Sakubita social workers

Two of our women from the Tubombele Pamo group, Elizabeth and Mary , have been participating since 2014 (even before knowing anything about the African Impact organization) in a very interesting initiative to help their community.

What they do is go to a place that is part of the "Social Cash Transfer Program" in the Sakubita area. This program has been in existence since 2003 to assist the most vulnerable and disabled households trying to cover basic needs, especially health, education, food and a roof.

According to UNICEF , the results of this program show that the individuals and households that have access to this program have shown notable improvements in their lives.

The mission of both is to help people with physical disabilities, partially blind people and the chronically ill. They told us that they consider themselves the "eyes" of the social workers since whenever any action is carried out in the community and the surrounding area, they ask them first to see if they can come closer.

When they find out that someone is sick, they try to assist them and take them to the nearest clinic on foot, since a taxi is a luxury that not many can afford, as well as having a car.

There are currently 10 volunteers working on this initiative, all of them from this community. Our protagonists would love for anyone who is interested to come see how they work there. Let's not expect to see them in any uniform, since none of the workers there own it, but they do have access to gloves for hygiene reasons.

They both found out about this program because they heard a friend talking about a certain meeting that was going to happen in the community, so they decided to stop by and see what it was about and they loved it.

Each week they choose a day to meet with the people who are in this program and talk about how to make some money and make a living. People with more severe disabilities can receive about 800 kwacha (a little less than 50 euros) every two months, but most receive about 400 kwacha. The problem is that a few of them don't know how to manage their money correctly, but some others do manage to do things with that money.

The latter usually open a business such as selling charcoal, where they earn a good amount of money, but those who are not so good at managing what they receive tend to spend it on beers.

Mary tells us that she has a certificate of assistance to disabled people that allows her to work with disabled people. She speaks Nyanja , Bemba, Tonga and Lozi, and Elizabeth also speaks Lubale (mainly spoken in the North West Province) so they can translate almost anything any disabled person in that area can tell them.

Mary feels very good when she helps since her mother has been a widow since 2005, which has made her acquire a great sense of empathy. She also tells us that God entrusted her with the job of helping in her community.