A first-year social work student at the University of Fort Hare, who was diagnosed with neuromylitis optica in 2014 was given a brand new motorised wheelchair from Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle on Friday.
Siyamthanda Soldaat, 23, fought back tears when Masualle gave her the wheelchair at a youth funding, training, opportunities and programmes breakfast with Daily Dispatch editor Sibusiso Ngalwa at the Buffalo Park Cricket Stadium.
Speaking to the Dispatch, Soldaat, said the wheelchair would give her a newfound independence.
“I had the challenge of not being able to get to campus on my own. I had to rely on students in some situations,” she said.
“There is only one student at res who is studying for the same course, so if she did not go to class I’d also end up not going because I would have no one to push me.
“It was also a huge struggle to do my grocery shopping and having to wait for other people to help me.
“This new wheelchair will help me to do a lot of things I struggled to do on my own.”
It was in 2014 when her condition, which affects the optic nerves and spinal cord, left Soldaat wheelchair-bound.
“I started to have headaches which persisted for a long time. I would wake up not feeling my legs and it was getting worse.
“I visited a number of doctors but they did not know what was wrong with me.
“I was in grade 11 at the time and I ended up leaving school,” she said.
Doctors discovered what the problem was in 2014.
She was taken to rehab in 2015 for medical treatment and finished matric in 2017 at Vukuhambe Special School in Mdantsane.
Her determination and perseverance earned her a bursary from Masualle’s office after she was identified as one of the top 2017 matric achievers “I really wanted to do a degree in psychology but I felt it would limit me as I would only deal with the mental processes of people and not specific factors that contribute to their lives.
“I want to be involved in helping the community, especially helping in changing children’s lives.”
Soldaat said her new wheelchair was a vast improvement on her old manual one.
“It was worn out. Sometimes the wheels would pop out and it was very dangerous.”..