Honouring Jairos Jiri: Zim’s disability champion a...

Honouring Jairos Jiri: Zim’s disability champion and his lasting legacy

Philemon Jambaya

The life and legacy of Zimbabwe’s first black citizen to register a charity organisation aimed at changing the lives of people living with disabilities, the late Jairos Jiri, has been remembered at the Jairos Jiri Association Centre in Kadoma.

Good deeds remain etched in the minds of people for long and such is the case with the late philanthropist Jiri, whose name today is synonymous with disability, since he took a bold decision to help people living with disabilities.

The man, who died in 1982 aged 61, was from a poor background and with little education, but that did not deter him from helping people living with disabilities with many having made it in life through his institutions.

He was not disabled.

November 12 marks 41 years after his death and the nation commemorated the anniversary in Kadoma where tributes were poured in honour of his good deeds.

The late Paul Matavire and David Mabvuramiti who both fronted the Jairos Jiri Band are some of the most known of his beneficiaries, with others who have never been in the limelight but also made it in life to the point of attaining high levels of education through institutions set up by Jiri.

“I am in Form Four at this institution and I am sure that if I fail to make it, I will have obtained at least 5As. I urge parents not to confine their children with disabilities at home as they can make it in life,” said a Jairos Jiri learner.

“I obtained my Master’s degree in International Trade and Diplomacy and worked for the Ministry of Mines before I was redeployed to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and I still aim to go higher despite being blind. I am a product of the Jairos Jiri Centre,” added another.

Former Jairos Jiri Band frontman and beneficiary, Mabvuramiti said: “I started knowing Jiri when I was six and at that time we would go together to homes where there were some children with disability, and we would then sing to inspire the parents to take care and love children with disability. Kadoma Centre used to be a music academy under the Jairos Jiri stable, and the academy would feed into the senior band later. That’s how Matavire and I emerged.

Primrose Jiri gives an insight into her late father’s life.

“He grew up in a poor family and was uneducated and would work as a gardener to fend for himself. He started his philanthropic work after moving to Bulawayo from Masvingo and faced hurdles in registering his charity organisation for several years and was later helped by the likes of the late Dr Joshua Nkomo and Michael Mawema.

Philanthropist, Cosmas Daka who has been celebrating his birthday at Jairos Jiri Centre in Kadoma had words of advice for celebrities.

“My decision to come here every one of my birthdays over the past 16 years was inspired by my desire to share with the kids whom I consider underprivileged,” said Daka.

Guest of Honour, Jimayi Muduvuri - who named one of the wards at his hospital after the late philanthropist - gave an insight on his disability.

“I was born able-bodied, but I was later involved in an accident in 1990 and until now I can’t walk properly. That’s why I got to understand the importance of the late Jairos Jiri. At my hospital, anyone who is living with a disability is treated for free and one of the wards is named after Jairos Jiri. We would want to appeal to the government to accord him national hero status,” he said.