Mashiane helps the blind master their environment
“SA Guide Dogs Association is an NGO that provides services in Kempton Park, Thembisa and across Gauteng.”
Many think what will I get in return if I help visually impaired people or wonder what the benefits of helping the blind are?
For Nape Mashiane (39), it is all about helping someone to live a better life and achieving their daily goals.
Mashiane is a resident of Thembisa.
He works with visually impaired people to provide them with life-changing skills. According to Elizabeth Louw, head college of orientation and Mobility of SA Guide Dogs Association, people in the community do not know where to turn when a loved one has lost their vision and they need support and skills training.
“We provide our services free of charge to the individual and also provide white canes if they are needed. The Gauteng government does not employ orientation and mobility (O&M) practitioners and they do not provide us with any funding at this point,” said Louw.
“SA Guide Dogs Association is an NGO that provides services in Kempton Park, Thembisa and across Gauteng.
“Don’t let the name fool you, it is not just about dogs. We employ two O&M practitioners who live in Thembisa and provide services across the East Rand,” said Louw.
These practitioners teach the blind how to adapt to their new life without sight. They teach them things like how to identify money, cooking, cleaning, ATM use and orientating themselves inside and outside the home.
“These are all skills you would need to be able to live independently without sight – things we call daily living skills.
“When you see someone walking with a white cane, think about how they know how to tackle daily life. Someone teaches them those skills. O&M practitioners are the only people who are qualified to do this.“
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“They teach blind people how to use the cane and routes that would be needed to get to the shops, the clinic and so forth. They are trained to be able to move around independently so that they do not need someone to lead them around all the time. They get their dignity back.”
People like Nape go above and beyond to help others with compassion and care.
“It would be wonderful if more people could benefit from their services,” said Louw. “It is all about changing the lives of people with visual impairment,” said Nape.
The aim is to make sure people with visual impairment can do things by themselves without relying on others for their daily activities, such as travelling safely and independently, labelling medicine, food preparation and so forth.
“I love helping others and I grew up in a family where I witnessed my late father who helped a lot of people in my community in Thembisa,” said Nape.
“This organisation is very important to me because I’m able to give back to my community through it. “Covid-19 caught us by surprise, but it helped us to do some adaptations to make sure our clients are safe. We are training our clients for free and we rely more on donations from people.
“People with visual impermanent should know and understand that being visually impaired is not the end of the world. There is still life after visual impairment and people like us are there to make sure that we bring their dignity and confidence back,” said Nape.
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