Alumni from Lesotho and South Africa impact communities with Australian alumni small grant projects

Alumni from Lesotho and South Africa recently completed community-based development projects funded by the Australian High Commission in Pretoria’s alumni grants. The Australian Alumni Association of Lesotho (AAAL) constructed two long pathways and 16 ramps at the Seleso Inclusive Primary School for learners with physical disability in Maseru while a South African alum, Wendy Linganiso, started to impact the spreading and cure of Tuberculosis (TB) cases in the Winnie Madikizela Mandela local municipality.

The Australian Alumni Association of Lesotho (AAAL) Project

This project addressed the inaccessibility at the Seleso Inclusive Primary School for learners with physical disabilities and allowed them to fully participate in all school activities. The main challenge experience by the learners is to feely move around the school premises with their wheelchairs, crutches, walking frames or callipers. In the past some children eventually dropped out of school because their assistive devices were damaged by improper pathways and the lack of ramps to access the school venues and facilities such as classrooms, bathrooms, on the playground and between the residential units and the school premise.

Seleso Primary School is one of eight schools that the Ministry of Education and Training of Lesotho selected to implement inclusive education and mainstream learners with special needs as part of the Ministry’s Inclusive Education Policy of 2018. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Training attended the official inauguration on 13 September 2024 to witness the new disability friendly teaching environment.

The Australian High Commissioner to Lesotho, H.E. Tegan Brink, visited the school on 3 October 2024 and commented: “It was great to see in person the positive impact of the accessibility improvements at the school for students and teachers.”

According to the Chairperson of AAAL, Malehloenya Nkhasi, the project also aims to go beyond the physical ramps by increasing the enrolment and the participation of learners in all school activities by retaining the learners at the school and by strengthening the collaboration between the school and parents.

Wendy Linganiso’s project in South Africa

Alumna, Wendy Linganiso’s project, Finding missing Tuberculosis (TB) cases seeks to reduce TB cases and alleviate TB as a disease at Winnie Madikizela Mandela local municipality in Queenstown by finding missing and new TB cases in communities with the help of fieldworkers from participating communities. On this project Wendy’s Southerncare Adherence Foundation collaborated with the Australian High Commission South Africa to curb the spread of TB by making sure that households are screened, tested, and receive treatment when testing positive.

With the help of the grant, Wendy organised the construction of a temporary four-room office and the purchase and setup of medical equipment such as medical beds and trolleys, blood pressure monitors, steel cabinets and office equipment. With the news facilities the project team screened 924 patients in one year from 2023 to 2024. This could only be achieved with close monitoring of patients on treatment through special efforts to visit the most difficult places to reach. Where the patient finds it difficult to collect their medicine, the project staff ensure that patients’ treatments are not interrupted to improve the cure rate.

Educating communities about TB symptoms and the appropriate steps to take also play a vital role in Southerncare’s goal to improve the Tuberculosis cure rate in communities. Wendy hopes to expand the service soon in collaboration with the municipality.