By Ambumulire Nellie Phiri

Malawi, like many other countries south of the Equator recognizes the key role of including all people regardless of ability into the development process. The country is fast embracing and implementing the inclusion philosophy. The need to build capacity and expertise to support the inclusion of individuals with special needs and ensure their meaningful participation is critical.

In 2009, with the support of the International Association of Special Education (IASE) experts, I was privileged to facilitate development of a special education course as part of our Teacher Education core curriculum at Mzuzu University, Malawi. The course was offered to our general education students beginning in August of 2010. My colleague, Dr. Simeon Gwayi, has been teaching the course. We were further honored to receive 20 textbooks from the IASE GIVING Fund, as well as, support from one of the book authors, Dr. Yvonne Bui, and the book publisher, Mr. Stan Love.

Mzuzu University prepares approximately 200 teachers every year, and hence, a new course required a sufficient number of text books for students to use as library resources. With scarcity of teaching and learning resources, the gift of books with up-to-date research in the field of special education was just the most appropriate gesture of kindness.

I am therefore very thankful to the IASE organization for its mission to connect experts around the globe with a mission to make a difference in the lives of individuals with special needs. I am also thankful to Mary Gale and Marg for helping to assure that the textbooks reached Malawi. I appreciate that they were able to make time to visit Mzuzu University and to see the implementation of the course developed with the help of IASE.