WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:01.521 --> 00:00:09.101 [dramatic piano music] 00:00:15.190 --> 00:00:22.060 The ableism is very challenging towards persons with disabilities. 00:00:22.060 --> 00:00:27.424 My name is Ruth Iradukunda Fifi. I am a trainee in this organization of 00:00:27.424 --> 00:00:29.710 Seeing Hands Rwanda. 00:00:29.710 --> 00:00:35.430 This organization help us to be trained about massage therapy. 00:00:35.430 --> 00:00:44.580 Massage therapy is very wide. They train us how to do it, but first of all, we have to 00:00:44.580 --> 00:00:48.960 learn how human body anatomy is. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:53.090 I think the reason why they call it Seeing Hands, 00:00:53.090 --> 00:01:02.590 mostly in the society where we live, people with disabilities are discriminated or treated 00:01:02.590 --> 00:01:05.195 as if they aren't able. 00:01:09.036 --> 00:01:14.920 They are treated as if they need a favor. 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:22.070 Those who have been trained here before have shared me the information that blind persons 00:01:22.070 --> 00:01:29.079 can do massage therapy. I liked it so much, and I decided to come and learn. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:37.834 I said, 'Why not can I join them to acquire skills and give support to others in need?' 00:01:41.458 --> 00:01:48.880 Except that you can make a living as a massage therapist, but it is a way to help others 00:01:48.880 --> 00:01:57.217 feel better, relax, if they feel pain in their muscles and you can help them feel better. 00:01:58.521 --> 00:02:07.310 I thought it was something I liked, so I decided to come and learn it so that I could help others. 00:02:07.603 --> 00:02:14.360 No society will prove that a person with a disability can do anything unless we prove 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:24.310 them that we can because they immediately see us in the image of our disabilities. 00:02:24.310 --> 00:02:34.910 What I can say is that massage is a good profession that helps me every day. Not only this but 00:02:34.910 --> 00:02:39.590 I have preferred it as a talent of helping others. 00:02:46.402 --> 00:02:52.830 If you can massage people, they come back home saying that 00:02:52.830 --> 00:02:57.860 they feel better because you have helped them. 00:02:57.860 --> 00:02:59.840 That's valuable. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:10.874 In addition to that, the way we help customers helps, too, because it's not a services we offer for free. 00:03:10.874 --> 00:03:19.490 It is a job that earns a living, so a person who wants to live without begging has to 00:03:19.490 --> 00:03:24.163 become and do massage therapy professionally. 00:03:26.880 --> 00:03:34.549 Although our eyes don't see, I know that our hands have the ability to be used not 00:03:34.549 --> 00:03:41.796 just things to do, but also support us make a living with our hands. 00:03:45.890 --> 00:03:52.419 My name is Uwitije Claudine. I work here in Seeing Hands Rwanda organization. 00:03:54.049 --> 00:04:02.224 I am a massage therapist here as well as a trainer who trains massage therapy practically. 00:04:05.376 --> 00:04:10.142 The trainees that I teach here, they like and understand it so very much. 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:20.009 My mindset was not like that people who think that a person with a disability is incapable, 00:04:20.009 --> 00:04:24.880 and you immediately feel that you can't do anything. 00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:33.020 I came here to prove that I can do something and doing what I thought I could do. 00:04:33.020 --> 00:04:40.199 Rather, it's to challenge negative mindset towards blind persons that can stay at home 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:45.670 in the countryside, is only a homebody nothing else they can do. 00:04:45.670 --> 00:04:54.070 To come here is to show that tomorrow and after tomorrow, if they see us working, they 00:04:54.070 --> 00:04:56.800 will know that person with a disability is able! 00:05:03.537 --> 00:05:12.460 They see how we are. They understand that a disabled person has to sit and feed him/her, 00:05:12.460 --> 00:05:15.619 but for me, I don't see it like that. 00:05:18.789 --> 00:05:25.020 I can pay for the house to live in, get food, and I can even pay for transportation when 00:05:25.020 --> 00:05:27.492 I want to go somewhere. 00:05:32.057 --> 00:05:38.652 [upbeat background music] 00:05:39.250 --> 00:05:42.580 My name is Beth Gatonye. 00:05:42.580 --> 00:05:46.940 I am the founder and legal representative of Seeing Hands Rwanda, 00:05:46.940 --> 00:05:52.569 an organization that promotes the social and economic well-being of persons of visual impairment 00:05:52.569 --> 00:05:59.608 through massage therapy training, ICT, and also we help them to transition to employment. 00:06:01.890 --> 00:06:04.340 Visually impaired people are very good with touch. 00:06:04.340 --> 00:06:12.130 You know, when you lose your sight, that perception is transferred mostly into your hands, because 00:06:12.130 --> 00:06:13.900 they rely so much on touch. 00:06:13.900 --> 00:06:20.350 So when you teach visually impaired persons how to do massage therapy, they give the best, 00:06:20.350 --> 00:06:23.849 so one reason. Also another reason what motivated me 00:06:23.849 --> 00:06:29.999 the rate of unemployment is very high among visually impaired people, even though they are educated. 00:06:29.999 --> 00:06:33.389 Those who are educated it is very hard for them to find jobs. 00:06:33.389 --> 00:06:37.530 Actually, not only for people with visual impairment but also anyone with a disability, 00:06:37.530 --> 00:06:42.882 because the first thing that people see when they go looking for a job 00:06:42.882 --> 00:06:48.759 is your disability. They don't go beyond that, employers do not go beyond that. 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:53.970 That is the very big challenge. Actually for them to find jobs is more challenging, and it is a 00:06:53.970 --> 00:06:59.120 problem. This is a problem, and that is what we are trying to do here, to bridge the gap. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:06.729 Not only to provide the training, but also help them transition from training to employment, 00:07:06.729 --> 00:07:08.879 that is our main goal. 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:18.830 As you mentioned, most of them live below the poverty line, others have no relatives 00:07:18.830 --> 00:07:19.830 you know? 00:07:19.830 --> 00:07:24.810 Of course, they are really interested, and what we do, the money that we generate, you 00:07:24.810 --> 00:07:27.780 know, after they finish training they start working. 00:07:27.780 --> 00:07:35.250 The money that we generate is based to the therapists, and then part of it is distributed 00:07:35.250 --> 00:07:39.509 among the trainees and the employees once a week. 00:07:39.509 --> 00:07:46.340 So, this is the money that is used by them to sustain themselves, you know, here in Kigali, 00:07:46.340 --> 00:07:49.120 to rent houses, to buy food. 00:07:54.436 --> 00:08:03.400 First of all, we find clients for them. Because I have been a therapist in Rwanda for many 00:08:03.400 --> 00:08:08.000 years, like ten years, so I use that opportunity. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:14.200 Sometimes when people have events, you know, we go and do chair massages for them. 00:08:14.200 --> 00:08:17.800 What we do is we connect them with clients, that's one. 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:24.240 Another thing we do, we search for jobs for them in hotels. We have some who are working 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:30.110 in hotels, others are working in health clubs, but mostly hotels. 00:08:30.110 --> 00:08:35.169 Not many hotels are willing to employ them, and the actually the hotels that have employed 00:08:35.169 --> 00:08:45.019 them are foreign, for foreigners, and then we also target sportsmen like cyclists, runners, 00:08:45.019 --> 00:08:50.370 you know? We travel all over Rwanda to go and provide our services. 00:08:50.370 --> 00:08:55.600 They get a massage from a visually impaired person, and they are so happy and they can 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:59.220 never go anywhere. What am I trying to tell you the services 00:08:59.220 --> 00:09:07.400 that our visually impaired persons provide cannot be compared with any other services 00:09:07.400 --> 00:09:08.400 in this country. 00:09:08.400 --> 00:09:12.085 They are the best, and I would like you to try.