LOREWO, a place of hope for people living with disability

by Think Local Media

Alec Mateya assembling a wheelchair at LOREWO (The Chronicle)

Approximately 5km outside Bulawayo CBD along Old Victoria Falls Road, adjacent to Mpilo Central Hospital, housed just behind the National Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ) offices is a little known organisation that manufactures wheelchairs. Located within two enface blocks, on one side is the administration office and on the other is the assembling factory towering a notice board inscribed “LOREWO” in fading black. This has been home for Alec Mateya and his colleagues for close to two decades.

Alec Mateya joined LOREWO in 2005. In 2006 Alec and others were seconded to Tanzania (Tanzania Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists) to train as wheelchair builders and then to Western Cape hospital in Cape town South Africa for wheelchair special seating training which caters for kids with celebral palsy and spinal code injuries. Mr Mateya is holder of an intermediate and advanced certificate in special seating.  “Currently we are a team of eight personnel comprising of four wheelchair technicians. The majority of the workforce are people living with disability. However, some of our colleagues have since left the organisation in search for greener pastures”, Mr Mateya who is the acting factory supervisor narrates.

Established in 1999 with the assistance of United Nations Development Programme, LOREWO (which actually means Local Rehabilitation Workshop) manufactures, assembles and repair wheel chairs and other assistive devices (AT) to meet the needs of people with mobility difficulties. And recently, they have added another product to their portfolio, grab rails, which are installed in toilets to help maintain balance for people with disability (PWD).

Mr Alec Mateya holding a grab rail

The mandate of LOREWO is to advance the participation of people with disability in economic activities. At launch the goal was to set up rehabilitation workshops in all 10 provinces in Zimbabwe but due to funding constraints, expansion plans have been significantly curtailed.

The story of LOREWO has not always been a safe sail but with crests and troughs along the way. The Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD), an NGO which was funding LOREWO’s operations did not renew its grant when it expired. With no support, the organisation was left with no capital to retool and acquire raw materials which led to scaling down in capacity.  “To assemble a wheelchair, we procure material such as main wheels, front wheels and brakes from South Africa but the bulk of the requirements are made locally by us” explains Mr Chimbambaira who is the factory tailor at LOREWO.

It is estimated that disability accounts for 7-10% of the Zimbabwean population with approximately 600 000 children living with a disability. The demand for assistive devices such as wheelchairs has never been greater. In the absence of localised manufacturing and assembling units, most organisations tend to rely on imports.  “The advantage of locally manufactured assistive devices is that repairs can be done locally and we can also manufacture wheel chairs to specific individual requirements and measurements” adds Mr Mateya.

At time when the government of Zimbabwe is preaching import substitution, LOREWO offers a starting point. But they cannot do this alone. “We are not asking for handouts but capacitation to enable us to fulfil even larger orders” he said.

Luckily for the organisation, they have not run out of clientele. LOREWO currently manufactures wheel chairs for NSSA, King George IV, Jairos Jiri, Plan International, World Vision and hospitals such as Mpilo Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals.

What makes LOREWO unique is not that it is a factory run by people living with disability. In fact, these are highly trained individuals managing and operating a potentially profitable business. As the government’s reindustrialisation drive gathers pace, the call for inclusivity has to be louder.

LOREWO is a perfect model that can be replicated to ensure that people living with disability are not excluded from economic participation.

Mr Chimbambaira pictured inside the factory

To get in touch with LOREWO:

Mr Alec Mateya: +263 771 045 069

Mrs Sande: +263 73 856 479