Make buildings more friendly to disabled - says chair
David Ole Sangok, National Council of Persons with Disabilities chairman, converses with Pauline Muganda at the Safaricom Customer Care shop in Nakuru on October 27, 2016. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- He also thanked telecommunications firm Safaricom for its corporate social responsibility projects that have targeted the group.
- Mr Kisumo, a Tanzanian aged 52, said that that was the first time he had experienced such gesture, thanking Ms Muganda.
The national chair of persons living with disability has asked owners of private buildings to make them friendly to the disabled.
Dr David Ole Sangok on Thursday said the Persons with Disability Act 2003 requires buildings to be built in a way that the disabled find it easy to access offices.
He spoke at a Safaricom shop in Nakuru where he paid a visit to Ms Pauline Muganda, the 25 year old woman who has been in the limelight for the past three days after a photo showing her kneeling while attending to a disabled customer went viral.
Dr Sangok handed a cake to Ms Muganda and two t-shirts as a sign of gratitude for her kind gesture towards Mr William Kisumo, a beggar in Nakuru.
He condemned what he said was a common perception that the disabled a beggars.
“Pauline’s act of kindness has touched the hearts of all the six million persons living with disability in the country. We hope other employees will emulate this,” he said.
He also thanked telecommunications firm Safaricom for its corporate social responsibility projects that have targeted the group.
In August this year, the East African Council for Persons with Disabilities met in Kigali, Rwanda, to discuss how the East African Community (EAC) member-states can address the challenges facing the disabled.
Mr Kisumo, a Tanzanian aged 52, said that that was the first time he had experienced such gesture, thanking Ms Muganda.
He also said after the photo becoming a sensation, for the first time many people were stopping by to converse with him.
“The way Pauline received me makes me wonder how her heart was created. I have never seen a stranger care that much for me,” he said.
The father of six hopes the spotlight on the incident will move well-wishers to assist him in raising Sh12m needed for one of his children to undergo heart surgery in India.
Ms Muganda said her mother has made a great impact on her, based on how she raised her sister, father and her.
She added that she is surprised how a random act of kindness could gunner such recognition.
She believes that all people are equal.
