“We are all candidates for disability”: Humanitarian worker Elisha Byalungwe on disability and inclusion advocacy from DR Congo to Uganda to Canada
Elisha Byalungwe’s earliest memories of school were marked by frustration. He describes his home country of post-1994 eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as war-torn, with children walking to school to the sound of gunshots and parents emphasizing education as the “only hope” for raising the “change-makers of tomorrow” who would better the country. Teachers were determined, students were keen to become political leaders, and Byalungwe loved school. But he struggled to see what was written on the teacher’s blackboard. When he was almost nine years old, one of his teachers noticed his struggles and phoned his parents; a visit to…