Thousands of people living with disability in Kenya now have hope after an online college owned by a Kenyan based in Luxembourg rolled out an ambitious program, to train people living with disability on business related courses, Artificial Intelligence to enable them access job opportunities in the global market.
The European Business University has partnered with vocal nominated Senator Crystal Asige and the Kenya Association of the Deaf to offer the people living with disability scholarships.
While receiving the first 500 scholarship offers, Senator Asige said she was happy that they have been offered such a wonderful opportunity for visually impaired people, deaf people and persons with disabilities in general.
She said as a person who grew up with a disability while in high school, she lost a lot of opportunities as people did not believe she could do what she felt in her heart but thanks to technology and education that gave her the opportunity to explore.
“When I went to the UK, I found teachers who believed in my abilities and did not see my disability. It’s only then, when the world really opened up to me, and I could not have become a Member of Parliament, a Senator, a musician, or anything that I’ve done up to this point.” she said.
Asige said she was happy to see people who understand that wheelchair users can move without walking, see their ability and those who know deaf people speak without talking which to her is an ability.
“Finding people who actually see those abilities and remove the dis. You know, cancel out the dis in the word disability. I am happy to have found them in you on this call, so I really thank you. We will not let you down. You will be creating more members of Parliament, more Senators, more engineers, more leaders, maybe even a President who knows out of the 500 scholarships,” she said.
Senator Asige who is also visually impaired said she was happy to partner with EBU to empower those with disabilities and enable them to be of impact to the society.
“Usually, we don’t get opportunities like this. And I’m happy to get on board any program or activity that wants to propel the potential of persons with disabilities in any way,” she said.
To her, the program is particularly interesting with AI robotics, cybersecurity that’s often not associated with people with disabilities.
Abdi Abdile from the Kenya Association for the Deaf said Kenyan deaf people will achieve a lot to fulfil their dreams of accessing education.
“This initiative is good, and is aiming at making inclusive education for the deaf people and for every other person with disability,” said Abdi.
Irene Karari, a representative of the PS State Department of Diaspora affairs said they were very humbled by what EBU was doing and what they had done for them by creating a pathway that will change people’s lives.
“We will soon hear the positive stories coming from the beneficiaries. We have seen the impact they have had in their own capacity within their own means. And so, we are happy that you have been able to support them as EBU,” she said.
Monica Semedo, member of the Board of Directors from the EBU, who is also a former MEP Renew Europe at the European Parliament said she was affected by a disability during her mandate and since 2021 has been visually impaired due to a rare disease called Shon.
“So, I see. But I see only 40%. So, it’s a challenge. But it’s feasible also, thanks to technology nowadays, many things are possible that wouldn’t have been 20 years ago. So, it’s important that people with disabilities have equal access to education,” she said.
Dr James Mulli who is President of the European Business Institute of Luxembourg with an enrolment of 24,000 student’s majority Kenyans said their aim is to train people with disability and impact their lives.
Already the institution is enrolling 25 visually impaired students in the coming term to enable them benefit in their scholarship program aimed at unmasking the ‘dis’ from people living with disability.
To them, people living with disabilities have ability just like any other person and through education they can deliver like any other person.
The college which boasts of over 150 partners globally got a major boost after getting new partners including the Principal Secretary for Diaspora in Kenya, Mulli said he founded this institution about 6 years ago and to date they have over 24,000 students who have enrolled, with the majority of them over 50% are from Kenya.
“Our business model approach is to work with partners and to offer scholarships, we are in the country of Luxembourg, which has the highest GDP per capita in the world, and I pause for effect because we can take advantage, and we have taken incredible advantage of that. And this is where we have seen the numbers flourish in terms of enrolment and impact,” said Mulli.
“We’ve made some headway. In this respect. We do have students who are visually impaired, who have tried our program, and this is something that we’re quite excited about, because we’re bringing in 25 students who are visually impaired into the programs this coming term,” he added.
