Reaching the old and disabled

Despite being severely disabled, Goodman Vilakazi of Orange Farm has set up a literacy project to help the old and disabled in his community, and part of their syllabus is to about HIV/AIDS.

Vilakazi suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a genetic disorder characterized by bones that break easily, often from little or no apparent cause. Severely stunted with twisted limbs, he is confined to a wheelchair, yet somehow he has managed to raise funds and involve himself in community work.

?“What we are doing is adult literacy and we are teaching our learners about HIV and AIDS because that?’s very important,?” says Vilakazi of his Siyophumelela Simunye (isiZulu for ?“together we will succeed?”) project.

?“Why we have decided to do this is because when I was doing my research I discovered that people with disabilities and the aged, most of the time, they don?’t know about HIV and AIDS,?” says Vilakazi.

?“And so, those people at the end of the day are suffering because their children, some of them, are affected by HIV and AIDS and they don?’t know how to treat them.?”

Included in the syllabus of the 144 learners are the basics of HIV and AIDS transmission and how they can protect themselves from HIV infection.

?“Because they are our grannies and our parents, it is difficult to tell them about sexual intercourse. But we have tried to teach them in a way that they can understand and they will accept,?” says Vilakazi.

The students are taught from three containers donated by Alexander Forbes in Drieziek 4, near Orange Farm?’s Extension 2. Tuition for free.

One of the students is Ariel Ramone, aged 78 years old. He came to the school primarily to learn to write.

?“The problem is when I go to town, to shops or banks, I can?’t write my name,?” says Ramone. ?“I also can?’t sign. Now, we are taught how to hold a pen. We are taught to say what we want, not to send someone to do it for us. My mind was empty. I grew up herding cattle far away from a school. I grew up in the Free State and Lesotho.?”

For Ramone, learning about HIV/AIDS was very important because the disease has touched his family directly.

?“Some time ago my grandson, he was already grown and of marriageable age, had AIDS. He eventually died,?” says Ramone. ?“He hid it from us. When his mother noticed, she encouraged him to go to a doctor. The doctor told him he had AIDS. It had already finished him up.

?“Time was not on his side. It was after a long time then. He should have sought medical help earlier on. It had finished him up.?”

Ramone says he has learnt about the symptoms of HIV and AIDS. ?“When someone is ill, you?’ve got to be aware what their sickness is. If it?’s this big disease (AIDS) you will notice that they will lose weight, they develop shingles on the neck, they no longer eat well, they have diarrhoea,?” he says.

?“If someone has those symptoms they need to rush to a doctor to find out what the problem is. It might not be AIDS, but some other disease with similar symptoms. The doctor will then advise what food they need to eat, what lifestyle they should adopt to counter the disease from spreading."

Vilakazi is passionate about education. When he first arrived in the area 10 years ago, there were no schools, so he started to negotiate with the Department of Education to build school a primary school for young children in our area.

?“Our children, parents, grandmothers were knocked by cars when crossing from this side of Drieziek 4 to the side of Orange farm Extension 2 and 8 because it?’s we were getting transport to different places. Many children, because there was no school this side, were knocked by cars. Some are today crippled and some are dead,?” says Vilakazi.

But then he was challenged by two disabled men.

?“They said to me ?‘it seems you don?’t know yourself. Why are you busy with these able-bodied people because they can run, they can do their things? We people with disabilities don?’t have nothing. Can?’t you get something for us? So I started this project after I finished with the able-bodied thing. And I?’ve started with the disabled and the aged.?”

Vilakazi?’s next plan is to organise transport for people with disabilities from other extensions to the school and to start a school for children with disabilities.