Her greatest sin was cancelling a letter in a spelling exercise. This infuriated her teacher- who flew into a frenzy and started "beating sense" into little Thato's head with a belt buckle. A few days later the standard 7 pupil was admitted to Princess Marina Hospital in a critical condition."She had headaches and dizzy spells at the time and was hospitalised there for a week," the student's mother, Mmapula Basimanyana said. That was the beginning of the nightmare that would become Thato's life. About a year after her hospitalisation, just when her family thought the dark hour had passed she started showing signs of mental instability and was ultimately admitted at Lobatse Mental Hospital. To their horror the family realised upon her release that their little girl's hearing was also affected.
Thato is now a teenager who needs special care and often feels vulnerable. Her family finds itself in a pitiful dilemma: While it is difficult to talk to her on a low tone because of her hearing impairment, she hates loud noises and recoils when that happens.The social welfare services in Moshupa previously provided Thato with hearing aids, but someone stole them and the family has no money to buy another set. Now Thato is about to start Form Four at Seepapitso Senior Secondary School and she is worried she will not be able to hear. It was because she had hearing aids that she was able to listen in class and pass Form Three.
