On a warm afternoon in Tembisa, local resident Phillip Masitenyane can be found knee deep inside a garbage skip sifting for recyclable materials.
Masitenyane is visually impaired and has hearing loss. He uses his hands to feel for different materials in the rubbish – paper, plastic, metal tins and glass.
“Because I have to use my hands to touch and feel for items I don’t wear gloves, so it can sometimes be a bit dangerous if there is a sharp item or object inside here,” said Masitenyane.
Masitenyane is part of the Visually Impaired Community Development Organisation (VICDO) an NGO founded in 1995 and run by visually impaired activists in the Tembisa area.
VICDO, which advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, has recently involved itself in an environmental awareness program to promote the voices of people with disabilities in conversations on climate change.
The organisation has partnered with four local schools, where the schools’ waste is sorted into recyclable materials. Members of VICDO go to the schools daily.
When they have collected a reasonable quantity of material, they take it to a local facility to process and recycle.
Visually impaired activists use their hands to feel for recyclable objects.
Minah Funani, a founding member of VICDO, said, “We are trying to learn more about these climate issues and its impact on us as people with disabilities. We are also trying to share our knowledge with other people so that we can take collective action.”
Funani recently advocated for facilities for the visually impaired to be installed at her local library. She now has access to a braille printer to produce information pamphlets about climate change, which she distributes to other visually impaired people in the township.
She also organises workshops bringing together environmental activists with members of VICDO so that knowledge can be shared. “We need to raise awareness and educate ourselves and others in our community about these issues, because this is something that affects all of us,” said Funani.
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