An angel of mercy for orphans and disabled children
Mary Raletooane’s love for kids helps her take care of those rejected by their own families
NOT everyone has the heart, patience or courage to take care of a physically disabled child.
But Mary Raletooane looks after dozens of them, children who have been cast aside by their own families.
Raletooane is a godsend to the disabled, abused and orphaned children of the Free State, the only mother most of those in her care will ever know.
She is the director of Itekeng Disabled Centre in the cherry capital of South Africa, Ficksburg, which lies in the Eastern Free State close to the Lesotho border.
The centre opened in 1998 and Raletooane has been its director since 2005.
“There wasn’t much here and thanks to donations we now have three buildings,” said Raletooane proudly.
A total of 136 people are enrolled at the centre, which also caters for orphans. Most attend on a daycare basis, but 26 live at the centre full time in dormitories sponsored Japanese embassy.
“We don’t have professional teachers and I’m trying to get some of them into a school. We are trying our level best,” Raletooane said.
A few of the 78 physically handicapped people at the centre are in their 20s or 30s, but the by the government only funds those 18 or younger, said Raletooane.
“After 18, I must see what I can do, that’s where I come up with income-generating projects . . . They do things for themselves. It’s self-empowerment,” she said.
The projects include making uniforms for schools around Ficksburg, building coffins and doing beadwork.
Raletooane and 32 other volunteers try their best to make it a comfortable home for the children, some of whom have suffered horrific abuse.
Among them is a 15-year-old severely intellectually disabled girl who is close to giving birth to a baby conceived when she was raped about eight months ago. The teenager is unable to understand that she is carrying a baby.
“This child comes from Bethlehem,” Raletooane said.
“Her mother is an alcoholic who can’t take care of her. We are going to raise and adopt the baby. The social worker said that the mother must make the decision, but how can she? She can’t even speak.
“Sometimes when the baby is kicking, she slaps the tummy because she doesn’t know. It seems that she wants to ask me what is happening, but we can’t communicate with her,” said Raletooane.
There are several children who come to Itekeng from abusive relatives. “People don’t know how to take care of disabled ROOM FOR MORE: Mary Raletooane, above, of the Itekeng centre in Ficksburg, shows one of the dormitories and the computer lab children, some don’t even want them,” she said.
In September this year, Raletooane won the Sasol Businesswoman of the Year award in the social entrepreneurship category.
She spends her days writing funding proposals as the centre always needs money for food, clothing and blankets.
But Raletooane doesn’t want to solely rely on the goodwill of others. She firmly believes in “helping yourself”, which is the ethos of Itekeng.
“We are building a hall so that we can rent it out for functions and generate income. The hall is not yet completed, we need more money, but I am working on it,” she said.
Her other projects include garden- and river-cleaning programmes which have created employment for more than 600 people. “We get a stipend from the Independent Development Trust of R1 008 per person who works 14 days a month,” she said.
With three children of her own, Raletooane has her hands full but says she always has room for more.
“We get help from the community. They help us to wash the children’s clothes.
“We are depending on the people who come here and give us support. That makes a huge change,” she said.
Shadrac Peterson, a businessman from Ficksburg who nominated Raletooane as a hero, said she was highly regarded in the community.
“I nominated her because of the great work she is doing. She is a good person and hard-working. Not everybody can do the work she is doing. She does a lot to uplift this community. We are very proud of her.”
People don’t know how to take care of disabled children