Mama Wahunzi

In Kenya and Uganda, where half the population lives in poverty and diseases such as polio are common, there's a high demand for physical disability aids such as wheelchairs. As recently as 1997 both countries needed more than 100,000 wheelchairs, yet only 250 were being delivered annually. Enter Sharifa, Fatuma, and Peninah, three poor, disabled African women who attended a series of workshops sponsored by Whirlwind Wheelchair International to learn how to build inexpensive, lightweight, and easy-to-repair wheelchairs and convince local merchants to sell replacement parts. Filmmaker Lawan Jirasuradej's Mama Wahunzi (which means “women blacksmiths” in Swahili) traces their progress over the course of the workshop, from metalwork pre-training taught by an assortment of Americans dedicated to the cause to a tube-bending class taught by an American disabilities rights lawyer who's also wheelchair-bound. Background footage of the three women's daily struggles to support their families, find a dignified occupation, or simply make their way across town, insert a dispiriting note of realism into the tone of the film. But just as you're wondering whether Whirlwind's commitment to such a locally sustainable venture is hopelessly idealistic, the film offers up a sublime postscript one year later: we see a series of photographs depicting a bustling, thriving workshop with exuberantly colored wheelchairs for both adults and kids run by Peninah with Fatuma as her chief assistant. A thoughtful look at the intertwining issues of disability, gender, and poverty in Africa, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (A. Cantú)