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Beating disability
By
George Ntonya - 04-11-2002 |
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Hidden at a corner on the entrance into Stansfield House in the capital city, during working hours, is Chrisford Chayera, a self-trained artist who uses his mouth to come up with different scenes of paintings.
The space that Chayera uses as a mini gallery is so tiny that many people walk into the two-storey building, situated a stone throw away from Lilongwe Hotel, without noticing him.
“I’ve been using this tiny space since 1994. People who know me come here whenever they want to give me a contract,” says the 31-year-old artist, who uses a wheelchair for both mobility and the same as a drawing board.
When you meet Chayela for a chat one thing he does not forget to tell you is the rare opportunity he had of meeting President Bakili Muluzi in 1997 at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre. Chayera presented Muluzi with a portrait of him which he had specifically painted for the occasion.
“That was an achievement, wasn’t it? The president gave me K20,000 and I was very grateful to him.”
Born without any disability on Christmas Day in 1971 at a health centre in Dedza, Chayera has arguably passed through thick and thin. It is a fact that his birth brought happiness to his parents and their relatives but the happiness was not to be for life..
On one evening in April 1982, while staying at Kawale in Lilongwe with his parents, Chayera developed a splitting headache. He vomited for a greater part of the night and his parents suspected he had malaria. The only drugs they could give him were painkillers. His admission to then Kamuzu Central Hospital, where he spent two months, could not save his legs and hands from getting paralysed. Yes, polio had miraculously done much damage to him and since that time Chayera has not been able to walk or stretch his hands again.
“I was taken to the central hospital but I think there was nothing doctors could have done about my situation,” says Chayela whose father decided to divorce his wife allegedly because of the child’s illness. Apparently having a child with such form of disability was unimaginable to him.
The father, a low-income earner, wanted his wife to stay with the disabled child at her home at Nkhoma in the area of Chief Mazengela in Lilongwe.
“My mother refused to go home alone, leaving my father in town,” he says adding that his father was not amused with his wife so he divorced her and married another woman. Chayera’s mother remained at Kawale and lived on small-scale businesses.
Teachers at Kawale Primary School where Chayera was a pupil approached what used to be called Malawi Against Polio (Map) and individuals for any for assistance. An Irish Catholic sister stationed at Kawale Parish donated a wheelchair and paid his school fees.
“She even sent me to a boarding primary school in Balaka,” Chayera, now married with a daughter Pemphero who was born on June 17, 2002, recalls.
Chayera, whose artistic characteristics started to show while at a tender age, got out of the boarding school when the Catholic sister left the country in 1989.
He went and stayed with his mother’s relatives at Mbayani in Blantyre, where he went to Dharap Primary School and Distance Education Centre (Dec) respectively.
“I used to paint while in primary school. I should say painting has been an inborn thing for me.”
When Chayera got out of school in 1994 after sitting for the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination he returned to Lilongwe where he met late Rodrick Bisani, a disabled artist who used his foot to paint. He operated from the same tiny space Chayera is using today.
“He gave me some kind of training and offered to work with me. When he died in 1996 I took over the space,” Chayera, whose monthly gross income fluctuates between K5,000 and K30,000, said.
After the basic training from his mentor Chayera secured a K2,000 loan from Malawi Council for the Handicapped (Macoha). He bought brushes and small tins of paint with which he set sail.
Business was so good for him in 1995 and 1996 that he managed to buy a plot and build a house in one of the high-density areas in the city. He also bought a saloon car.
Unfortunately, Chayera’s mother who had toiled a lot for her son to get some education could not witness the wonders of the “neglected” child. She died in the same year her son got out of school and returned to Lilongwe to take up art as a career.
Tourists, especially the backpackers, were some of the clients Chayera highly depended on until a few years ago when business started to nose-dive. The slackening of the business forced him to sell his house and car to keep himself afloat. The level of orders for specific paintings has also dropped. Two boys he employed to sell his paintings around town did not make any difference so he terminated their services.
But Chayera is not completely out of business. That is why his monthly income hovers between K5,000 and K30,0000. Married to a housewife, he is able to stay in a three-bedroom house for which he parts with K3,000 every month.
“I work hard for a living. When I have a lot of orders I work till late in the night,” he says adding that he requires help from another person to hang the canvas on the wall or to fix the drawing board on to the wheelchair, when the painting is not very big.
“When the canvas is hung on the wall or fixed on the wheelchair, everything is done by me.”
If wishes were horses beggars would ride, goes the saying which easily fits Chayera’s situation. When he was at school he wished he could work for the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation as a producer or announcer.
“I’ve always admired Verson Idi,” he says, adding that he could not, however, push his application to the broadcasting house because he failed to obtain the required MSCE.
Chayera places the blame for not getting the certificate on his headmaster who allegedly transferred him into another examination room on the day they were writing the final paper. The invigilator in that room refused to accept his papers because he was not on his list. By the time the issue reached the headmaster, the invigilator in the other room where Chayera’s examination number was had already collected all the candidates’ papers and sealed them in an envelop. He could not reopen the envelope to include Chayera’s papers.
“I referred the matter to the Ministry of Education and the headmaster was dismissed,” said Chayera further disclosing that he passed all the five subjects that were marked including English.
He gets to Stansfield House where he also runs a telephone bureau around 9 AM and knocks off at 4 PM. During weekends he either goes to watch football or stays at home to chat up his wife.
“I would like to say that a person with disability is just like any other person. I am self-employed and offer employment to two other people.”
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