Our Link with YAP in Lesotho
Report by Taff Bowles March 2002
Lots about Lesotho
“Are there many disabled people in Lesotho?” I asked Taba Seng. “Yes” she replied ” there are very many, but most are kept hidden in their homes by their families. Their parents are usually embarrassed and ashamed of them, and they are seldom allowed to join in with the rest of society – they are kept isolated and excluded.”
I was perhaps not particularly surprised by her reply, as that would seem to be the norm in many developing countries. However, it emphasised the exceptional importance of the work that Y.A.P. (the Youth Activities Project) is doing in Lesotho. The Project was set up by the Durham – Lesotho Link, an organisation promoting the partnership of the 2 Anglican diocese for the mutual benefit of both communities in 1994. YAP uses outdoor education as a means of reaching a wide range of disadvantaged and disabled people in Lesotho – helping to restore within them much needed self confidence and hope for the future.
Rob Bianchi, one of the founders of the Project as well as a Trustee of the Kepplewray Trust, had asked if I could join a team of volunteers to visit Lesotho in March 2002, with the aim of providing further training and encouragement to the local staff based in Maseru, the capital city. As Programme Manager of the Kepplewray Centre – a residential outdoor centre in the Lake District that positively promotes the inclusion and integration of disabled and disadvantaged people – I hoped to be able to share some of the ideas and experiences I have learned from Kepplewray’s own recent development.
The YAP staff were all keen to explore together new ways of including disabled people in outdoor pursuits – from the adaptation of canoe seats or paddles, to the provision of wheelchair accessible orienteering courses. It was particularly interesting to discuss how best to include disabled people in teambuilding games and activities. The Project shortly hopes to start work on the construction of a new purpose-built centre on the shores of a nearby lake, and the team are adamant that both the centre buildings and the activity programmes should allow full disabled access and involvement. It sounded like Kepplewray all over again!!
However, the YAP staff have already built up considerable experience and expertise over the past few years. We watched with admiration as their enthusiastic team of instructors comfortably adapted their style of approach to cater for a wide variety of local groups and organisations, including young offenders, prostitutes, those with learning disabilities, and homeless street children. The instructors responded to each group with amazing care and sensitivity, keen to ensure that every individual succeeded in some way and was made to feel really special.
Two of the instructors, Martin and Max, are particularly keen to provide wider opportunities for disabled people in Lesotho. In addition to their YAP responsibilities, they have volunteered to manage the national Special Olympics team. Whilst they already have some experience of working alongside disabled people, both are eager to widen their knowledge and areas of expertise. As a consequence, Max is planning to spend several months at Kepplewray over the forthcoming summer, gaining experience as an instructor. Hopefully he will also get a chance to visit other centres and meet other people who are promoting access and opportunity for disabled people in sports and outdoor recreation. It will be great to welcome him to the UK and to benefit also from his experiences.
I guess that I was somewhat surprised initially to hear that Lesotho – one of the poorest countries in the world – was home to a new Christian project teaching outdoor pursuits (…outdoor activities were, I thought, traditionally linked with affluent nations, and those able to afford leisure time). I was further amazed to hear that this new project was keen to welcome and include disabled people – a concept that, after all, is still fairly new in the west!! It was wonderful and humbling therefore to watch as homeless street children shrieked with joy and glowed with pride on reaching the top of a climb.. and young people with learning disabilities hugged and clapped each other on the back with a real sense of joy and satisfaction as they successfully completed a teambuilding exercise. Clearly outdoor education can be an effective and exciting medium for personal growth and development anywhere the world…and I personally feel privileged and richer for having witnessed its impact on peoples’ lives in Lesotho.
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