Your Letters
I would like to thank EENET for enabling me to attend ISEC 2000. It was of great benefit to me, the Ministry of Education, my college, and indeed to the development of inclusive education in Zambia. I have started country-wide teacher-trainers’ training workshops on inclusive education in 7 pre-service teacher training colleges. The Ministry of Education, through the Teacher Education Department, has given me the opportunity to hold workshops and seminars using the UNESCO Resource Pack, the Lesotho video package and the Agra workshop report and video.
We would like you to send us more literature and materials which we can use to train regular classroom teachers, parents, head-teachers and district education officers.
Sylvester B Kanyanta
Special Needs Section, Mufulira College of Education, PO Box 40400, Mufulira, Zambia. Fax: +260 02 412157
I resigned from my teaching job at the Kenya Institute of Special Education to join the International Rescue Committee as a CBR superviser in Kakuma Refugee Camp in north-western Kenya. My new job is extremely challenging. The climate is hostile and the sun is most of the day above 35°C. It is my job to promote inclusive education at a wider level, not only to school pupils (8-15 years old), but also to pupils aged 16-35 years old in the same classroom. The other part of my job is to train the Sudanese, Somali and Ethiopian refugees to train the parents on how best they can handle their children and relatives who are disabled. I plan to write something about inclusion in the refugee setting. Has anyone attempted a study of the inclusion of refugees into schools in the countries in which they have sought refuge? (Sorry I had to hand-write this letter. I am not in touch with a computer now.)
Evans Mburu
International Rescue Committee, PO Box 62727, Nairobi, Kenya. Email: ircnbi@irckenya.org
I have read the EENET newsletters and I find them good for lack of jargon and their briefness. However the articles are preaching to the converted. There may be a need to make comments about the views of the excluders, with the aim of selling the approach to them, especially because they tend to have more power than the excluded. For example, what do they gain by using the inclusive approach, and do they lose anything?
Mutua Waema
Kenyan student, School of Education, University of Manchester. Email: M.S.Waema@stud.man.ac.uk
I was so happy to attend the ISEC Congress. I was able to discuss with many people with diverse cultural backgrounds and education. In sharing ideas, experiences and knowledge, I was amazed to find that we had a lot in common in addressing the issue of inclusive education. I told my friends the whole story of my journey and the activities. They were so excited and eager to learn whatever I told them. This was good because it was my aim to make them learn what I learnt from others, so that we can use it to improve what we already have on the ground. My community members were extremely happy when they heard that I had participated in the EENET symposium and I got a lot of hugs.
Action to Positive Change on People with Disabilities (APCPD)
John Kiyaga
PO Box 12305, Kampala, Uganda. Fax: +256 41 530412
Thank you for the March 2000 issue of Enabling Education. The publication is very attractive and the articles give us a global picture of inclusion: national thinking and local action.
EENET gives us an opportunity to know how other countries are finding solutions. This helps NGOs and governments to build on their existing strengths. It also stops us from reinventing the wheel, because with information we can achieve a lot by just changing our tyres!!
Indumathi Rao
Regional Coordinator, CBR Network (South Asia), 134, 1st Block, 6th Main, III Phase, III Stage, Banashnkari, Bangalore 560 085, India. Email: cbrnet@giasbg01.vsnl.net.in
Send your letters, emails & faxes to: Susie Miles, EENET Co-ordinator.