Pedzi

Pedzisai Mangayi is a headmaster in a primary school in Zimbabwe and founder of Hope in Motion, a grassroots organisation for people with disabilities.

“My name in English means ‘finish’. I had an elder brother and an elder sister, and we all acquired polio very early. My elder brother died at 10am; my elder sister died at 12pm on the same day; and I was very sick. So my mother was very frustrated and said, “Just finish this one so that I know I no longer have a child.” But I survived.

“When they discovered I couldn’t stand or I walk, we had to go to the traditional healers, religious people trying to seek cures, because by then my mother and my father were within the Apostolic Church here, which doesn’t require people to seek medical interventions. I couldn’t seek medical treatment because of that belief. So my disability progressed to a stage where I couldn’t get any intervention, because they didn’t want to go to hospital.

“I went to a mainstream school. Here in Zimbabwe, there was also a school specifically for people with disabilities, called ‘Jairos Jiri’. At my school, ‘Jairos Jiri’ was my nickname: I was not called by my name. They were trying to say I did not belong to this mainstream school but should be at the other school. But I was always in the top three best academic performers so I would say, “You can call me that but when it comes to academic corrections you have to come to me!”

From school to a teaching career

“That’s how I grew up. I didn’t do anything, even sports – I was the one who was looking after the clothes of other people doing sports. But I used my academic strength and progressed to secondary school. When I finished my secondary school I didn’t have finances to progress to advanced level or even to go to college.

“So that’s when I dropped out and I couldn’t find work because of discrimination about my disability. I did some self-employed jobs until one day I met someone who said; “Can I see your qualifications? We are looking for teachers and you are a very capable person. Can you come?” That’s when I went into education. I enrolled for distance education and got my diploma in education, which made me a qualified primary teacher. Later on, I got a degree and then a master’s degree in Special Needs Education, and even enrolled for a PhD. I am now a headmaster at a rural primary school.

“The area where I am based is a communal-farming area: most people there in the farms still have traditional beliefs. We wanted to sensitise them. Even at my school, I always tell people – bring your children with a disability to school. I’m your headmaster with a disability. If you hide your child then who will be the next headmaster, who will be the next Pedzisai?”

Joining the Equal Zimbabwe campaign

“Our organisation is the only one in the region that represents people with disabilities. So when the federation of organisations of persons with disabilities came, they were trying to reach out in those areas that are not often reached. They discovered Hope in Motion was one of the grassroots-based organisations in remote areas of Zimbabwe. That’s when I was brought in to represent my organisation and my province as a whole.  

“It’s my wish that with this Zimbabwe national campaign, besides the issue of the new national disability bill going through, we still need to fight for equality in terms of access to services, in terms of empowerment of people with disabilities. Because we might have the bill, fine, but have we changed the mentality within society itself? 

“The society we live in is too backwards. So my vision is to make sure we change those perceptions. In our organisation, we are trying to have what we call disability champions in schools, because the young people are the future. We are trying to change the perception of the youth so that they can analyse and say, “Oh, this was discriminatory by our parents. We can’t follow that way!” 

“We are now moving towards an inclusive society. We are trying to look at how adults can be empowered and how can they be sensitised. But in terms of future perception and awareness, we are dwelling more on children, because that’s where the future lies. ”