Stories of Hope - Help and Hope for People With Disabilities
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

MAP has "Learning with Disabilities" programs in 16 rural and marginal communities near Cochabamba.

Don Silvestre, a farmer in the Bolivian community of Santibañez, was working in the fields one day when he was struck by a falling tree. The impact left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to work any longer. Soon thereafter, his wife abandoned him and their four young children, leaving Silvestre to try to provide for them alone despite his disability. Having lost so much of the life he once enjoyed, Silvestre, who was 29 at the time, descended into despair, loneliness and poverty.

Finally, a volunteer health promoter with MAP International learned of Silvestre’s plight and offered to help. Silvestre agreed to become involved in a MAP program called “Learning with Disabilities,” which MAP implemented to assist people with disabilities and work within communities to eliminate stigmas associated with disabilities. Soon, Silvestre was in a rehabilitation program that helped him regain strength with physical exercises. MAP health promoters also encouraged him to plant and cultivate his own organic garden. As Silvestre began to gain more confidence, MAP helped him gain other skills, as well. He learned to make baskets and other crafts and, with a small grant from MAP, he purchased enough materials to start a crafts business.

Today, MAP has “Learning with Disabilities” programs in 16 rural and marginal communities near Cochabamba. The programs depend on volunteer health promoters whom MAP trains to conduct community education classes about the needs and rights of people with disabilities. The health promoters also incorporate a community-based rehabilitation strategy, developed by the World Health Organization, for people with both physical and mental disabilities. People enrolled in MAP’s program receive basic therapy to increase physical and mental capacity and build confidence. Participants, like Silvestre, may also learn new skills and may even qualify for funding to begin small business enterprises and other income-generating initiatives. MAP also provides financial assistance for people with disabilities who require more advanced medical assistance than MAP can provide.

The program is especially essential in Bolivia, which is one of the poorest countries in South America. More than 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $2 a day; half of these do not even earn $1 a day. Especially in the country’s rural and marginal areas, where poverty is most prevalent, people often live in mud brick houses that lack running water, latrines or bathrooms. It is in these rural areas that health services are especially inadequate.

Since MAP implemented the program in 2000, however, MAP has assisted more than 1,000 people living with disabilities to develop happier, more wholesome lives. MAP has also helped rid communities of stigmas that have marginalized countless people living with disabilities for years. By working to remove these misconceptions and by providing medicines, treatment and other assistance, MAP has transformed the lives of individuals, families and communities who otherwise may not have received support.