I am no better than the next person — blind Senator

By The NewsDay | Oct. 15, 2013 | 6 Min read

HE turned blind when he was only two years old after suffering a bout of measles somewhere in rural Mberengwa, in the Midlands province.

VENERANDA LANGA

In his 53 years of age, he has survived car crashes in densely populated world capitals like Harare, London and elsewhere.

Now as Senator representing people living with disabilities in the Eighth Session of the present Parliament, Nyamayabo Mashavakure is the envy of some — if not most — of the legislators that cannot express themselves freely or speak English fluently.

Mashavakure can walk up and down staircases and cross the busy streets of the capital Harare with ease and without assistance. The technologically-savvy Mashavakure even has an email account, something many legislators do not have.

After the unfortunate event that turned him blind, he says he never thought of being blind as a disadvantage and pursued education up to the Master’s Degree level.

He ultimately landed a seat in Parliament and is one of the most vocal senators in the current Eighth Session.

“I grew up in rural Mberengwa in Chief Mataruse’s area and did my primary education at Musume, a primary boarding school which was nine miles from home,” Mashavakure says with a chuckle.

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“The school had a special unit for learners with visual impairment and after learning the Braille alphabet up to Grade Two, we (blind students) were transferred to ordinary classes and had to compete with students with full eyesight.”

For secondary education, Mashavakure went to Waddilove in Marondera where he completed “O” Levels attaining six Bs and two Cs. Visually impaired students, he said, would write their answers in Braille, while a specialist teacher translated their work into ordinary language for other teachers to mark.

Mashavakure enjoys discussions as he gave a vivid explanation of how his teachers assisted him attain motor skills to be able to walk and find his way without any assistance.

“Before I fell blind, my father and mother taught me how to move around on my own. I would even herd cattle or wash myself at the river without fear of drowning. At school, blind students were also taught mobility and orientation where we learned skills like gardening and were tested on independent delivery skills,” he told NewsDay.

“While doing those things and moving around, they left us to get lost until we got used to finding our way back to our dormitories. “The problem with Harare is that there are just too many monsters called cars that make a lot of noise. I get so disoriented and end up getting confused and looking for people to assist me cross the roads. But, one way streets like Jason Moyo Avenue are easier for me to manoeuvre.”

For his “A” Levels, Mashavakure enrolled at Tegwane Mission which operated from United College of Education in Bulawayo. He was to later transfer to Gokomere High School in Masvingo following the closure of Tegwane because of disturbances that hit the area during the war of liberation, where he studied Shona, History and Divinity.

“We experienced a lot of problems during the war of liberation as Gokomere was also shut down in June 1979. My roommate had left me asleep and gone to watch a movie and when he returned at around midnight, he woke me up and ordered me to pack my belongings as instructed by some people that had marched them out of the amphitheatre and taken them to a bushy area. That is where they were told to leave the school immediately and I went back to Bulawayo’s Jairos Jiri Centre for a month,” he recollected.

“I was then enrolled at Baptist Church in Mucheke where ‘A’ Level students were accommodated at Victoria Provincial Authority. We did our lessons sitting on groundnut-filled sacks. But we were then told again by mid-August that the ‘A’ Level section had been shut down and moved to Fletcher High School in Gweru for the third term.” He, however, did not like Fletcher High School because newspaper reading was prohibited, he said.

Mashavakure then opted to go back to Gokomere, where they were allowed to read anything, until he completed his ‘A’ Levels in 1980. After he passed, he enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe in 1981 and attained a Bachelor of Arts General degree in Shona and Religious Studies.

He proceeded to study for a Master of Arts degree in Theology from Leeds University in the United Kingdom.

Some of his other qualifications include a Graduate Certificate in Education and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Curriculum and Arts Education.

In 1986, he became a Shona and Bible Knowledge teacher at different institutions and schools such as Capota School for the Blind, Mbare High School and the Youth Contact Centre before joining the Braille Production Unit at the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council in 1993 where he worked as a Special Duty Officer.

Activism in the disability movement, which involved travelling to international conferences, prepared him for leadership positions before he was chosen to represent the constituency for people living with disabilities as a Special Senator.

“I want to fight for a level playing field for people living with disabilities in Parliament, industry and commerce, government and even in the indigenisation programmes,” he says.

Mashavakure added he dreams to see a Zimbabwe which is tolerant, understanding and diverse.

“I say so because during the early 1980s, government did not want people with visual impairment to be either teachers or lecturers. They gave in after we challenged the matter because we were academically gifted yet odds were against us. There was too much discrimination,” he added.

Mashavakure says he will push for the development of a hamornised sign language for the deaf and dumb during his stint in Parliament. “I will advocate for the inclusion of disability policies in the Education Act to address those issues. Other Acts such as the Health Act and others also need disability issues factored in. We wanted 10% of the seats in Parliament, but we only got two.”

In Senate, Mashavakure is outspoken and has already raised dust requesting authorities to review the $20 monthly stipends that people living with disabilities receive from the Department of Social Welfare.

“I wish Parliament could produce Braille documents for legislators with visual impairment. I can, however, access electronic copies from my computer which has a non-visual desktop access. I now even want to open a Facebook account,” he says.

Mashavakure is married to Davidzo Tasariravona (nee Mashavave) and has four sons Mufadzi, Uneni, Mufaro and Mukundi.

They take after the father in intelligence and Mufadzi is studying for an ACCA qualification while Uneni is in Algeria where he got a scholarship to study for an Engineering degree. Mufaro and Mukundi are still at primary and secondary school respectively.

Mufaro, who is a teenager, spoke highly of his father and said: “My father inspires me so much because he is such an intelligent man. The perception that blind people cannot achieve leadership positions is not true because he has managed to attain higher educational qualifications and I have watched him debate in Senate raising important issues like traffic congestion in Harare,” Mufaro said.

Mufaro added that he also helps his father to read some printed documents placed in his pigeon hole at Parliament Building so that he is apprised of developments taking place in the Lower House.

Nevertheless, Mashavakure says he is aware of his impact on the country’s political landscape, and would soon request administration at Parliament to send all documents and proceedings through email since he is computer literate.

As he summed the discussion, Mashavakure said: “I am no better than the next person swimming up.”