An association for disabled and their children was launched on 15 June this year at the Bundung Garage opposite the Bundung Police Station.

The launching of the association known as the Bundung Association for Disabled and their Children was attended by senior government officials and cultural musical groups.

Speaking during the launching, the president of the association, Mr. Dembo Darbo, said the Bundung Association for the Disabled and their Children is a community based organisation formed and registered in August 2006 and has opened another chapter for disabled people and their families, who are socially marginalised in nation building.

Mr. Darbo said it is sad to say that the rich African cultural values and norms, such as true love, care and concern for one another, have given way to alien ones in the African society, while alien values and norms do hasten to shun and relegate the disabled to a space characterised by helplessness and abandonment.

He said that with the help of the government and other stakeholders in the country, no disabled person would be seen begging in the streets of The Gambia by 2010, as they would find ways and means of getting them off the street.

For her part, the mother of the association, Secy Neneh Macdouall-Gaye, said the association “is a very good initiative” and “is also government agenda”.

She also said the persons concerned “are not really disabled” but “disadvantaged people” who need to be helped in society.

She advised the members of the association to steer the affairs of the association in love and unity so as to maintain it for the good of its members.

The launching was also attended by the Deputy Mayor of KMC, Yankuba Colley.