Sunday, January 25, 2009

Successful launch!

After two months of work and two weeks of frantic last-minute preparations, the launch of "MY VOICE as a person with a disability" was a success. Notable highlights include:

  • Turn-out of over 60, including the Deputy High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Zambia.
  • 11 great-looking vinyl prints of the "MY VOICE" posters, and thousands more A4-size photocopies. We provided every attendee with an envelope of all 20 posters. The printing and photocopying was funded by the Canadian High Commission, Action on Disability and Development, and the Zambia Mine Action Centre.
  • Three outstanding vocal performances by participants in the project: a three-woman harmonization, a solo rap, and two moving songs by celebrity singer John Chiti. In Chiti's second song, he repeated the last verse over and over until half the room broke out into perfect harmonization. Apparently, this is not unusual in Zambia.
  • Great speeches by various participants.
  • The successful installation and unveiling of a ramp at the front entrance of the British Council, making the Council accessible for the first time. I had approached Disacare, a wheelchair manufacturer, and asked them to give the British Council an invoice for such a ramp; the British Council agreed to pay for it.
  • Interpretation for the deaf, free of charge, by the sister of a deaf woman I met during my interviews.
  • Excellent snacks provided by one of the participants, who happens to be starting up her own catering business.

John Chiti singing, Isabel Banda interpreting, me and Dr. Bob against the wall with my posters.

Peter Chibesa Bwale, who is blind, rapping about disability in English.

A poetic drama performed by Zambian soap star Phenny Walubita and her fellow actor James Chishala.

One section of the audience.

Elijah Ngwale, past director of the now-defunct Zambia Agency for the Handicapped, stole the show with his comically large vocabulary: "I refuse to be fooled, duped, hoodwinked, beguiled!" and so on. As someone standing next to me pointed out, Elijah, though blind, has probably never been duped in his life.

Me and John after the show.

More photos, along with all of the finished posters, can be found here.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You're such an inspiration Louis! I can't imagine how much additional energy it took to put this together in Lusaka. Would have been hard enough in Ottawa! Honestly, you've accomplished so much more than I did there. Good for you. Hopefully the impending bitter-sweetness of leaving is more exciting than depressing... HI to Bob and Sheila.

B. Scott Currie said...

Echoing what Kristin said... congrats on your event coming together. The people you've helped give a voice to will never forget it.

Michael Century said...

Great work, Louis. Excellent report oo. Have a great trip back to Canada.