Florence Mudzingwa

"There are a number of lessons learnt from my moments of solitude. l learnt that the world owes me nothing but that l can choose how to respond to life challenges. l got to understand that l can't change certain situations but l can adapt on the best way to handle the situation. even though l am differently-enabled, my challenges are not unique, but they mirror what everyone else goes through."

"They can relate to me. They say ‘if she is working, we can also work.’ This is not a time for self-pity, being a woman and living with disability should not turn us into charity cases."

"Women with disability receive double stigmatization both from a gender and disability perspective. we are demanding to hold posts in key decision making positions as we say NO to stigmatization, but also it is my encouragement to fellow colleagues that you have to participate for you to be recognized, make an impact in your societies."

"In spite of what I have been through, I still love life and want to make the most of each moment, good or bad. My challenges are not unique, but they mirror what everybody else goes through."

"I did not face any challenges in primary school because the school I attended, St. Giles Primary School, accommodated children with disabilities only. Therefore I did not feel any different. The only challenge was with my disability because I was born with brittle bones."

"So I had to be careful of how I did things. If I fell or had any slight accident, I would easily get a fracture on the leg or arm"

"At this school, a person could only write five subjects with female students taking up home management while males did biology but I chose to do both. The reason was because I was weak in mathematics so this strategy then helped me to attain five Ordinary levels"

"The subjects I excelled in were Human and Social Biology, English, Integrated Science, Home Management and Commerce"

"The love and support of family.They made me believe that I can be anything in life as long as I work towards it."

"Being a woman born with a disability I could relate to the challenges women and girls with disabilities face that drove me to establish the organisation. The girl child with a disability is marginalised in society, often bringing in a sense of hopelessness"

"They often face triple jeopardy being disabled, their gender and unemployment. The Trust is therefore set out to empower and resurrect hope in the girl child with a disability to allow her to realise her potential and the impact she has in her community and society as a whole"