By PASSY HAACHIZO –
“THE fact that I am lame does not mean that I am also mentally disabled because, God has given me the gift of thinking to enable me come up with a simple business to sustain me and my family, instead of begging on the streets.”
These are the words of Richard Kabwe, as he narrates the story of his street vending business on Cairo Road opposite the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) in Lusaka.

•KABWE attends to his customers.

Mr Kabwe has been a street vendor for the past 29 years.
Unlike other disabled people who thrive on hand outs from well-wishers, Mr Kabwe prefers to make a profit from his own sweat.
He was born disabled 47 years ago, in Chief Kanyembo’s area in Kawambwa District of Luapula Province.
He relocated to Lusaka’s Kanyama Township before he was even enrolled in school.
Mr Kabwe went to Kanyama Primary School and after failing Grade Seven exams on several occasions before he decided to discontinue his education.
The year 1984 was the last he stepped in school for he failed his grade seven examinations.
Mr Kabwe decided to stay at home where he remained for two years doing nothing.
That is when he realised that life would not be so easy loitering at home.
“I left school in 1984 after failing exams and I stayed home in Old Kanyama. But in 1986, I realised that it was better for me to start my own business rather than to beg all over the streets of Lusaka,” said Mr Kabwe.
This is how Mr Kabwe started his own business by selling cigarettes on Cairo Road.
“After sometime, I started selling sweets and other products. As you are seeing me now, I am  even selling belts, sunglasses, wrist watches, purses, books and caps,” said Mr Kabwe.
Life has never been easy as he has been moving on a wheel chair from Old Kanyama to do his business in town.
He said, out of his earnings, he is able to support his three children, six nephews and nieces.
One of his nephews, Maybin Mwila, said he has been motivated to work hard in life the manner in which his uncle worked.
“I cannot compare my uncle to any other man in the city in terms of business. Imagine he moves from old Kanyama coming here daily and gets back. You will never hear that my uncle has missed a day in doing his work and he does his job from 07:00 hours to 16:00 hours before getting back home on the wheelchair. This is something which other disabled people can hardly do,” said Mwila.
Mwila narrated that it was always pleasing to have such hard working men in the family that ignored disability and worked as though everything was well.
Mwila also encouraged other disabled people to emulate Mr Kabwe and do something instead of just waiting for passers-by to give them coins out of pity.
“All that we can say about this man is that, he needs help because he is capable of working long hours compared to able bodied men who are fond of wasting time,” said Fredrick Munenga.
Mr Munenga who sells shoes along Cairo Road, said it would be better if any organisation came on board and rendered help to people that had shown efforts like Mr Kabwe.
He said Mr Kabwe was so cooperative and social that his presence attracts a lot of customers to the place where he sells from.
Mr Kabwe is an example of how a hardworking man has managed to succeed in doing  business even under difficult circumstances, inspite of his disability.
He said that, during the Movement for Multi- Party Democracy (MMD) regime all disabled people trading on streets were promised that they would be given shelters to trade from but unfortunately that  never came to pass.
The Zambia National Association of Disabilities (ZAPD) Spokesperson Jean Kabwe said, there was need for Government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to brighten the future of disabled people.
“My appeal to Government is to assist these people rather than just letting them continue begging on streets. At least if these people can be empowered with some skills like carpentry that could help. Our association has a piece of land behind Soweto Market and it is just funding we are lacking to get certain projects underway,” Ms Kabwe said.
She explained that it would have been better if Government could consider the plight of the physically and visually impaired persons.
On the part of Mr Kabwe and others on the streets that have already shown their capabilities, it is just a matter of helping them financially so that they can contribute to the development of the Zambian economy.