ZIMBABWEAN Africa Disability Alliance goodwill ambassador Brenda Mudzimu was awarded “Against All Odds” gong by Zimbabwe Community News for her outstanding charity work.
This comes after Mudzimu, also Mr and Miss Albinism Southern Africa pageant director, campaigned for the rights of people with disabilities in the course of Covid-19 pandemic.
“I’m humbled to be the recipient of this award. It means a lot to me. It shows that my work is being noticed and appreciated by the society.
“It gives me strength to work more harder; encouraging disability community to get vaccinated against Covid-19,” Mudzimu said.
Mudzimu, a nurse by profession, said helping others is her calling.
“I am not into this for monetary gains or popularity but it is just within me. It is my wish and desire to see people with disabilities living their lives to the fullest and that is why I am encouraging them to get the jabs for Covid-19.”
First detected in Wuhan City in China in 2019, the deadly pathogen left a trail of dire problems especially among people with underlying conditions including senior citizens and disability community among others.
“Truly, we were working against all odds. We risked our lives, moving from one homestead to the other during the Covid-19 peak period, encouraging people with various disabilities to get vaccinated.
“It was also not easy project considering there was too much misinformation pertaining to the vaccines. It was difficult to convince people that vaccines were actually good for them,” she said.
Despite all that, Mudzimu is glad that she managed to succeed.
“As I said earlier on, I’m not into this for personal gains. I managed to succeed due to passion. I am happy that I have managed to convince a number of people with disabilities to get the jab as well as feeding the community with the right information.”
Meanwhile, Mudzimu is in the process of organising the inaugural Mr and Miss Albinism Southern Africa pageant slated for Harare later this year.
The regional pageant is an offshoot of annual Mr and Miss Albinism Zimbabwe.
The pageants are meant to raise awareness on issues around albinism and these include demystifying myths around people with albinism.
The events are also a platform to promote rights of people with albinism therefore reducing segregation in the society.