Paheja Siririka

WINDHOEK – One of the more than 700 recent graduates from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) says she started looking into ways to change her struggles into her superpowers after being diagnosed with a rare condition while on her quest to get tertiary education.

Born in Lesotho, 28-year-old Nthabeleng Ramoeli who graduated with a Property Studies Diploma had gone through a vigorous and daunting experience to make sure she graduates. She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) in 2012, which is a disease that weakens the connective tissues of the body, which includes things like tendons and ligaments that hold parts of  the body together. EDS can make your joints loose and your skin thin and easily bruised.

“This diagnosis came while I was still in the initial stages of my degree programme and for the few years that followed, the symptoms seemed to progress and I would then find myself having to withdraw from the programme on and off for a couple of years to deal with my health issues,” said Ramoeli.

Speaking to Youth Corner she said it was no surprise that she had missed her opportunity to graduate with her peers in 2014. “So in 2016, after having seen my former peers graduate and move on to the next stages of their lives, I was left in a state of limbo, not entirely sure where to go from there, or if there was even a way forward from here, ” explained Ramoeli.

She moved from a place where she was a victim and grew enough to realise that she was a survivor. She was a survivor that had been through hell and back and still had a long journey ahead and a whole lot more to write in her book of life. She started looking into ways to change her struggles into her superpowers.

In 2018, two years after she felt as if her world had come to a complete stop, she realised one of her biggest dreams. “I was able to launch an NGO called Rare Diseases Lesotho Association (RDLA). The purpose of this initiative was to facilitate people like me, with rare conditions to access adequate health care and support, while also raising awareness on these rare conditions,” she said.

During that year, Ramoeli registered numerous patients with an array of different conditions and very recently managed to facilitate treatment for a few that required special medical procedures that they would not have had access to had they not been a part of the family at RDLA. 

“RDLA has become a very important part of my healing and growth and with that, it has given me a renewed sense of life. And among other reasons, this is why I decided to come back and finish the race. I wanted to not only prove to myself that it is never too late to achieve your goals and just because the timing was a little off doesn’t mean it wasn’t still the best timing possible, ” said Ramoeli.