Beating the odds from DIF to DIA – Musa Mwambu’s story

By Emilly Niringiye

Musa Mwambu is the Disability Inclusion Advisor at Light for the World. Formerly a Disability Inclusion Facilitator, he was born with a visual impairment, but this has not slowed him down. From childhood, Musa has faced every adversity head-on and this confidence has seen him realize several achievements including finding sponsors for his education, breaking ground for a Personal Assistant course at university, and many more.

I had the opportunity to interview Musa and get to know the passion that drives Musa to break the barriers of disability.

Q: Who is Musa Mwambu?

A: I am a 30-year-old man who was born in Sironko district in 1991, with a visual impairment. I went to St Angela Magale Girls’ Boarding Primary School in Namisindwa district. If you’re wondering why a girls’ school, that’s because it was the only school that had an annex for the blind, so boys and girls with visual impairments studied at the girls’ school.

My primary education was sponsored by the Sisters of Mary because my parents could not afford the fees, yet my mother wanted to ensure that I have a bright future. My father was absent, mostly because he did not know how to raise a child with an impairment.

I love music and playing instruments especially drums. I used to drum in church, at music festivals and this earned me a lot of love from the nuns and my school generally because we won school several championships.

The nuns were only sponsoring my primary education so I had to figure out where I would get fees for my Secondary education. When I was in primary seven in 2004, we received visitors from Israel who were on a project in my village. I approached them and told them of my desire to continue with my education but lack of school fees. One of them, a lady called Judith stepped up and offered to pay for my secondary education up to senior four. That’s how I was able to study at St. Francis School for the blind Madera in Soroti district.

Surprisingly, I got a call from the Sisters of Mary under Lillian Fund, and they sponsored my Advanced level education (Senior five and Senior six). Just like a gentleman who God has ordained with favor; I got a chance to join Kyambogo University on affirmative Action Disability scheme in 2011. I pursued a bachelor’s degree in Community-Based Rehabilitation. I am also a married man with a wife and children.

Q: What are some of the challenges you faced growing up with a disability?

A: First, I was born to a mother who did not know about issues of disability, she was very shocked to deliver a child with a visual impairment. However, she devised ways of getting me to adjust to my environment like a shaker that she used. Whenever she shook it, I would move to look for it. And that’s how I grew up. Also, we faced some negative attitudes towards disability in the community. My mother narrated to me how when I was 3 years old, a woman from the community wished that instead of living with a disability, I should have died at birth. It hurts her to this date.

I also faced the challenge of school fees throughout my education. When I was joining primary one, I was chased back home because my parents had not paid any fees. Gladly, the day I was chased was the day the nuns saw my mother and me, and they came in and started sponsoring my education.

At some point in my studies, I was almost denied a test because the instructor said he could not dictate the questions for me. It was until I persisted that he permitted to let me sit the test, but not before disclaiming that I shouldn’t blame him if I failed.

I also had a challenge when it came to acquiring employment. In 2015, I held the position of intern for 3 years, mostly because I was not given the opportunity to grow on the job until I decided to leave. In another instance, I was informed that I fit the requirements for a radio presenter position, but I was denied the opportunity because I was blind.

There were many challenges for me and my mother however, our positive attitude to ensuring that I had the same childhood and opportunities as any other person got us through the tough times.

Q: How did you get into the DIF role? What were some of your roles in this position?

A: In September 2017, I was really struggled with life, trying to make ends meet. It was then that my friend Eric, who was a Disability Inclusion Facilitator with Light for the World reached out to me and informed me that the organization was looking for more DIFs and he had recommended me. I distinctly remember what he told me, “I’m forwarding your name to the organization not because you are my friend, but because I know you’re capable of handling this task.”

I was called in and sat an interview with the Country Director and Disability Inclusion Advisory Unit Advisor, which I passed. Together with the other successful candidates, we then had three days training of trainers. We were taken through the requirements for one to be a Disability Inclusion Facilitator. After the three days, we were given certificates of completion and then sent out to the field to share with companies and organizations information and ways of enhancing disability inclusion.

Part of my roles included getting companies and organizations to sign up to the make 12.4% work initiatives; conduct disability awareness trainings for the companies and organizations that have signed up; conduct the Disability Inclusion Score Card (DISC), and monitor and support organizations to implement the actions that they come up with during the DISC.

Besides my roles, I was given the opportunity to mentor 3 young persons with disabilities to also become DIFs– Fiona, Tony, and Cathy. They all went on to become successful DIFs and two of them – Fiona and Tony are currently working with NUDIPU. Connie is still a successful DIF.

As the DIF numbers grew, we got more roles, mine included job carving and job analysis, where we started supporting companies to carve out jobs and roles for persons with disabilities. That is when we started the internship placements for persons with disabilities in different organizations and companies. I’m happy to say that all the people under my care were successful, some of them were retained by their companies while others moved on to get other jobs

I later started also offering disability inclusion consultancy services even internationally for example I was invited to conduct trainings for MasterCard Foundation. I also later started supporting Co-creation activities for new projects.

Q: What was your experience with the first company you approached as a Disability Inclusion Facilitator?

A: The first company I approached give me a challenge. When I spoke to them, they seemed to have welcomed the idea of extending their employment offers to include persons with disabilities. However, after the meeting, I was given the Marketing Department contact for follow up however, all the follow-up calls I made went unanswered until I gave up.

Following that experience, I requested for the Human Resource Department as soon as I entered the second organization. I was denied that contact and I was once again directed to the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Office and they also dodged my calls. I felt so sad because I felt I had played my role, but I wasn’t getting a chance. I approached another entity that had seemingly welcomed the idea and requested to sign the proof of commitment. This happened in 2018 but to date, the document has not been signed. So that was a challenge.

The organization that I gladly onboarded is African Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE). They already had a disability inclusion focal person, whom I was directed to. The organization requested 6 interns with disabilities whose roles and responsibilities we carved out jointly. One of the former interns is still working with the organization. Currently, AEE is consulting with us and looking to produce a disability inclusion policy. This is one of the portfolios I am very proud of.

Q: Looking back on your journey, what are some of your proudest moments?

A: There are so many moments that I can think of. First, I am proud to have mentored other DIFs some of whom have grown in their careers.

Winning the Disability Inclusion Challenge was another moment of pride for me. Equipped with disability inclusion knowledge from Light for the World, I was able to identify disability inclusion gaps and how to solve them. That’s how I won the challenge which culminated in the Personal Assistant course at Kyambogo University. From this course, I have seen my students grow into professional personal assistants to people with disabilities. One example is my own PA Ivan.

They have learned professionalism, discretion, defensive guiding which attributes were lacking in the past. I am also proud that Light or the World trusts me to independently facilitate training for different organizations and manage projects on my own; and that I am a role model and changemaker.

Q: How did you find out about the position? And what motivated you to go for it?

I’m lucky to have a smartphone that has a Talkback feature. Unfortunately, so many persons with disabilities do not have them. So, I am in a number of WhatsApp groups one of them being the Persons with Disabilities’ opportunities, and I follow Make 12.4% Work on Facebook. So I got to know about the position from these two groups.

What motivated me to apply is because this role rhymes with my career dream of being one of the renowned disability inclusion advisors or consultants in the whole world. and my role will give me that opportunity. I will be supporting several countries, not only Uganda so this is a platform to further educate several people and encourage them to put disability Inclusion into practice.

Q: What do you look forward to in your new role as Disability Inclusion Advisor?

A: I am looking forward to developing a pool of confident Disability Inclusion Facilitators who might have thought that they couldn’t make it in life. I want to continuously mentor them to also grow their career.

I am also looking forward to continuing advising the government, companies, NGO’s and all other stakeholders to be more disability-inclusive. I am also looking forward to sharing my expertise beyond the borders of Uganda as an international disability inclusion advisor or consultant whose drive is to ensure that the world is a better place for everyone, including persons with disabilities at all levels.