DATIVE NYIRABUNTU,45, is excited after joining a group of adults living with disabilities in their quest to acquire reading and writing skills.

The resident of Bikara Cell, Nkotsi Sector, Musanze District says her parents halted their plans to send her to school after  realising that she had contracted polio.

Nyirabuntu, a mother of two, says she felt stigmatised seeing her peers attending school while she stayed home.

"I became disabled when I was eight years old. My parents consequently stopped paying my school fees and I became more or less a house keeper,” she says.

"I had to stay home while my sibling went to school. My parents used to tell me that there was no need for disabled people to study,” she says, adding that the inability to write or read haunted her afterwards.

She says that one day when she was at the hospital, a nurse told her to go to room five. Because she couldn’t read, she failed to trace the room.

Another incident is when well- wishers wanted to give cows to some vulnerable people in her village and the beneficiaries  had to go through a ruffle.

The ruffle was organised in a way that whoever picked yes would get the cow while the one whose piece of paper said ‘no’ missed out.

"Someone lied to me that I had picked a ‘no’ when I had actually picked a ‘yes’, I only learnt the truth from a neighbour days after the event and blamed my parents for not sending me to school,” she said.

But Nyirabuntu’s woes may soon be over. Though she had lost hope for further education, she has since joined an adult literacy centre she hopes will equip her and other disabled adults with reading, writing and counting skills.

She is among over 6,000 people with disabilities who will be trained by volunteers from their respective communities, through a project supported by the General Association of People with Disabilities in Rwanda (AGHR).

The project operates in nine districts across the country.

"I was excited to hear  about a project that targets the disabled. I mobilised other disabled people and we enrolled. After just three months, I can read and write,” she says.

"I can read simple sentences in Kinyarwanda and I am committed to putting in more efforts and ensuring that I am able to read everything by the end of the course,” she adds.

Ildephonse Baziruwishakiye, 55, another beneficiary believes he can make it through life by learning how to write and read.

"We are grateful for this opportunity, I will use this chance to prove that disability is not inability,” he said.

Speaking to The New Times, the Musanze vice mayor in charge of social affairs, Vincent Ndayambaje, hailed the project, saying it will help transform the lives of the beneficiaries.

He said Musanze District alone has over 800 disabled people who cannot read and write.

"This is a good project that helps government to fight ignorance. In the past, it was like a taboo for the disabled to go to school. I am optimistic the project will take these people to another level,” he said.

He added that local leaders are committed to working with AGHR to ensure that the target is reached.

AGHR is a local non-governmental organisation of people with disabilities. It aims at advocating for the rights of the disabled.

AGHR’s project to provide basic knowledge in writing and reading started in September  but was officially launched last week in Musanze District.

The project works from nine districts with more cases of disability.