West Rand residents with disabilities showcase their talent
Numerous people living with a disability showcased their talent at an Eisteddfod event recently.
Recently, more than 100 people with disabilities attended an Eisteddfod event hosted by the Gauteng Department of Social Development in partnership with local municipalities at the Khutsong Multipurpose Centre.
The aim was to showcase their talents in performing arts such as dance, music, poetry, modelling and singing.
Having a disability does not mean you are unable and Rand West City resident Lungile Mdingi, who is blind, is a living testament to this. The 51-year-old was appointed as judge and co-ordinator for persons with disabilities in the West Rand region which is considered a major achievement.
According to Lungile, she was happy to fulfil the role and added that despite the challenges faced by people with disabilities, the government continues to take care of them through the disability grant.
“Most people with disabilities are not working but they can buy themselves food with their disability grant and others started small businesses. Today I am happy to be part of the panel of judges. The criteria we are going to use are whether the participant can do it or not, and checking the neatness of the work. The majority of the participants can sell their work to the public however they need assistance from the government with funding. The event is not going to end here, we are proceeding to the provincial competition early this month,” added Lungile.
Mpho Mudzanani, who was the programme co-ordinator, added, “We are glad to see most of them displaying their work such as photo frames, pottery, and other things for interior decoration. We are happy with the positive outcome of various stakeholders that the department invited to the event.”
The winners of the dancing competition were the Thusong Centre while the Impumelelo Disabled Centre in Muldersdrift won the poetry category. The West Rand Association for People with Disabilities were crowned singing winners.
The spirit of happiness was seen all over with the dancers and singers entertaining the audience with the latest music, despite some of them who are wheelchair-bound, they were still able to join in the singing.
