News Updates

Third Quarter 2025

This quarter we welcome the second placement of soldiers from the Lesotho Defence Force at Abia High School workshop. The placement gives an ideal opportunity to capacity build the soldiers through training and work experience. In return POP receives staff and children with disabilities benefit from increased contact with knowledgeable staff. The placement is entitled, “Introduction to Children with Disabilities and Assistive Technology” and covers physiotherapy with children with disabilities, with regular exercise classes being led by the soldiers at Saint Angela physiotherapy room for children at Ha Seleso primary. At Abia workshop the soldiers receive training in making APT and repairing and maintaining wheelchairs, the latest recruits are pictured below along with the Abia workshop technician.

The outreach program has been noticeably enhanced this quarter with the purchase of a Toyota Hillux Raider as the mobile CP Center. Its substantial ground clearance, large canopy and roof rack mean it is ideal for reaching children and their families in the more remote areas of the Highlands and taking out the assistive technology they desperately need. Pictured below is the Raider in the Highlands taking out APT chairs and wheelchairs for children to be able to sit up and attend a mission special needs club. The large boot capacity allowed for the delivery of a wheelchair and six APT chairs for three children so they each had one to use at the mission and one to use at home to partake in family life and activities of daily living.

POP Lesotho has the only APT workshop in Lesotho, and the production of APT devices are a vital asset for many children unable to sit up without postural support. Pictured below are a typical finding on an outreach visit of an 8-year-old girl who has only been able to sit up using a washing bowl for the past 8 years. The picture shows her using her APT chair.

Five more wheelchairs and various parts were purchased from CE Mobility in South Africa this quarter making a total of 80 wheelchairs purchased by POP since 2022. The purchase, maintenance and recycling of wheelchairs at Abia workshop is a crucial resource for increasing children’s mobility, independence and access to schools. WHO guidelines are very clear that wheelchairs should be purchased and maintained as locally as possible which is what POP achieves by purchasing wheelchairs and parts in South Africa and repairing and maintaining them at its workshop in Abia High school Maseru.

The building of the second POP workshop, the assistive technology center (ATC) at the technical college in Hlotse, will help sustain the supply assistive devices by scaling up production, supporting delivery of devices directly to children in Leribe district, capacity building local technical staff and increasing the supply of assistive technology in Lesotho. Building work has continued a pace, this quarter and it is expected the ATC will be finished at the end of the year.

Pictured below is the architect’s impression of the new ATC along with the progress made on site at the end of September.

Second Quarter 2025

Blessed by the bishop of Leribe, we are very excited to begin building our second Assistive Technology Center (ATC) in collaboration with at the Catholic Comprehensive Community College (CCCC) in Hlotse. Currently all POP assistive technology is made at the workshop at Abia High School, Maseru, and transported to Leribe, but these logistics are not sustainable. Like Abia workshop the ATC will focus on making APT and repairing wheelchairs but will be bigger and more sustainable with the support of staff and students at the CCCC. It will offer a great opportunity to support the children of Leribe with a local skills, staff and resources and to develop future assistive technologies for all of Lesotho’s children with disabilities.

At the end of the quarter POP purchased a new off-road vehicle to start our ambitious outreach program to reach children with disabilities in remote regions of the Highlands. In these areas children have little opportunity to access health resources or assistive technology due to poor infrastructure and lack of resources. We hope this new vehicle and a mobile CP center outreach program will change this and bring training and resources to children and families in these isolated communities.

The abstract “Creating assistive technology in a low resource setting” has now been published in the respected Archives of Disease in Childhood, International Health Group https://adc.bmj.com/content/110/Suppl_1/A29.2 As POP continues to build our data base of children we work with across three districts, and the building of a second workshop in Leribe, an opportunity to develop this abstract and collect more data presents itself. We look towards to developing our data base for internal and external use and to be able to use this data to inform future research and the policies of other stakeholders.

Architect’s impression of what the finished ATC will look like

New vehicle for the mobile CP Center and Highland Outreach Program.

First Quarter 2025

The first quarter of 2025 has been a busy and exciting one for POP with new staff, collaborations with stakeholders and training to strengthen the project and its work in helping children with disabilities fulfil their potential.

In February two soldiers from the Lesotho Defence Force physiotherapy department joined POP on a 3-month placement based at the workshop at Abia High School. Here they have been learning to do APT, repair and maintain wheelchairs and run regular exercise sessions with the children from Ha Selso primary school. We hope this initiative will continue with further placements from the LDF when the current soldiers finish their present assignment.

A new graduate occupational therapist, started with the project in March and her skills are a great asset to the Outreach Program in Maseru. POP now works with hundreds of children across three districts so being able to appoint skilled staff is a great bonus. To capacity build other stakeholders in February POP ran an APT training course in partnership with the Catholic Comprehensive Community College (CCCC) in Hlotse, Leribe. Staff from the College and Malamulele Onwards took part in the training learning how to make a basic APT chair for a child needing supportive seating. We are now looking to build a second Assistive Technology Center (ATC) in partnership with CCCC to serve the children in Leribe.

In March POP presented its abstract “The Physiotherapy and Outreach Program Lesotho: Creating Assistive Equipment in a Low Resource Setting at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health conference in Glasgow. This is a prestigious paediatric research conference and an opportunity to raise the profile of the APT work POP is doing in Lesotho as well as to monitor and evaluate it. The conference was well attended, and the presentation was made by a fellow physiotherapist who visited POP in September 2023. The RCPCH were so impressed by the presentation they are now looking to see if they can introduce APT to Nigeria.

Now with the building of a second workshop in Leribe an opportunity to develop this abstract and collect more data presents itself. Data and information can be used to show policy makers the need for resources and how to plan long term strategies. Without data these children remain invisible, so the collection and presentation of credible data is very important for raising awareness with government and affecting long term strategies. The poster for the abstract presented in Glasgow is shown here.

November 2024

November began with a kind donation from Beautiful Gate for APT chairs and wheelchairs supplied to two of their children.

The volunteer physiotherapist led two days training on working with children with Cerebral Palsy as part of the physiotherapy training week at Paray mission hospital led by Wolfgang Fasser, a physiotherapist from Switzerland. Wolfgang, also known by his local name of Ntate Thuso, was celebrating 50 years as a physiotherapist and it was wonderful to observe his achievements with a party held in his honour at Paray.

The volunteer physiotherapist made a presentation on Children with Complex Needs as part of the Palliative Care Family Medicine Specialty Training Program (FMSTP) teaching week supported by Dolen Cymru. Attendants were part of an internship program for Lesotho doctors set up by Lesotho Boston Health Alliance (LEboHA)

At the South African Child Health Priorities Association Virtual Conference, Dr Jemma Wright gave a short presentation on her abstract “Physiotherapy and Outreach Program Lesotho: Creating assistive equipment in a low resource setting”. This was well received with lots of positive comments, raising the profile of the APT work POP is doing in Lesotho.

October 2024

In October five more wheelchairs and parts were purchased from CE Mobility in South Africa. This makes a total of 75 wheelchairs purchased by POP for children with disabilities, since 2022, using donations from friends of POP.

Working with the special education officer at the Ministry of Educatio, POP supplied Motsekuoa Primary School students with 5 appropriate WC’s and three fitted desks to assist students with their studies.

September 2024

In September an advisor to the project, Dr Jemma Wright, submitted a research abstract to Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for presentation at their 2025 UK conference, titled “The Physiotherapy and Outreach Program Lesotho: Creating Assistive Equipment in a Low Resource Setting.” This abstract raises the profile of the APT work POP is doing in Lesotho and the opportunity to monitor and evaluate it using independent research.

September 2024

This month saw the opening of the circular pathway at Ha Seleso primary, sponsored by the Australian Alumni Association of Lesotho. As POP built the first pathway at the school in 2023, to give wheelchair access to the girl’s disability toilet, it was wonderful to see this pathway work extended. POP has supplied all twenty children who use a wheelchair at Ha Seleso with an appropriate wheelchair to use. It also repairs and maintains them as part of it program to support inclusive education. It is hoped that the extended pathway will help preserve the wheelchairs in better condition as well as giving the children greater independence to self-propel.

August 2024

August saw POP collect the items of equipment donated by Physio Net UK, via Lesotho Rotary, supported by Vodacom. POP quickly distributed as many of the items as it could to children who would benefit from them. It was fantastic to see the children standing and even walking using this equipment. Pictures below show boys using a Pacer, Jenx stander and a Kaye Walker.

July 2024

Congratulations to Abia APT technology students, equipment donations, and a new build physio storage room at the workshop.

Congratulations to Abia Technology students who were runners up in Lesotho schools’ national technology competition. The students made a simple bench/table at the POP APT workshop and presented it at the competition, extolling the virtues of making a cheap, useful and strong product out of recycled materials.

Also, this month POP was invited by Lesotho Rotary to choose physiotherapy equipment donated by Physio Net UK and imported by Vodacom Lesotho. We were limited by the storage space we have available but fortunately have just built a small 3x3m extension onto the workshop this month which will now be full up with this equipment. Besides adult and children’s crutches, 3 standers were chosen, two special chairs for children with complex seating needs, three posterior walkers and a selection of splints. This small selection of equipment is worth thousands of pounds and invaluable in the support it will give children with disabilities.

May 2024

6 more wheelchairs and parts to support, All-Terrain Wheelchair (ATW) presented at school assembly, Floor handball league cup final.

This month saw the purchase of six more wheelchairs and parts to support children with disabilities accessing education. We would like to thank friends of POP for donations supporting the wheelchair project, Glasswaters Foundation Canada, and CE mobility for a generous discount on an All-Terrain Wheelchair (ATW). The ATW was presented to the boy at school assembly where he demonstrated some tricks to the delight of his fellow students.

May also saw the final of the league cup of floor handball between the Red All Stars and Black United. Congratulation to the Red Stars on their successful campaign and to Black United on a closely fought contest.

Congratulations also to the physiotherapy students who took part in an afternoon of races and events before the winter break. Fierce competition and great fun was had by all.

March 2024

10 new CE Mobility standard wheelchairs brought with supporters donations.

Thank you to our supporters who have raised money and made donations for new wheelchairs. March saw the import of another 10 new wheelchairs, bringing the total to 62 over the last two years, the majority given to students accessing school.

January 2024

APT Standing Frame Workshop

In January the team undertook training in how to make APT standing frames. Supported standing is very important for children with cerebral palsy to strengthen bones, joints and muscles, help prevent hip dislocation, practice standing balance and aid digestion. It is also very beneficial for children to view the world from a standing position.

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