16 October 2023
Kidibone Setlhabe ,OM for SAMBT, Mthatha
New to the area, Lindelwa, like the other youngsters, came to hear of the opportunities for young blind people at the arts and craft training centres in Mthatha.
Kidi tells Lindelwa’s story of being house bound for five years after losing her sight in her early twenties. Her family was overprotective of (we often find this) and so she remained in her room, depressed and lonely and as she says, ‘in denial of my loss of sight.’ In the process, Kidi says Lindelwa lost a lot of muscle strength and flexibility. Lindelwa tells that she even declined independence training once offered, because she was waiting for her sight to be restored.
Having moved to the area, she started gaining confidence, initially staying with some of her new friends from the centre, because she was unable to even do basic things for herself and now recently with Kidi’s encouragement, she moved into a room of her own.
Kidi says that since Lindelwa had been so stationary for so many years, her muscles were so stiff when she started training her. “It was clear from the way in which she moved, that she had just been sitting for 5 years”. “It was if walking was her gym, it was her therapy, it became her route to independence and also the opportunity to just enjoy fresh air outside.” Kidi says Lindelwa can get around on her own with her white cane now, she can get herself to the centre, to the tuck-shop on her own, but that she will need more exercise for her muscles to grow stronger.”
“Money,” says Kidi, “when Lindelwa got to Mthatha she did not even know how to know the difference between any notes or coins. People around her had to do everything for her, she had no idea how much change anyone brought her when she asked them to buy her something. Now, following Kidi’s training, Lindelwa knows how much she has in her purse. She no longer has the worry of distrusting people giving her the correct change. She is quite sure now. She knows what she is handing over to the cashier at the shop. And her disability grant is now sustaining her for the full month because she is in control of her finances.”
Lindelwa was amazed when Kidi told her that she could go to college or university. She did not know that a blind person could get a qualification. Lindelwa who lost her sight in the years after writing her matric exams, is now waiting for computers to arrive at the centre. She is one of the young people who hope to start the computer course later this month.
Perhaps most important says Kidi: “Lindelwa now believes she has a future.”