St Bernadette's Resource Centre for the Blind
St Bernadette's provides primary education for children with visual impairments. The children are taught social skills, orientation and mobility, Braille, self acceptance, self knowledge and self reliance.
There are currently around 50 children from all over Lesotho at St Bernadette's; 27 of them live in hostel accommodation at the Centre. Local parents are encouraged to live here with their children and they are integrated into mainstream primary school.
Sentebale has supported a range of improvements at St. Bernadette's. The school now has a security wall around it after an armed robbery and abduction threatened the safety of the children. They have also been supplied with much needed Braille equipment, talking clocks and footballs with bells inside them to make day to day life easier.
Cooking facilities have been upgraded with a gas cooker and pots and pans, and they now have more blankets for the winter. We worked with a group of volunteers who were led by Architects for Aid's Pedro Clark; they restored the previously dangerous children's football pitch which now has new sides with bells installed.
Sentebale is supporting St Bernadette's with recurring running costs as well as providing access to specialist advice and equipment.
© Sentebale 2011