The chairperson of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Central Equatoria State’s Morobo County has called on the state government and partners to support their members, especially with mobility.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, Moses Wenger, the chairperson of people living with disabilities in Morobo County, said they have registered 440 members in all the payams and that they need urgent support from both the government and its partners.
“We are working well, but there are some challenges. We have registered 404 PWDs in all the payams, but there are no walking devices for these people. We also have a serious issue of stigma in the community. Although there is some community awareness on the rights of people with disabilities, it has not yielded any impacts because there is no transport for us to move from the office to the payams to sensitize the people.”
Wenger urged Morobo County Local Government and law enforcement agencies to support and coordinate with state ministry of gender, child and social welfare to strengthen the gender desk in the county by appointing a director.
“In Morobo County, we do not have any person working with us in gender; there is no one to whom we can give our reports, and it affects our activities,” he said. “So, we are appealing to the government, especially to the local government of Morobo County, to bring someone who will work on the gender desk. This person will also take our reports to the Ministry of gender, Child, and Social Welfare in Juba so that these issues are ironed out.”
Meanwhile, Agnes Umina, a mother of three, said the government should support PWDs with some money to build homes.
“We do not have any work to do, last time they trained us on hair dressing, but there is no business at all. We need backup support. I have a family, but since I came from the refugee camp, I have been living in a leaking house, and the rainy season is approaching,” she lamented. “We live like abandoned people, and there is no one who is helping us. We should be supported with money so that we can hire people to work on our houses and buy grass for thatching.”