Central SA
I Stutter Foundation eager to change lives─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 11:57 Thu, 20 Oct 2022
The founder of the I Stutter Foundation, Tumi Modibedi, started his journey of becoming an ambassador for people with speech disorders after dropping out of university for being laughed at by fellow students who did not understand his situation.
Last year, he spent five days on a 200km walk from Bloemfontein to Kroonstad to raise awareness about issues of speech disorders. As part of celebrating International Stuttering Awareness Week this year, Modibedi says the foundation has decided to spend two weeks at Mangaung schools with children suffering from speech impediments.
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“We are in Mangaung in Bloemfontein where we're going to be meeting plus minus 440 kids. We have received lists from all schools in the locations of Bloemfontein (Mangaung) and the list itself has 421 names on it. However, at every school that we have been to, there are always extra learners joining as most of the stuttering learners do not really say much in class,” he adds.
Modibedi says that it has been difficult for teachers to identify learners with speech disorders because some of these learners do not communicate much. They don’t even make friends because they don’t want to be laughed at.
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On Saturday 22 October 2022 they will be walking on the N1 between Ventersburg and Kroonstad too, as it will be International Stuttering Day. He concludes that during this walk they will also be making people aware of issues of speech disorders.
