Alex, 19, is unable to speak or walk, and he lacks motor skills. At Tidzalerana Club, a meeting for people living with disabilities, he lay with his head in his grandmother’s lap. As song and thunderous Chichewa preaching filled the room, a broad smile filled his face.
That morning, the Canadians visited Alex’s home where he lives with his grandparents. The club managed to raise enough funds to renovate the modest house, and to buy a bed so Alex wouldn’t have to spend his days on a mat on the floor. T
hey also visited a shoe repair shop owned and run by Jacob Matthews, whose thunderous preaching made Alex smile. As a child, Jacob was infected with polio, a disease which atrophied his legs. But he walks with braces and runs his own shop, providing for his wife and seven children.
At the club, babies undergo simply physiotherapy; they are rolled gently atop exercise balls to help stretch their muscles. Others make masks from paper plates, or work on weaving or other tasks.
Tidzalerana Club has been a passionate project for Linda Inglis, a Presbyterian missionary from Canada. This year it will be featured in Presbyterian World Service and Development’s Gifts of Change catalogue.
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