“Please help me publish my book”

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“Please help me publish my book in which I am trying to tell the readers that nothing is impossible as long as one remains focused. I also want to alert readers that disability does not mean inability,” said Khuthadzo Ndou.

The 22-year-old writer from Tshikota, next to Louis Trichardt, was born with a disease called cerebral palsy, which is a neurological disorder that affects the muscles. In her case, it limits her ability to move her lower body and even her arms. It does not, however, affect her brain and she is a very capable and talented artist.

Ndou tells that she was born into a very poor family. Her parents are not formally employed, but her father gets a bit of an income by working as a taxi rank marshal. Her mother is a hairdresser.

She completed her primary education at Tshilidzini Primary School and then went for her secondary school education to the Philadelphia Special School.

Even an act such as writing, which many people do not even think about twice, is a big challenge for Ndou. When still at primary school, she started practising how to type on a computer by using a ballpoint pen that she holds with her lips.

“It was a challenge at first to type using a pen that I held with my lips, but through perseverance, I succeeded,” she says. A three-letter word can take her up to ten seconds to type. A local accounting firm, Collins Sebola Inc, assisted by donating a laptop that she can use.

In 2016, while still at school, Ndou realised that people living with disabilities are bogged down by all the challenges and at times feel as if no way out exists. “That was when I thought of writing my book, Vhutshilo ndi linga lia mona, meaning ‘life is like a wheel and it turns’,” she says.

Ndou completed the nine-chapter book last year and is now waiting for someone to edit it and get it ready for publication.

Currently she has registered with UNISA to study for a certificate in Human Resource Management. “I registered and managed to pay R2 000, but I am still struggling to pay the outstanding balance of R1 300,” she says.

On Sunday (31st) at 14:00 Ndou will be broadcasting live on Facebook. She will be interviewed by Wiseman Israel Elishama. Search for Wiseman's name on Facebook to link to the broadcast.

Ndou can be contacted on 079 228 8452.

By: Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.