Raising a child with a medical condition comes with a lot of challenges, imagine how challenging it could be for a teenage mother. After going through depression and hiding her son from the public because of his medical condition, Lebohang Leuta realised that parents go through the most, that’s when she founded Atlehang Foundation.
Named after her son ‘Atlehang’, this is an organisation that supports parents raising children with different medical conditions. It is indeed safe to say Leuta is a hero, not only to her son but to those who are meant to benefit from this initiative.
“It has been quite a difficult journey for me and my family, It all started when Atlehang was a 1 year and a couple of months old, and he was diagnosed with a condition called, Neurofibromatosis, at that point I did not even understand what it is or how to even pronounce it, I was a teenage mom, I got depressed, ended up isolating my child to a point where my parents had to take over,” said Leuta.
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Neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder of the nervous system. It mainly affects how nerve cells form and grow and causes tumors to grow on nerves.
“I had to accept my situation, I needed to be strong, also, I had a supportive structure and based on my experiences as a parent, I thought why not bring a positive change to somebody else’s life, that’s when I decided to establish Atlehang Foundation,” said Leuta.
On Saturday, November 2, she launched an event, where she invited parents who are raising children with medical conditions and with different medical conditions, as well as speakers, who spoke about different medical conditions and the challenges they come with. The event was launched at the Pimville Community Centre (PCC).
“The aim is to grow Atlehang Foundation to an extend that the community of Pimville as well as the whole of Soweto know that there is help out there, there is someone they can speak to whenever they are going through challenges of parenting children with medical conditions,” Leuta said.
Leuta says that her goal is to have a facility that can accommodate those parents and children.
“In that particular facility I would like to have Psychologists that will be counseling both parents and children,” she said.
“If there is anyone going through challenges of raising a child with a medical condition, or needs any information about the organisation, you are free to follow our Facebook page, ‘Atlehang Foundation’,” she concluded.
