Japan’s global influence in combatting disability, getting started in Syria

Excerpted from Memories that linger: My journey in the world of disability
by Padmani Mendis

Japan’s influence in the world of disability was now spreading out. Another legacy of the Asia-Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons was the setting up in Bangkok in 2002 of The Asia-Pacific Centre on Disability, APCD, with the collaboration of the Thai government and sponsored by JICA. One of their early projects was the development of CBR in the neighbouring countries of Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, as well as Thailand of course.

Workshops were held annually with follow-up by APCD. Yukiko and I were among the resource persons for the first few years. I had been to these countries and that helped.

Disability was increasingly being included in bilateral cooperation packages. Syria was a country that sought Japanese cooperation to improve the situation of their disabled people at this time. A JICA expert was sent first for a preliminary look-see. A recommendation was made that the cooperation package should include support for CBR. Kaoru Takimoto followed as the JICA expert to initiate action. Yukiko joined her for a short visit.

The outcome of their studies and discussions with the government was that CBR be started in the three villages of Harran-Al-Awameed, Judaide and Hijane. The programme here would provide the country with learning experiences for expansion.

CBR in Syria in 2004

Before JICA came to Syria to support CBR, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, or MoSAL, had implemented with outside donor support a project they called CBR. It was in fact a time limited microfinance project which distributed loans for self-employment. The loans were never recovered and later follow-up showed that hardly anyone had started in self-employment.

When the first JICA expert came, MoSAL wanted JICA to support a similar “CBR project”. Discussions with ministry staff enabled them to know the advantages of a more holistic CBR approach. In these early years, in many parts of the world, I have heard of many projects expected to benefit disabled people being called “CBR”. Was this because it was fashionable to do so? Or because it was easier to secure funding?

A second constraint in Syria prior to JICA support for CBR started, was that there had been no voice for disabled people. There had been disabled peoples’ organisations, but they had been only service providers., similar to Sri Lanka. There was little awareness of the rights of disabled people. This is the reason one of the first tasks undertaken by Kaoru Takimoto was to focus on the involvement of disabled persons. First, with a national seminar with them in collaboration with the Arab Organisations of Disabled.

Next, importance was placed on home visits when community level activities started. People with disability were visited at home by community volunteers who had discussions with them and their families. They were encouraged to come out and be a part of their community.

The CBR team

To work with her Kauru had recruited two Syrians, Nayfeh and Nizar. Together, the three formed the JICA CBR team. The CBR team commenced regular study meetings with the three communities in December 2003, exchanging information with each as preparation for the projects. Each village was visited once a week. The WHO Manual in Arabic was used as an important tool. The next step was a workshop for disabled people, facilitated by a Lebanese resource person. This had 86 participants from the three villages, from Damascus and from elsewhere.

This preparatory phase then continued as workshop sessions in the three selected villages. Impairment caused by mobility problems was the most common disability in the three villages. Many adults had paraplegia and many children had cerebral palsy. Workshop sessions were aimed first at sharing knowledge and skills with selected family members and community workers for meeting the needs of these people.

The sessions also included discussion on social inclusion and adapting sports for disabled people in general. Sports was very popular with Syrian youth. Plans were being made to have disabled children included in summer camps, a popular phenomenon in Syria. It was at this time that I arrived in Syria.

Getting to know Syria

After I had completed the formal meetings with officials of all the required ministries the CBR team of three had arranged a programme for me to visit the villages in which community level activities had been started. This was to meet and get to know people involved and Syria’s community structures, networks and dynamics. And, in this context, to meet disabled people and their families. Community workers from government development programmes such as for youth, women, rural development and sports as well as for non-governmental workers were included. A very intensive programme.

For the second week they proposed that I facilitate two workshops of two days each. One at village level and the other at national level. The national workshop had been suggested by the three villages. The content of these workshops had not been selected. We did this in consultation with the people we met in the villages during the first week.

It was clear to me that here in Syria, the term “CBR volunteer” was used in a very broad sense and quite differently from other countries. The term was taken to mean any person who participated in the project in any way, whether it was in home visiting, organising community activities, sports or cultural activities for instance. Different people carried out different tasks voluntarily. This was an indication of community responsibility and participation and of the emphasis on disability inclusion. Another example of how the WHO CBR approach was adapted by a country as it was meant to, to suit its own ethos.

I found the community dynamics in the three villages remarkable. Their culture was a liberal one. Close knit communities with relatively easy mixing of men and women. Women greeted each other with a gentle hug and they did the same with me. They were mostly clothed in long dresses with their hair covered with scarves.

Men greeted each other with kisses on both cheeks. Me they greeted by placing their hand on the chest and saying a soft hello. Older men wore black trousers and long white shirts. Younger men had moved on to western dress with jeans and tee shirts. Altogether, the Syrians appeared to me as being a gentle, cultured, concerned and friendly people. I came to appreciate them in no time.

The villages were well organised architecturally with small traditional housing. In a few places I saw where the village had been extended with new concrete houses. In each village there was a centrally placed mosque with a tall minaret from which the call to prayer was disseminated to reach almost everywhere.

People interacted with each other through various networks. We would spend the whole day in one village; sometimes joining meetings of groups such as that of youth, women or sports groups; sometimes at a gathering arranged specially for our visit, may be in the community hall; and sometimes visiting disabled people with their family in their home.

Home visiting

We went around in a fairly large group. People joined us and left us according to their own plans for the day. I loved how relaxed and informal it all was. And every day the village had arranged lunch for us in one of their own homes. The group that was moving around with us at the time joined the hosts for lunch. There was always a large group sitting around on the special mats spread out on the floor of a central room in the home.

Lunch was always rice served in a very large dish as the main part of the meal, like it is in Sri Lanka. Here it was cooked with different meats, often lamb and sometimes beef with pine nuts. Rather like what we called buriani. The meal also included home-made Syrian bread which was just like Arabic bread. Also grape leaves stuffed with beef or lamb or rice with a strong flavour of lemon. There was always yogurt and always some kind of broth, often with tomato.

People helped themselves and each other from the dishes placed on colourful mats in the centre. Kaoru and I were always served by the householders because we were special guests in their home. We all ate with our hands as we do in Sri Lanka.

I had been told by Kaoru that I should never refuse food that was offered to me when we sat round for a meal. So of course I never did. But I learned how to avoid eating too much without actually refusing the food. This was hard to do because the food was absolutely delicious. But I kept reminding myself that there was much more work to be done in the afternoon.

There was continuous social chit chat over lunch, some of which was interpreted to me. Besides talk of the homes we had visited and what they could do about those families with disabled members, politics and the shows that would be on television that evening, I gathered that a popular topic was football.

My work in Syria

During the time spent in the three villages, we helped them to make plans for how they wished to proceed with implementing activities for their disabled people. And of the support they required. At every forum we had, numbers were large. Interaction was sometimes sharp with an exchange of different opinions, but always politely. Demonstrating extraordinary tolerance towards each other. Both women and men were equally vocal, frank in stating their views and their beliefs. There were always parents with their disabled children participating in the gatherings.

The extent of interest in CBR was remarkable. Disabled adults came forward everywhere I visited, to express their views. I thought that the team had done an extraordinary job of information dissemination and community preparation. Each of the villages had set up two special groups to take responsibility in particular areas. One was a “Committee of People with Disabilities” and the other a “Community Rehabilitation Committee”.

The second, the CRC, included people with disabilities. Decisions made by the first group of disabled people would be brought forward and discussed also within the second group. In this way, disabled people were also part of any decision making as well as making their own. Seeing these dynamics and level of knowledge within these communities it was easy to plan with them the first workshop.

At the same time I made a suggestion first to our team and then together to the two committees, to ask whether a representative group from the three villages would come to the national workshop in Damascus to share their experience with participants there. They felt rather privileged and of course were very happy to do so. They said two people would come from each village. For me and the team too, this would be a first experience.

Village workshop

The workshop was organised by the CBR volunteers. It was carried out very efficiently. The demand for participation I was told was very high, but they had to restrict that to a manageable number and then stretched it to observers making the maximum of 33. It is interesting to recall the varied backgrounds from which participants came, reflecting their understanding of CBR.

They came from the village or district women’s federations which included women with disability, disabled people as individuals and as organisations, family members, representatives of directorates of social affairs and labour, the health directorate and health centre, and the municipality. Participants included also the mayor, kindergarten teachers, school teachers, school directors, disabled people in employment, university students with and without disability, and many community volunteers.

It was held in the Youth Centre of one village. Government emphasis on the development of youth was high. The country had a Youth Federation with a network growing from village to national level. The Centre we were in was fairly recently built and was well equipped for sports.

Each village presented their report stimulating questions and discussions. The presentations indicated a significant interest and commitment to CBR from the outset. I shared an international perspective of CBR as it was being practiced in other countries. This provided participants with confidence in what they were doing. Also a chance to seek certain clarifications.

The presentation and discussion on education was extensive, because of the resources that called for investment to ensure physical access, teacher training and preparation of the education system. Besides, the value placed on education in Syrian society was high. During the workshop the possibility of including children and youth in recreational activities, summer camps and sports was discussed and plans made for this. They decided they would discuss the plans in further detail at future meetings.

Income generation for disabled youth was another topic that stimulated much discussion. It was because of difficulties they faced in this area that employers had been invited as resources.

Small group discussions focused on home visiting which had only recently been started, and on how this may be continued. Importance was placed on training of community volunteers. This discussion continued the next day on the roles and responsibilities to be taken by the disabled individuals and families. Also of the various community networks such as the two CBR committees, women’s and youth associations.

Finally, it was left to decide who would go to the national workshop and how they would share the presentation of their work. Altogether, the responsibilities that the participants perceived for themselves promised a successful outcome to this very interactive workshop. It looked not only at the present, but also inspired a vision for the future.