Jairos jiri biography sample

Jairos Jiri

Wonderful inspiring work in rehabilitation of disabled Africans 

Jairos Jiri, belongs to one of Rhodesia’s  top families.  His forebears were not so much chiefs as makers of chiefs, the power behind one of the ancient thrones of Central Africa. He thus has a family tradition of service, of purpose, or responsibility. As a young migrant to Bulawayo in 1939 he was shocked by the plight of the blind begging in the streets. Their lost dignity was an affront to humanity, his, theirs, everyone’s.  As a steward in an RAF mess, he learnt of the work of St. Dunstans for the war-blinded and determined that the civilian blind should be equally helped to gain or regain a place in society.  For some years after the war he carried on his own private campaign, trying to have those who crossed his path sent back home to be cared for by their relatives and friends. He found this an unrewarding task for they had no-one to care for them – to care for themselves they would have to learn a trade and be taught to be self-reliant.

In 1951 with a few friends, he founded the Bulawayo and Bikita Society – Bikita his ancestral home, Bulawayo the city of his adoption. They raised money to send the blind to the Dutch Reformed Mission school at Copota near Fort Victoria. Later, with the help of Bulawayo City Council, they started trade training for cripples in a disused eating house. The work grew, the Society changed its name to The African Society for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to emphasise its wider scope and concepts. In 1961, the Society adopted the name of its Founder, by which it was already popularly referred to.  In 1958, the Society moved to its new site with purpose-built dormitories and workshops.

Mr. Jiri was awarded the M.B.E by Her Majesty, the Queen, in 1959 in recognition of his outstanding services.

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And still the work grew and was transformed from a local project to an undertaking of national proportions. The Bula

Jairos Jiri (1921 – 1982) – a ‘father of social services in Zimbabwe’ and a pioneer of disability work

Born in 1921, Baba Jairosi Jiri was not a trained social worker but is one of the early (do-gooders), people who provided social services at a national scale using the values of unhu that forms the bedrock of Zimbabwean traditional social functioning (Mugumbate, 2020). The legend learned about traditional forms of social assistance from his parents and community. He perfected these values with work that he did as a general hand at a rehabilitation facility in Bulawayo. The facility catered for world war veterans, most of them whites. He founded the Jairos Jiri Association for Disabled People in 1940 initially using his own labor and resources. In 1982 when he died, he was honored with National Hero of Zimbabwe status but his family opted to be buried in his rural home village of Bikita instead of at the National Heroes Acre in Harare. Later, the government of Zimbabwe honored him by awarding him the Jairosi Jiri Humanitarian Award given to people who contribute significantly to helping others, for example, those who helped cyclone Idai Victims in Chimanimani in 2019. Further to this recognition, he received numerous other awards nationally, regionally and nationally.

Rhodesian disability activist (1921–1982)

Jairos JiriMBE (26 June 1921 – 12 November 1982) was born in the district of Bikita, then Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe. He was also known respectfully as Baba, which means Father in his Shona culture.

History

Baba Jiri was born in 1926. In the early days of his childhood, he had a dream of helping disabled people. These dreams were motivated by his family background. His father, Chief Mutenyami Jiri was an Appointer of Rozvi Chiefs. The Rozvi Empire ruled the Shona Dzimbabwe (now Zimbabwe) until the death of the last Shona King Tohwechipi Chibhamubhamu in Uhera (now Buhera) in 1873. He is buried in the Mavangwe Hills and his grave is a national monument. As Royal people, people like Chief Mutenyami would not only appoint chiefs but provide social services in the community like feeding the hungry. His mother, Mai Marufu came from a royal family too and was charitable as was expected of her role. Mai Marufu was the daughter of the sub-chief Mazimba of Gutu. As expected of Royal Rozvi, Baba Jiri's family was a spiritual and valued family and community. They prayed to Mwari (God) and respected their elders. Jairos grew up herding cattle and learning to write in the sand with sticks or his fingers or on rocks with charcoal. His community was poor and overcrowded after people were moved by white settlers from good land a few decades before he was born. His family and many others in Bikita Reserve struggled to take care of themselves as they did not have good and large enough land to farm.

No doubt this background influenced Jairos's view of life when he saw destitute people on the streets of Masvingo (then Fort Victoria) where he worked briefly and in Bulawayo where he arrived on foot from Masvingo in 1939 with his brother Mazviyo Jiri. It was in Bulawayo where he came across more destitute people. Some of the people he saw were half-naked, blind, or disabled, and they were