It is hammering with rain, and I am with Thato going to the high school for a meeting with the principal. There is a small girl from Saint Angela’s children home sitting in the muddy school grounds in her electric wheelchair, trying to shelter under a tree. The principal has forgotten our meeting and when we come out of the office we find the girl has moved from under the tree and is now in the full force of the rain with only her umbrella to protect her. There is no one else about and I realise I know this girl from years back, she is from Phelisanong children’s centre and has brittle bones. We hurry over to her and ask her what on earth she is doing out in this weather trying to hold back the storm with only her tiny umbrella. She says she is waiting for someone to open the front gate which is locked. The school front gate is the most direct way back to Saint Angela’s and the least bumpy of routes, vital for kids in wheelchairs. If the front gate is locked, they must go all the way around the back of the school and down the rutted side path which is like a motocross route.
As we stand in the monsoon trying to work out the most feasible option of getting the girl back to Saint Angela without her disappearing in the muddy quagmire and her wheelchair blowing up, Todesi and Ntseliseng appear like a mirage in the 4x4, spot us and bring the vehicle around the back of the school to rescue. Todesi scoops the girl carefully into the back of the car and then with help of Ntseliseng gets the electric wheelchair into the boot while Thato and I hold umbrellas over the working party. Five minutes later we drop the girl back at Saint Angela and its mission accomplished.
It is only a few hundred metres from Saint Angela to the high school, less to the primary school, but for children who are trying to make this journey in wheelchairs across the potholed ground, it is an expedition of epic proportions. The girl we helped yesterday is the only one with an electric wheelchair which she brought from Phelisanong, the rest of the children are in manual ill-fitting broken wheelchairs, which they must self-propel. When we meet the high school principal the following day and ask her why the front gate is locked and the kids with wheelchairs can’t get back by the shortest route, she tells us that some boys entered the school grounds with knives, so the gate needs to be locked due to security. A couple of the kids have been given keys, but they keep losing them, or they aren’t around when the keys are needed. Its just another tribulation the children at Saint Angela must face when trying to get an education in Lesotho.
Having an impairment is one element of being disabled but as the World Health Organisation recognises the environment you live in can either add or subtract from the disability you have. The children at Saint Angela are a very small minority of children with disabilities in Lesotho who have a chance to go to school, but every moment of their day is a battle to take advantage of this opportunity. They normally start school at an older age than other children and when they get there are rarely any facilities or extra help for them. This means they are always behind at school and sometimes don’t graduate until they are in their twenties, if they have the funding to get that far.
Barely a week later I am standing outside the high school again with two of the boys from Saint Angela waiting to meet an Occupational therapist (OT). This in itself is a miracle as it’s the first OT I have met in Lesotho in five years. The OT is an hour late and we take the opportunity to learn about the boys’ aspirations in life, Alex wants to become a fashion designer, Kamo a psychologist. They have both been suspended from Saint Angela’s along with other children because they were late getting back for prayers when they were attending an extra study group. This means they now can’t attend school because their homes are far away and transport is too expensive and takes too long. These are children who are already behind, and with all the school missed during covid they are struggling to pass their exams.
I have known these boys for the last five years since I’ve been coming here. They are really good youngsters trying their best to get an education. They have quite severe disabilities, and their wheelchairs are shocking and barely functional. I want to get them new ones with donations I’ve been given, and there are also two other children I want reviewed in the high school as their wheelchairs are so inappropriately sized that they are suffering further injuries. The OT has wheelchair contacts I don’t have which is why I want to meet him. Kamo had already been sent back home from Saint Angela after being suspended, but Todesi fetched him early this morning so he could meet the OT. The OT is an hour late but redeems himself by bringing a second-hand chair from the ministry of social development which fits a girl we assessed the previous week. She was in an adult wheelchair so big for her it was impossible for her to reach the wheels to self-propel and gave her no support for the scoliosis and hip deformities that twist her body.
The OT has nothing for the boys, and it looks like we will now have to cross the border and go to Bloemfontein if we are to find anything that will help them. Apparently, the ministry of Social Development has admitted the whole referral system for assistive devices has broken down. This means you either have to go private, if you have the money, or hope someone dies and you can inherit their chair. The result is most of the children don’t have wheelchairs that fit them as they usually get a donated or second-hand ones. On top of this the ground is so rough the wheelchairs are quickly wrecked. The school does have ramps but not one of them is set at the correct angle which allows the children to independently self-propel up them. The ground that surrounds the schools is a mixture of rough grass and muddy potholes that make any form of travel across it an endurance test.
Meanwhile the damage done to the children’s bodies in their ill-fitting wheelchairs continues every day and they have no physiotherapy to help them. There was a good physiotherapy room at Saint Angela that I set up in 2016, with equipment that had been donated to the centre but never used. When I left there last time in March 2020 Thato and Ntseliseng continued to run regular physiotherapy sessions and an outreach program, visiting the children in their homes, helping improve access with appropriately built ramps and helping build keyhole gardens to improve their diet. Sister became increasingly obstructive about the physiotherapy sessions at Saint Angela and in the end stopped them altogether, no reason was given. All the work was done absolutely free. Staff joined in a training course which I ran and was paid for by the project and during covid the project paid for the Red Cross to come into Saint Angela and run a hand hygiene and covid awareness course for them.
Back in the UK I emailed Sister for an explanation, but none was given, she even said we weren’t allowed to visit children in their homes. As we pointed out she had no jurisdiction in this area and as long as the parents gave permission there was nothing to stop us, besides, why would you want to deny the children these benefits? As we no longer had access to the physiotherapy room at Saint Angela, I messaged the team to withdraw our equipment from the room and informed Sister they were coming to collect it. When they arrived the room was locked and the equipment left outside, minus 7 brand new pairs of crutches which I had paid for with donations when I was there in March 2020, apparently, they could not be found.
Now the physio room has been shut for over a year and the children spend all their days in broken-down ill-fitting wheelchairs. As I am staying in a guest house ten minutes from Saint Angela, I see them every day battling back and forth trying to get to school on time. Apart from a brief conversation with sister asking permission to visit Saint Angela soon after my arrival in December just to say “Hi” to the kids, I have not spoken to her. I see no point, on top of everything the child protection issues at Saint Angela are so bad I want no part of it, but I still want to help the kids.
The special needs teacher who was supporting the high school kids at Saint Angela with after school extra curriculum lessons approached me as to whether I could support these lessons. She has fallen out with sister after not getting paid. I agreed, but even this is not simple as the kids have to get back for prayers at 5.30pm or get suspended. They don’t finish school until 4.30pm and then have to allow at least 15/20 mins to negotiate the terrain between the high school and Saint Angela to get back in time, so only leaving about 30 mins, at best, for lessons. I don’t know if this will work out and I don’t want them to risk any more suspensions.
Last week we went into the primary school after speaking to the primary school principal. They have 27 children there with disabilities, 22 of them from Saint Angela. The school is over pressed and poorly funded and on top of this they have a large cohort of children with disabilities that they have no extra help or facilities for. They are desperate for our help, but at the same time realise this could bring them into conflict with sister. The nuns are very powerful here and could make their life very difficult for the teachers and the children.
We begin our assessment of the children, at the least we hope to pass on some useful information to the teachers which will allow some understanding of the problems these kids have trying to learn. At the best maybe we can run a lunch time physio club for the kids, get them out of their wheelchairs, get them a bit fitter to maintain and improve their fitness. We can also provide some of them with APT chairs to support their learning in class. If you haven’t got good seating and posture in class, it is very difficult to learn anything. Two of the girls we see have dyskinetic cerebral palsy, which is a type that causes involuntary movements all the time. These children need a good base of support to help reduce their movements and increase their ability read to write so we will supply them with appropriate chairs.
The assessments are difficult as we have no medical background on these children, and the histories the children are able give us are often limited and confusing. Most don’t even know their birth dates. What we can see is that for most of them everything takes extra time and activities like going to the toilet are particularly difficult and often mean they need to go back to Saint Angela’s to use a suitable toilet. Rather than make this trip a lot of them try not to go to the toilet all day with the obvious problems that follow.
Some of the children are teenagers and are still in primary school. I speak to one girl who has upper limb weakness and poor coordination of the hands. It takes her ages to wash, dress and undress, but she has no help from the care staff at Saint Angela’s so must get up in the early hours to start preparing for school. Apparently, there are 44 children at Saint Angela’s, well beyond their bed capacity, and only 3 care staff. These staff are supposed to not only look after the children but the chickens too and have to get up in the early hours to start boiling water to sterilise it as the water has been cut off because the bill has not been paid. The showers don’t work, and the cook has no running water.
Many people have tried to help with the financial crisis at Saint Angela but to no avail. Staff have left because they haven’t been paid or fallen out with Sister and projects like the greenhouses and bakery no longer operate. Ultimately the mismanagement does not affect the nuns of Saint Angela as they live there for free, and their financial needs are catered for by their congregation. Even trying to change tact and help the kids outside of the grounds of Saint Angela is difficult because of the long obstructive arm of Sister and whatever drives her, reaches out to interfere.
Some of the kids have had their specialist Shona quip wheelchairs taken by Sister and given a cheap Chinese one instead, invariably too small. I am concerned if I get the boys new wheelchairs, she will take these. I’m worried if I support the extra lessons, she will find a way to suspend the kids again, and that she will make trouble for the primary school if we try and help over there. Last year the police were called after Sister beat one of the boys so badly his ears were ringing for weeks after. Sister wasn’t in residence when they called and no follow up ever happen. Even if Sister disappeared and was replaced, I don’t think this would help as the last Sister also beat the children and was equally neglectful of their care.
The ministry of social development and ministry of education appear not to care as they have no other place to put these children and don’t like dealing with the nuns. The children here don’t know any different and are just grateful to have this small opportunity to have an education. They love Saint Angela because they have friends here, at home most of them are isolated and stigmatised. When I first met the present Sister in March 2020, she seemed pleasant and caring of the children and I really hoped that Saint Angela had finally turned a corner and the children would get the care they deserved. This was all an illusion, as time passed Sister showed her true colours. All the stories I hear have common themes, Sister does not care about the children, she neglects their welfare, she has no heart, and she is obsessed by the children praying. What these prayers are for I don’t know, deliverance from suffering maybe?
Some people believe that suffering on earth brings you closer to heaven. I do not believe that. Suffering is suffering and if you have the capacity to alleviate it you should. The facilities at Saint Angela should offer a great resource for children with disabilities to be supported in their education and welfare. I pray that someday this potential will be realised, and the children will not have to endure anymore needless suffering and neglect when Saint Angela could be an environment that supports a brighter future for them. Meanwhile my prayers are not enough and if there are more practical ways of supporting the children I will continue to do my best to provide this support by whatever means possible.
