recent Botswana Investment Trade Fair in Gaborone, he met his ilk from Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa, where he learnt that treatment of people with disability differs from country to country in terms of legislation and policies, among others.

“The generous support we get from our government could enhance our competitiveness at both regional and international platforms, and, with us under the Office of the President, grants will come flowing like water,’ he says with a degree of certainty.

The entrepreneur says he was not born with his condition; rather, it is the result of a Polio infection at the age of 12, when treatment for the disease was not available.

Formally registered in 2002, Mr Matthews says the aim was to establish a solid company that would still be full of life even in his old age.

Experts say for PLWDs to gain control of their lives, learning and successful application of self-determination skills, such as goal setting, understanding their abilities and disabilities, problem solving, and self-advocacy must be involved.  

The personal process of learning, using, and self-evaluating skills in a variety of settings is at the heart of self-determination, studies have shown

Further, reports reveal that experts interviewed during researches worldwide were particularly keen to see more disabled people as role models and in leadership positions charged with championing change.

Experts also feel that such a stance will go a long way in changing the wider society’s attitudes towards disabled people, particularly because they are usually biased and prejudiced towards them.

There is therefore a call for world leaders, policy makers and communities, to work towards a real and lasting change to make the world inclusive for people with disabilities.

Botswana government is doing a lot in assisting people with disabilities as chief disability officer, Mr Hamilton Mogatosi says such people benefit from all programmes aimed at empowering citizens.

In addition, Mr Mogatosi says affirmative action is usually effected in cases of PLWDs through timely and complete delivery actions.

“These programmes include, but are not limited to access to education at all levels, access to employment, access to empowerment programmes such as LIMID and Poverty Eradication,” he explains, adding that public education on intervention schemes was done all the time.

The official advises PLWDs to contact district commissioners’ offices that serve as coordinating offices on matters relating to service to PWDs at district level; as such, customers are also advised to exhaust all avenues for assistance at the district level before they can make an appeal to the National Coordinating Office.

While a lot has been done to ensure that people with disabilities access services, there are some challenges relating to availing information in different communication formats such as braille, sign language, and audio visuals, observes Mr Mogatosi.  
People with mental disabilities may also find it difficult to find employment and this may lead to the development of mental health issues such as depression and lack of self-confidence. ENDS