By Simon Manda
A unique event takes place each year in the heart of northern, rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, thanks to community collaborations. The Manguzi Gijima, an all-inclusive sports and health day, has evolved from humble beginnings into a beacon of hope and inclusion for people with disabilities.
The event started in 2015 as a modest community fun run organised by the local public-sector rehabilitation department. With only 36 runners and 6 wheelchair users, nobody could have imagined the significance of this event. The Manguzi Gijima event now has over 2,000 participants, with more than 35% being people with impairments.
But the race is more than just a sporting event. It’s a movement that arose out of necessity and is fuelled by kindness. People with disabilities confront various challenges to healthcare, education, and justice in rural Manguzi, as they do around the world. They are frequently unseen in society, overlooked in planning, and swamped by attitudinal hurdles that impede their socio-economic engagement.
The Manguzi Hospital rehabilitation team recognised these problems and has been offering highly sought-after community-based disability and rehabilitation services since the late 1970s. Their engagement with local disability organisations has resulted in vast networks and excellent coverage rates for assistive devices. This established the foundations for the Manguzi Gijima event’s success.
The annual edition, slated for September 28 this year, exemplifies the strength of community and inclusivity. It includes a 21km, 10km and 5km race for everyone, a 3km race for persons with disabilities, wheelchair sprints, a wheelchair technical skills course, a mom and buggy race and a race for those with visual impairments.
One of the event’s highlights is the Med Bull Challenge, a one-of-a-kind obstacle course that tests wheelchair users’ strength, fitness, and skills. Maryke Bezuidenhout, the head physiotherapist at Manguzi Hospital, designed this course, which takes a month to build each year and includes multi-platformed ramps, burms, slalom walkways, seesaws, and bridges over water elements. It’s more than just a test of skill; it’s a celebration of talent and determination.
‘The wheelchair skills course started off as a small modular set of obstacles which we used to bring to wheelchair outreach clinics to teach wheelchair skills required by wheelchair users in navigating their rural communities. We also used to use the same small set of obstacles at conferences and workshops to engage stakeholders from different backgrounds, getting them into different models of chair to tackle the obstacles and then starting up conversations around policy, budget, service delivery strategies and barriers to participation.
With my background in mountain biking, this course grew bigger and more technical year on year. Not only is it amazing to see end-users improve in skills and fitness annually when tackling the now formidable course, but it is proving to be an effective advocacy strategy in that non-wheelchair users (especially the politicians and key decision makers) are always keen to try and tackle the course in a borrowed wheelchair and rapidly find out for themselves just how difficult it is. This, and the fact that it has become a major spectator drawcard showcases the wheelchair users as the tenacious athletes that they truly are,’ says Bezuidenhout.
However, Manguzi Gijima is more than just a sporting event; it represents a holistic approach to wellbeing and inclusivity. Local arts and crafts, acting, and music skills will be showcased, many of whom are performed by people with disabilities. The event provides complete primary health care services and screening to all attendees, with a focus on high-risk groups in the community. Last year 60 children with cerebral palsy (CP) received comprehensive health screening services from therapists, medical doctors, dentists and dieticians. This initiative was then continued after the event, resulting in 158 children and adults with cerebral palsy receiving multi-disciplinary screening services at homestead level and multi-disciplinary primary health care CP outreach clinics being set up.
For children, there is an All-Children’s Tent that encourages inclusive play by providing activities such as face painting, inclusive physical games, songs, videos and a jumping castle. It is also a chance for children with disabilities to meet and play with others that are not their immediate family members or neighbours and gives mothers of children with disabilities the opportunity to meet other mothers and share their stories.
One mother who lives very far away and attended for the first-time last year remarked, “I am so glad I came after all these years of hanging back. It was such a wonderful day and just to meet other mothers and realize I was not alone in my struggles, and that my child is not as severe as other children either.”
One of the most thoughtful additions to the festival is the ‘Accessorise my Assistive Device’ procession. Here, children with disabilities dress up and march in a parade, with some even wearing wheelchair-specific ‘mardi-gras’ outfits. It’s a celebration of individuality and ingenuity that makes everyone happy.
Manguzi Gijima’s impact goes beyond the day of the event. The week before, a disability engagement workshop is organised, which allows people with disabilities to discuss their concerns with conventional authorities, lawmakers, and government departments. This has resulted in greater awareness and action on disability issues throughout the year.
Organising a large-scale event in a rural setting presents unique obstacles. Transportation is a big challenge, as each person with a disability and their carer requires assistance getting to and from their house- funding and coordinating over 80 taxis in a deep rural area is no mean feat. Funding is always a concern, from strengthening the Med Bull Challenge hurdles to obtaining more entertainment and costume supplies.
Despite these obstacles, the organising team, which comprises The Gijima Foundation, Manguzi Rehabilitation and Dietetics Departments, Siphilisizwe Disabled Peoples Organisation, Siletha Ithemba peer support organization and others, remains dedicated to their goal. They are continuously working to improve and grow the event, from increasing the amount of personalised wheelchair costumes to expanding the entertainment options.
The event has turned into a movement for a more inclusive society. It removes boundaries, challenges stereotypes, and provides a platform for persons with impairments to demonstrate their strengths. It brings together a wide range of partners, from government ministries to local companies, all with the common objective of encouraging inclusion and enhancing systems for individuals with disabilities.
The organisers invite volunteers, sponsors, and partners to assist make this year’s event even more successful and inclusive. After all, as the event’s ethos states, we are all in this race together.
For further information on how to collaborate or sponsor, please contact Maryke Bezuidenhout. Email: marykebez@gmail.com
MANGUZI GIJIMA 2023
