Sam Phiri
3 December 2008
FORTUNE Chirwa's quest for excellence among the people who are differently-abled is seemingly beginning to bear fruit - unless all signs deceive!
Many people, including organisations, have taken keen interest in Ms Chirwa's story of a rare determination and ambition, despite her living in a peaceful silent world of her own where sound serves no purpose at all.
Ms Chirwa, a hearing-impaired lady working for Spar Soweto as a confectioner, was last in the news pages of this publication a few weeks ago. It was a tale of how she has been managing her work proficiently and efficiently at the supermarket, where she has been dealing with thousands of people who live in the world of sound.
Her human resources manager, Shupiwe Ngoma-Dindi, told this newspaper that Ms Chirwa is one of the best assets Spar Soweto has at present, and described her as a fast learner and disciplined employee who knows what she is doing at any time.
Ms Chirwa's amazing ambition, which is one of wanting to make it as a teacher for the deaf, a successful business woman, and as an employer, has moved and motivated a number of people and organisations.
Many who came across her story failed to hold back their acts of charity after perceiving her as a motivating vision carrier. They are now prepared to do everything there is to ensure her goals in life are achieved.
One of Ms Chirwa's passions is tackling the HIV and AIDS epidemic, especially with regard to its impact among the deaf and dumb. She contends that most deaf people lack entertainment activities and they in the end resort to unprotected sex as the only source of leisure.
"When I successfully complete my teaching course, I will make sure that I use my acquired teaching techniques to teach my fellow deaf about the dangers of HIV and AIDS and come up with a special programmme that will be used as a special teaching aid for the deaf in the campaign of fighting the HIV pandemic on TV and in the news papers," Ms Chirwa, who has been saving part of her pay to ensure she sponsors herself for a special course for the deaf, says.
She looks torwards to a day when she will be "personally be going round conducting workshops for the deaf, teaching them that there is more to life than just begging and indulging in illicit sexual activities, which consequently lead to the spread of HIV and AIDS."
Recently, the International Women's Symposium registered their interest in Ms Chirwa by giving her a VIP complementary ticket worth K220,000 to attend a one-day leadership conference for women, which was held on November 29, 2008, at Lusaka's Mulungushi International Conference Centre.
That was a development that excited Spar Soweto management, with the human resources manager saying it was interesting to learn that through her hard work, Ms Chirwa had started receiving some rewards.
"We are so proud and happy for her as a company that we are sending Fortune as our ambassador for Spar Soweto.
"We believe that by so doing, a lot of stakeholders will realise that employment should not be based on disabilities but capabilities," said Ms Dindi, who was also instrumental in granting Ms Chirwa a day's leave on November 29.
Among other issues, the women leadership conference was earmarked to look at 'Self-discovery and finding your spark again', 'Becoming a great and powerful leader', 'Balancing personal, corporate and spiritual power' as well as 'Business and financial management'.
During the presentation ceremony of the complementary ticket to Ms Chirwa by conference organiser Mubita Nawa, service department manager of Spar Soweto, Keith Chilufya, said: "We as Spar now know that we have got a great and reliable partner to help us fight for the plight of those who are less privileged in our society because of any form of disability."
During the conference, Ms Chirwa was given a standing ovation together with former Lusaka mayor Patricia Nawa, DHL managing director Carol White, director of Palmwood Lodge Mable Sissing, Standard Chartered Bank managing director Mizinga Melu, and Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission director general, Mable Mung'omba.
Speaking after the conference, Ms Chirwa said she was overwhelmed with the manner in which she was treated during the conference by the event organiser and the women at the conference.
"Imagine that we bring up a television station for the deaf, where all the programmes are presented in sign language as entrepreneurs. How wonderful it can be," she said in a sign conversation through renowned sign language interpreter, Chipampe Ngulimba.
She was motivated by high-profile speakers and other women she got to interact with and exchanged cards with. She acknowledged having learnt a lot on how to lead a modern life as a modern woman in entrepreneurship planning.
Mr Chilufya said Ms Chirwa had came a long, hard way alone and that time had come for her to receive support that would enable her accomplish her vision.
He called on individuals and other stakeholders to pay attention to Ms Chirwa's plight and vision of wanting to liberate the deaf community from the HIV pandemic.
"Using Fortune as a platform, the non-governmental organisations dealing with the mitigation of HIV and AIDS can successfully reach out to millions of people who are really in great danger of the pandemic. She has proved to be a great upcoming pioneer in this particular fight and everybody knows here at Spar how," he said.
Mr Chilufya said Spar is proud to have given Ms Chirwa her first step in life and that all she requires is just to be met half-way.
"If someone can come up and take this young lady to school, I can guarantee you that the next thing we will see is this great, young, intelligent and beautiful pioneer on the television saving millions of lives using the special skill that she would have leant and developed at school," he said.
He also challenged other stakeholders who spend large sums of money on sponsoring games like football, golf, basketball and boxing to also look into such unique quests like Ms Chirwa's with serious consideration for it stands out as a rare and life-saving programme.
"We spend a lot of money on leisure and entertainment. Now here comes a genuine challenge, this young leady has given herself to be used as a vehicle to disseminate information on the dangers of HIV and AIDS among the millions in the deaf community.
"Above all, she wants to tell the word that being deaf does not cut one off from the rest but that it's just a different type of lifestyle that can equally be enjoyed to the full," Mr Chilufya said.
Spar is ready to award Ms Chirwa up to two years leave should sponsorship for her to go to school come along.
Ms Mung'omba hailed Ms Chirwa for her unique and challenging efforts in life, saying she is one lady who has sent a special message to society by accepting her condition and fighting hard to earn a good living on her own.
"It is so encouraging to see such unique passion for development among such young women like Fortune and this must not surely go unnoticed. People must learn that being deaf does not exempt you from the rest.
"Just see the example of this young lady we were together with since morning, we learnt together and at the end of it all we all got the same knowledge," Ms Mung'omba, who encouraged Ms Chirwa to seek support from her office if she decided to venture into business, said.
A prominent Zambian businessman who preferred anonymity pledged to help push Ms Chirwa's dream of not only serving her interests, but those of the community at large.
"I wouldn't like the public to know what I am pledging, but certainly there is something I will be contributing as an individual to help this young lady medically, or perhaps to regain her hearing senses," the businessman said.
Already, Ms Chirwa has been booked to see a Dr Lukwesa, an ear, nose and throat specialist at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka this week under the auspices of the businessman.
By the end of the day, it is every person's wish that many more such young women could be born among the country's hundreds of differently-abled people who could fight to stand on their own feet in the country's growing economy.
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