07 Sep 2014

The wheelchair was a turning point in his life, as it boosted his self-esteem and gave him the courage which resulted in him excelling academically.  

The self-motivated Mr Thuso Rasetapa who grew up in Shashe Mooke in the Tonota Sub-district never doubted his capabilities after securing the two-wheel chair despite living with disabilities.  

Mr Rasetapa said while growing up, he could tell that he was different from other children, as he was the only child in the neighbourhood who supported himself by his limbs and crawled in order to move from one point to another.

The glaring difference in his physical appearance between him and his peers was too apparent to ignore.  He even felt more alienated when people stared at him and commented on his condition.

The 44-year-old Mr  Rasetapa is more grateful to his supportive family, comprising his mother, father and nine siblings. 

He feels very fortunate to have a strong and compassionate family that stood by him through thick and thin.He said his disability was discovered in 1972 when he was only two years old.

“I am told my condition is a result of polio that attacked me when I was two years old and it left my lower parts of the body dysfunctional,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He said as he grew up, he accepted his condition and lived with it including the challenges he encountered in his everyday life. 

It was in 1979, when he was nine years old that he got a chance to enroll for primary education at Camphill School for disabled in Otse.

However, in 1983 he was forced to drop out of school because the distance he travelled from Shashe to Otse was just too much, and for him that was a drawback.

“When I was at school, I was given some calipers, a pair of shoes that enabled me to stand and walk on my own; there was a great improvement, as I no longer crawled. But, when I dropped, I never got a chance to have those shoes again and it meant I had to crawl again,” he said.

Mr Rasetapa said at one point, he felt desperate and useless, until he met one gentleman by the name of Ndlovu who was on transit to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The man gave Rasetapa a reason to view his condition from a positive perspective. 

He took him to a Red Cross Centre in Francistown where he was given a wheel chair which changed his life for the better.

“I was sent back to school, this boosted my esteem and my performance in class.

I no longer had doubts about my capabilities anymore, I excelled academically,” he said.

In 1987, Rasetapa managed to pass his Primary School Leaving Examination with flying colours and he went for his junior secondary school at Tonota. 

Later on, he proceeded to Shashe River School for his senior secondary education. He refused to be exempted from the Tirelo Setshaba programme and served his term as a teacher at Tati Siding Primary School and more over he refused to stay with his relatives because he wanted to live his own life without being dependent on other people.

Upon completion of Tirelo Setshaba in 1996, he worked for a period of four years as a temporary teacher at the Centre for the Deaf in Francistown.

In 2000, he went for further training in Diploma in Primary Education at Tlokweng College of Education. After a few years in the field, he went again for a Degree programme in Primary Education at the University of Botswana. The strong-minded Rasetapa believes nothing can stop him from achieving his goals, adding that in December 1995, he was invited as a guest speaker at the commemoration of National Disability Day.

He has also proved his abilities in sport because in 2000, he was selected to represent Botswana on the benchmarking of the Sydney 2000 Paralympics sports that were held in Australia.

Still in the same year, he became the founding President of Paralympics Association of Botswana, the post he held until 2009 when he had to step down due to study commitments.

In a confident self-assured way, the Gaborone United diehard supporter said he always dreamt of having good academic credentials and working just like any ‘normal’ human being. 

So far, he has achieved his dreams despite the challenges he encountered. Mr Rasetapa, who is the father of three said the society should not underestimate people living with disabilities and should not take them for granted.

He said people living with disabilities have the potential and they can do better than those considered to be ‘normal’.  He said the best assistance they need as people living with disabilities is encouragement. Ends