“My mind is not blind”

Rebone was born the second of four children in a rural village called Ga-Matsepe near Groblersdal in the Limpopo Province. Until the age of 16, she lived a fairly normal life, doing the things that teenagers typically do and dreaming of a bright future. Then, her life unexpectedly took a 360 degree turn.

Her vision had deteriorated severely and she was forced to drop out of high school. “I couldn’t manage any longer and the school had no knowledge of how to accommodate a visually impaired learner,” she recalls.

In the hope of putting a name to her condition and to find

professional help, her desperate parents, Sharon and Johannes,

relocated to Alexandra, north of Johannesburg. It was at the

St Johns Hospital where she was diagnosed with a form

of Glaucoma, a disease that damages the eye’s optic nerve.

Rebone was told that there was no turning back.

“It was a very difficult time. I lost a lot of friends.” The go-getter had to make a decision: sink or swim.

She chose the latter and later on returned to school to repeat Grade 8. This time round, she enrolled at institutions that catered for and understood her needs, firstly at the Sibonile School for the Blind, and

thereafter at the Filadelfia Secondary School, where

she completed Grade 12 in 2013. “There I met

people who were born blind. I realised that

I actually still had a lot to be thankful for,”

she says.

When enrolling at TUT’s Department of Primary Education for a Bachelor of Education earlier this year, she received mobility training to be able to find her way around the campus, including her residence. She needs special software, such as JAWS (Job Access With Speech), the world’s most popular screen reader, developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content or navigating with a mouse. JAWS provides speech and Braille output for the most popular computer applications on a PC. She is still to get these important devices to assist her to succeed in her studies.

It’s a daily challenge with ups and downs, but Rebone is coping with the support of friends and staff, such as her guardian angel, Dr Mumthaz Banoobhai, Head of the Department of Primary Education, who looks out for her. Her other role models are Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, Deputy Minister of Social Development, who is also an alumna of TUT, and a former Maths teacher at Filadelfia, Ms Maseko, who is blind, but persevered to become a Maths teacher even though she was discouraged to do so.

Rebone’s long-time goal is to own a school, consisting of mixed learners (abled and disabled). She believes that such integration is vital to create a society where people from different backgrounds and with different abilities can better understand one another.

      “My mind is not blind. I’m able to do anything that

               I wish.”

You’ll have to look really far to find a bigger inspiration than Rebone Mogale (25), the first blind Education student studying at the Soshanguve-North Campus. She shared her story of hope with Heita!

Rebone Mogale (25), the first blind Education student studying at the Soshanguve-North Campus.

"I realised that I actually still had a lot to be thankful for.”

The small-framed artist, specialising in glass, was accepted at the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academie, an international university of applied sciences for Fine Arts and Design. This followed after her protégé and lecturer, Retief van Wyk, submitted a portfolio of her work to the institution.

Liesl will study at the University’s Large Glass Department, which offers a material-based study in the fine-arts and encourages students to experiment and explore the limits of materiality.

“I’m a little nervous, but am looking forward to the opportunity and to see how it will influence my art-making,” she told Heita! shortly before she left. She aims to bring glass art, which is unfortunately still seen as a craft material in some courters, to the arts forefront, also in her Master’s degree studies.

The title of her dissertation is Investigating the possibilities of glass as a sculptural medium through the works of contemporary artists. Her work also focuses on the current conditions and fragility of the environment.

Liesl’s résumé includes an impressive list of solo and group exhibitions in which she participated alongside some well-established artists, such as Diane Victor.

In Amsterdam, it will not be all work and no play. The programme, among others, includes a trip to Documenta 2017 in Kassel, Germany. Documenta is one of the most important art exhibitions in the world and takes place only once every five years. Of course, exploring Europe is also high on Liesl’s agenda.