DISABILITY LESOTHODEC/ JAN 2013 ISSUE 7

From the Editor

Dear Partner,

Complements and welcome to the seventh editionof Disability Lesotho, the monthly email newsletterfrom Lesotho National Federation of the Disabled.This newsletter will cover news from December2012 and January 2013.

This e-newsletter is a platform whereby partnersin the disability sector share the good work theydo and learn from the work of others. Thisincludes news, events, updates, activities and allissues affecting people with disability in Lesotho.We therefore welcome contributions of any naturefrom all organizations working to improve the livesof people in Lesotho, including those withdisability.

If you would like to contribute to the next issue orhave received this newsletter from a third partyand wish to be included on the mailing list pleasecontact Pascalina Letsau on 5905 5406 orpletsau@gmail.com.

We welcome any feedback which may improvethe quality and content of this free service.

Best regards,The Editor

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From the LNFOD Director

On behalf of everyone here at LNFOD, I would liketo wish you all a very happy and prosperous newyear. 2013 promises to have a special significancefor the disability movement, as we edge evercloser to our goal, the full domestication of theUNCRPD.

In this spirit, the theme we have chosen for thismonth’s e-newsletter is the issue of providingeducational opportunities for women and girl’s withdisability.

Women with disability are often doublydiscriminated against when it comes to education.They need to fight against the widespreadnegative attitudes towards people with disability ingeneral and the traditional view that girls do notneed to be educated as their role should be athome looking after the family.

As such, many women with disability of ourgeneration have been declined the chance toreach their full potential. As members of thedisability movement it is our job to ensure that thegirls with disability of this generation are able toaccess their rights to education.

Wishing you all the best of luck for 2013!

Marorisang MafetheExecutive DirectorLesotho National Federation of Organisations ofthe Disabled

DEC/ JAN 2013

Introducing Chris’ Corner…

Chris Ranthiti interviewed by LTV

Chris Ranthiti captured the hearts of thousandswhen he appeared on Thahameso Show lastNovember to share his story.

He is now set to return to the TV screens with hisown mini-series Chris’ Corner. Chris’ Corner willbe a 5 part mini-series consisting of 5 minutesegments covering everything from Basothopolitics to the latest fashion trends.

Chris interviewed a variety of people, from theMinister of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives andMarketing to the guy who pushes the trolleys atPick’n Pay.

Chris challenges preconceptions of people withdisability and shows that nothing can stop acurious mind.

Chris’ corner is set to air in February or Marchfrom 6.45pm.

Sesotho version of Ntsoe Lengnow availableA Sesotho language version of LNFOD’s bi-annual newsletter Ntsoe Leng is now available.You may receive your copy either from theLNFOD office in Old Europa, Maseru, from anyDPO office, or from your local district Ministry ofSocial Development office.

Limited numbers are available however an onlineversion is available on the LNFOD website.

Youth with Intellectual Disabilitytake to the airwaves

Lintle Ramatle – TK Fm presenter.

Starting Friday 25, youth with intellectualdisabilities will be taking to the airwaves as part ofa partnership agreement between TK FM and theIntellectual Disability Association of Lesotho. EachFriday, a member of the IDAL youth group will co-present the popular “Lunchbox” show alongsideMs. Lintle Ramatle.

The IDAL guest presenter will generally shoot thebreeze with Lintle and help her communicate thelatest traffic and weather reports. This initiative ispart of IDAL’s mission to give people withintellectual disability the opportunity to expressthemselves and engage with the community.

The first two shows will be co-presented by Mr.Kelebone Ntšihlele. A different IDAL youth groupmember will present the program every two weeks.

To listen to the program tune in to 97.1FM from12pm-2pm on Fridays.

ISSUE 7

GENERAL NEWS

ISSUE 7

IDAL joins the onlinecommunity

The Intellectual Disability Association ofLesotho (IDAL) is proud to announce thelaunch of its new website www.idal.org.ls. TheIDAL website will be a hub of information aboutintellectual disability, containing useful links tomany articles and sources.

The launch of the new website is part of IDAL’sefforts to rebrand from the Lesotho Society ofMentally Handicapped Persons to theIntellectual Disability Association of Lesotho.

LNAPD New ExecutiveCommitteeLNAPD is proud to announce the appointmentof its new Executive Committee. Thecommittee was chosen through elections heldduring the general meeting.

The new Executive Committee will beresponsible for steering the direction of theorganisation for the next three years.

The new appointments will be announcedshortly by LNAPD.

We wish them the best of luck with theirendeavours!

For further information please contact theLNAPD office by calling +266 22320366

OrMrs ‘Malerato Moeketsi +266 58788864

Email: lnapd@live.com

Capacity building TrainingWorkshop – LNAPD

LNAPD started the year on a high note byhosting a workshop from the 14th – 18th Jan,2013. Participants were drawn from LNAPDstaff and old and new members of the ExecutiveCommittees.

This workshop was part of the orientation of thenew Executive Committee. The training wasconducted by Motivation Africa. The agenda forthe workshop was informed by a needsassessment which had been conducted earlier.The training covered organisationaldevelopment, Planning, Finance and resourcemanagement, Leadership and management,advocacy and lobbying.

The training provided the participants with skillsand tools to carry out their daily tasks to benefitboth the organisation and its projects. Throughthe workshop, the organisation recognizedsome the gaps hindering its progress towardsachieving the mission and vision of LNAPD.

LNAPD would like to express its appreciation forthe enthusiasm and support provided byMotivation Africa and to thank them for theirassistance - both human and financial

DEC/ JAN 2013

GENERAL NEWS

Kick4Life’s Siyakhona projectgives voice to youth

Kick4Life has started training for their SiyakhonaProject which aims to give normally marginalizedvoices the chance to be heard through film.

Siyakhona – meaning ‘We can do it’ - bringstogether young people in Lesotho from variedand underprivileged backgrounds to provide themwith the opportunity to be a voice for theircommunities, to enact social change, and to learnuseful skills related to media, film production,journalism, advocacy and business management.The group will become ‘citizen journalists’,investigating the views and experiences of thosewhose voice is less often heard in Lesotho,including young people’s perspectives on HIVand AIDS.

With support from FIFA and Sony, a small groupof young people will undergo intensive training inall the skills necessary to become a sustainablemedia production unit – capable of producingprofessional quality films not only for Kick4Lifeand for their communities, but also commerciallyhiring out their services to local businesses andorganisations in Lesotho.

Films created under commercial contract willgenerate an income for the participants and forKick4Life and the participants will be left with thelasting benefit of the professional skills they learnalong the way which they can use to developtheir futures, in the media industry and beyond.

The program will be officially launched at the endof February. For further information, keep an eyeon the Kick4Life website: www.kick4life.org

PSI “Pusha love” campaignpromises easy tips to stayhealthy and achieve successAfter nine-months in the making, Pusha Love hasarrived! A movement that celebrates healthyliving as a means to achieving individual dreams,Pusha Love promises to change the way each ofus thinks about our health, life, relationships, andwhat it means to love oneself and others.

One unique feature of Pusha Love is its use ofreal people to communicate how health andhealthy choices are linked to our futuresuccesses as individuals and a community. “Wedecided to feature real people who are workingeveryday to fulfil the ideals of the Pusha Lovemovement,” explains Pusha Love spokesperson,Manthati Phomane.

“These people have real stories about thechallenges most us of face when we’re trying toimprove our lives. How each of them is working toovercome these challenges and stay on-track toachieve success is really inspiring,” Ms.Phomane continues.

Through these stories, Pusha Love invites everyMosotho to join the conversation about theirdreams, what they are doing today to achievethose dreams, and how we as a community canbetter support each other to stay healthy. In itsfirst phase, Pusha Love will feature the stories offour Ambassadors: Kamohelo, a young man withaspirations of becoming a soccer star; Limakatso,a married mother of two children who studiespart-time to improve her chances of betteremployment; Manaleli, a young woman whodreams of becoming a teacher; and, Lehlohonolo,a married teacher with one child who’s working tostart up his own business. “What will surprisemany people is that these Pusha LoveAmbassadors are not paid for sharing theirstories and voices. These are real people whoare so invested in the movement that they’resharing their stories only because they want tomake a difference,” adds Ms. Phomane.

Everything about Pusha Love promises to bedifferent. “People are tired of health campaignsthat tell them what to do without even askingwhat they want. Instead of following that path, wewant to give people options and introduce fresh,new ways of communicating about health,” saysItumeleng Mafa, another member of Pusha Love.“Just look at how we launched this movement—not with speeches but with unexpected, highenergy events. We had chalk art drawings withthe Pusha Love logo, living statues showing up inunexpected places, and dance mobs appearingfrom nowhere to get us moving. People havealready taken notice and know that Pusha Love isoffering something different.”

Pusha Love will be active at many levels. Themass media program, which features theAmbassadors, includes a radio magazineprogram called Pusha Love Blomas, which will airevery Tuesday and Thursday starting at 7:00pmon PCFM. Listeners can tune-in to hear thestories behind each Ambassador and add theirvoice to the conversation. Pusha Love alsoproduces the S’moko Feela radio drama, whichlaunched back in late 2012 and will rebroadcastand continue starting in February 2013. And overthe coming months, Pusha Love will establishYouth Clubs to connect young people with themovement, engage communities and individualsin the conversation, and work with corporateclients to promote healthy options for theiremployees.www.facebook.com/pushaloveblomas

Zimbabwe National YouthGames Conference (ZNYGC)2013 Call Papers

The Department of Sports Science andCoaching (National University of Science andTechnology, Zimbabwe) in conjunction with theSports and Recreation Commission (Zimbabwe),The Zimbabwe Association for Health, PhysicalEducation, Recreation and Dance (ZAHPERD)are honoured to host the third annual ZimbabweNational Youth Games Scientific Conference.The aim of the conference is to explore anddebate the role of research in sport in Zimbabweand Chart the way forward in TalentIdentification and Development.

The scientific conference will be held inBulawayo, Zimbabwe, from the 16th to the 17thof August 2013.

The conference theme is “IMPROVINGSPORTS THROUGH SCIENCE.”The sub themes for the conference are:

i. Doping,ii. Zimbabwean Traditional

Games,iii. Sports Management,iv. Olympism,v. Gender and Sport,vi. Paralympic Sports,vii. Talent identification and

developmentviii. HIV/AIDS and Sport

The Organizing Committee welcomes thesubmission of abstracts that meet the generalcriteria of significance and academic excellence.Electronic submission of abstracts is stronglyencouraged.

The abstract must be accompanied by a Titlepage. The Title of the paper should be a briefphrase describing the contents of the paper andshould not exceed 20 words. The Title Pageshould also include the authors' full names andaffiliations, the name of the corresponding authoralong with phone, fax and E-mail information.

Present addresses of authors should also appear.The Abstract should be informative and completelyself-explanatory, briefly present the topic, state thescope of the research/presentation, indicatesignificant data, and point out major findings andconclusions. The Abstract should be at most 300words in length.

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Authors are requested to submitABSTRACTS ONLY IN ENGLISH.

The name of the presenting author mustappear first in the list of authors.

Each Presenting Author/First Author can onlysubmit a maximum of THREE abstracts.

Abstracts are limited to 300 words andabstracts with more than 300 words will haveto be resubmitted. Once your abstract isreceived (deadline: 28th of February 2013),the Conference Secretariat will notify thepresenting author that it has beenreceived.

All abstracts will be forwarded by the Secretariat tothe Scientific Committee and will be independentlyreviewed. Authors may specify their preference foran oral or poster presentation, but the ScientificCommittee reserves the right to designate thepresentation format (oral or poster) if necessary.The final acceptance decision is the exclusive right ofthe Scientific Committee. Accepted abstracts will beincluded in the book of abstracts and authors will berequested to prepare full papers for submission bythe 1st of May 2012. The full papers will be publishedin special journal issue.

Presenting authors will be informed before the 30th

March 2012 about the acceptance or rejection oftheir abstract(s) and the designated type ofpresentation format. A decision by the author towithdraw the abstract(s) from consideration or not topresent within the designated format should becommunicated to the Conference Secretariat as soonas possible. The registration fee for the conference is$100-00 (for foreign delegates) and $80-00 (forZimbabweans) $60.00 for student delegates (proof ofregistration required). The fee covers refreshmentsand conference material.

E-mail Abstracts to znygconference@gmail.com andcopied to bkhumalo46@gmail.com,makonip@gmail.com and khanyile.d@gmail.com by28th February 2013.

NOTE:

Travel and accommodation expenses are notthe responsibility of the conferenceorganizers, and reservations foraccommodation are the responsibility of thedelegates.

The organising committee shall however go

OPINION PIECE

DEC/ JAN 2013 ISSUE 7

Women and girls withdisabilities speak out for theirrightsBy Pascalina Letsau

Women and girls with disabilities in Africa areconcerned about how they access education.Lesotho is not an exception to this concern.

In a meeting held at LNAPD headquarters onthe 15th January, women with physicaldisabilities indicated that they face doublediscrimination due to their disability and gender.Women with disabilities are not respected on thestreets of Lesotho. Despite their disability, theyare still harassed by men and there severalcases of rape involving women and girls withdisabilities.

It is high time that we speak out about our rightsand say; ‘Enough is enough – it’s time to stoprape against women and girls with disabilities.’

Normally we try to work with other women’sorganizations and try to mainstream our issueswith that of non-disabled women. We have donethis to make people understand that people withdisabilities form part of the general communityand our issues cannot be isolated as “disability”issues. This means; like other children, girls withdisabilities have the right to education, to livefreely in the community, to play; to protectionunder law and much more.

In the rural areas of Lesotho many girls withdisabilities are not enrolled in school. Why? Weare still seeking an answer to that, but we canassume that key factors might includeinaccessible school infrastructure and the beliefthat education would be wasted on someonewith little potential.

It is widely believed that educating girls will bringwealth to a country – but what about girls withdisabilities?

We as women with disabilities call on theGovernment of Lesotho to invest more oneducating girls and women with disabilities. Weare forced to spend our lives in the villages andtowns looking after other people’s families withno hope for the future. It is here that we are alsoat risk of rape and abuse because people takeadvantage of the fact that we cannot physicallydefend ourselves.

However we will be defenseless no more and Icall on my fellow sisters with disability to speakup for our rights to be educated and free fromfear of rape. It is only then we can access ourright to reach our full potential.

We implore the government to protect womenand girls with disabilities by domesticating theUN convention on the rights of people withdisabilities as this will help by enacting laws tosafeguard the rights of women with disability inour country.

Ms Letsau recently attended Disabled Women inAfrica workshop in Malawi on Lobbying anddomestication of UN Convention on the rights ofpeople with disabilities (UNCRPD) targetingeducation and training to girls and women withdisabilities

DEC/ JAN 2013 ISSUE 7

‘Malecheko Lecheko entertaining at the 3rd Day Dec, - singing

Photographs from International Day of Personswith Disability are now available for viewing anddownload on the LNFOD website at:www.lnfod.org.ls

International Day of Persons withDisability 2012 photo gallery

MONTH DAY YEARIN THE SPOTLIGHTDEC/ JAN 2013 ISSUE 7

Nteboheng Kele, 30 years old.

What is your disability and what caused yourdisability?

I am a girl with physical disability (Spinal CordInjury). I got car accident when I was years old.

How disability does affect you?

Actually I can’t say I am happy with my disabilitybut I can say I have accepted it, althoughsometimes I feel very bad about my disability.This happens when I can’t get what I needbecause of my disability.

What do you think about education to girlswith disability just like you?

I am a girl with physical disability and use awheelchair to move, it’s difficult for people like meto earn a living because we are restricted by somany barriers.

For instance I am in a wheelchair and illiterate soit’s hard for me to find a source of income as I donot have the physical ability to perform domesticwork (washing clothes and baby setting) and Idon’t have the education or skills for an office job.Having an education would open a lot of doors forsomeone like me.

What is your opinion about education for girlsand women with disabilities in relation toUNCRPD and Millennium Challenge Goals?

My opinion on education is that, I wish thegovernment would make the domestication of theUN Convention on the Rights of People withDisabilities a priority because our situation issevere e.g. most of us are not doing anything, onlystaying with our families due to lack of education.We are vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse whilstour family members are out at work.

I was a student at IEMS, I had to use library for myassignments but unfortunately I couldn’t becausethe library was not wheelchair accessible. Theentrance was narrow and had steps. It is forreasons like these that many of us becomediscouraged and do not complete our education.

Do you have more comments on education towomen and girls with disabilities?

Women and girls with disabilities are doubling-updiscrimination due to their disabilities and being awoman, so it is my wish that they could haveopportunities to access education and training sothat they would not be victims of rape and poverty.We can do more for our lives not depending onsomeone. People should know that they don’thave to look at our disabilities but our capabilities.