Young Leaders of Mazar-e-Sharif Mubarak Shah Majidi and Mustafa Hakimi with close cooperation of three volunteers organized a three-day workshop about Disability is not inability under the topic of “How to be successful” for 32 male and female disabled people for one and half hour each day in the library of Estiqlal High School, In this regards Mubarak shah Majidi says: “No one should ever be constrained and desperate by any physical disability because real disabled people are those who do not know, no moral, no respect to others, no sense of responsibility toward their society, and those who bother and hurts others. Therefore, success is for those who walk through their plans and for those who never give up just step up and pursue what you want.”
According to Khaama and The New Humanitarian reports, 800,000 Afghans suffer from disabilities; about 36 percent of disability in the country is physical, 26 percent sensorial, 20 percent epilepsy and 10 percent mental. This ranks Afghanistan as one of the sole countries in the world with a very high disability rate; due to several decades of war, many Afghan men and women lost their limbs, eyes, and ears. Unfortunately, still, there is no proper attention and program for these people, and they have been vastly underestimated by the majority.
Mubarak Shah Majidi gave some insight into the significance and impacts of participating in this workshop, for instance participating in workshops and programs like this is always motivational and stimulating to cope and reach out to our dreams. He talked about success, and what steps does it take to be successful. He says: “Everyone is gifted in a way, some people are physically strong and some people are mentally strong. But as human being, we have to explore, learn, excel, and reflect and never be constrained and desperate by any pretext or barrier in our life.”
During the workshop, the disabled also shared their disability stories with the participants and the young leaders held group discussions, games and practical activities to give the disabled a sense that they are still able and can live as a normal person. Mustafa Hakimi a young leader who arranged group discussions, games and practical activities says: “People with disabilities are the people of the community, who have the right to all members of the community, and we have to cooperate in their lives, and to help them. During the workshop we set up practical tasks and games to inspire the participants, never give up, and seek every challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow more.”
Mustafa Hakimi said: “with assist of some schoolteachers we conveyed a lot about “How to be successful” through various academic and non-academic activities. To recap it up, this workshop was hugely efficacious, and everyone could acquire a lot.”
According to Mubarak Shah Majidi “The core aim of this workshop was to value all people no matter in which condition they are; disabled people are one of the most ignored groups in societies, and inspiring and working with them is everyone’s responsibility.”