When Olwethu Baleni started at her new school, the Wellington School of Skills, this year, staff there made it their mission to help her acquire a more comfortable wheelchair.
The 14-year-old, who is originally from Pretoria, moved in with her maternal aunt Buyiswa Wambi a few years ago, after her mother died in 2019.
She is wheelchair-bound and well on her way to outgrowing her old wheelchair.
“One of the teachers said Olwethu got the wheelchair when she was young,” said Christo Kirchner of the Wellington School of Skills.
“As she grew the wheelchair became increasingly small for her. We talked in the staff room about whether we should advertise on Facebook and elsewhere, to see if anyone has an additional wheelchair.”
Before the school could put something up on its social media page, the news had already spread by word of mouth that Olwethu needed a bigger wheelchair.
Thanks to the hard work of two teachers at the school, Tia Adams and Brian Minnaar, two wheelchairs were donated to Olwethu. She uses one of the wheelchairs every day, while the other stays at school.
Wambi, her aunt, says she is very happy for the donation her niece received.
She said it made Olwethu’s life easier. According to Wambi her niece can walk a little bit, but not too far, and with assistance because she has no balance.
“She was not born that way, but as time went on according to her mom she [Olwethu] became like this.
“I took her in, in 2019 because I wanted her to go for an operation on her feet. I took her to the hospital and now she is on a waiting period for the operation because of Covid.
“The doctors said they want to make her feet look flat, like normal feet, as she’s walking on her toes.”
Wambi says she is very happy for the donation Olwethu received. She added she was informed the school would organise a wheelchair, but she didn’t think it would happen so soon.
“When they called and asked me to come to the school I thought she might have done something wrong, but when I arrived there I saw she was sitting next to a big wheelchair. I was so happy because I could see that she is struggling with the old wheelchair.”
Kirchner added the school is delighted that they could have helped Olwethu. She is now more comfortable and can move around easily.
