Mikala Mukongolwa visited ICI May 23–July 5 to share her knowledge, skills, and experiences working with children with disabilities in Zambia, her home country in southern Africa. Mukongolwa and her team in Zambia educate children with disabilities who cannot attend a classroom; she runs the country’s only home-based education program. While in the U.S., she honed her skills and expertise, learning from other disability specialists. She has taken that knowledge home to Zambia, where enforcement of the country’s inclusive education policy has been uneven.

Over the years, Mukongolwa has served as ICI’s primary contact on disability issues in Zambia. She leverages her home-based education program with DirectCourse, an online training program developed by ICI’s Research Center on Community Living. Now Mukongolwa uses DirectCourse in Zambia to train local providers, faith-based organizations, families, and individuals with disabilities. ICI’s Macdonald Metzger provides Mukongolwa with additional training and support on how to use the DirectCourse learning management system and all of its functionalities. “DirectCourse is the only free training program on disability issues available to family members and teachers in Zambia, so it is a very important training resource for us,” she says. “Over 3,000 people have been trained using the curriculum. This training program has helped change people’s behaviors, attitudes, and old beliefs that falsely linked disability to witchcraft. DirectCourse has increased teachers’ and parents’ knowledge and understanding of practices and approaches in the U.S. context and how we can apply those strategies in Zambia.”

DirectCourse financed Mukongolwa’s visit. “The policies might be there but people are not trained on how to implement them,” she says of her home country. “This is where DirectCourse online training program comes in. Because it helps people understand how to tailor supports to people with disabilities in Zambia.”