Volume 51 Issue 11 - November 2013 : Feature

Because he is at peace with his disability, nothing seems impossible. His capability overshadows incapacity.

Trapped in a wheelchair, the dark skinned man clad in a pair of a red work suit trouser and a brown top is done with cleaning the body of a white taxi that looks like it has been polished with a whitening solution as it reflects sun rays.           

Without aid, in less than a minute, the man manually drives his wheelchair to the front passenger door, immediately gets inside and starts dusting and cleaning. For seven years, 39-year old Moilakgotla Senyega has been washing cars daily and today he does it with ease like any other able bodied individual.

“…ke ipha botlhale, gore ke tlhatswa jang ga ke itse gore tota ke a bo ke dirile jang mme fela phelelong tiro ke a bo ke e dirile,” explains Senyega who has no time to idle and chats to Kutlwano team without pressing a pause button on his work schedule.

As life would dictate in the face of his disability, Senyega had to learn to be independent.  “Go nna le bogole ga se bokhutlo jwa lefatshe ebile ga se phelelo ya botshelo, o ka itshedisa fela jaaka o bona ke dira,” simply meaning that disability is neither the end of the world nor life, it`s all about acquiring survival skills.

Reversing Senyega`s tape of life to his yester years, in the village of Gweta an able bodied boy was born, bringing a bundle of joy to a family that has been patiently expecting. Infancy stage passed without any hurdles.

Later, the little boy started schooling and like most children he had a dream of becoming a police officer, teacher or a soldier as these career choices topped the list during those years. His hope was crashed after an illness that left his feet paralysed, resulting in him dropping out of school at standard five.

After years of idling, that is when the good-humoured father of four enrolled with Lobatse Vocational Training Center in 1996. For 12 months he was thoroughly drilled in sewing. Like any graduate, he had hope that one day he would secure a job. Once again, his hopes were dashed because the already saturated job market did not absorb him.

By then, the world seemed to reject him but Senyega remained positive and started a car wash in 2006 at Woodhall location in Lobatse. Because naming is critical in business, he branded his with a functional and descriptive name -Fast Car Wash. This is what he repeatedly does - washing cars fast, and excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

At that point, all Senyega needed was a tall shady tree, a bucket, water, mutton cloth and detergents to set his business in motion. Senyega washes any type of car ranging from taxis to school buses and explains that prices range between P20 and P40 depending on the type of car.

“Gantsi ke tlhatswa di school bus mme tsone ke di tlhatswa gararo mo bekeng beng ba tsone ba ntuela ka kgwedi. Ke tsena moteng ke cleaner, ke bo ke tlhatswa ko ntle ke ntse mo wheelchair ke ntse ke ikgoletsa,” he says as he rushes to get clean water to wash another taxi that has just pulled off the road.  

Unlike majority of people living with disabilities, Senyega does not get any handouts from government. He supports his two boys and girls aged between 13 and four years who stay with his parents back home. The father who has parted ways with the mother of her kids stays by himself in his rented house and performs all the household chores.  He, however, laments that his business yields little and this hinders him from buying equipment to run a fully-fledged car wash.

Mothibenyane Mosetlho is one of Senyega`s regular customers. “…o a tlhatswa, ga ke ngongoregele sepe. Le ha o bona a tsamaya ka wheelchair jaana, o bofefo.” He describes Maila, as he is affectionately referred to by his clientele, as a humble man. Mosetlho says he often refers friends to Senyega`s car wash because he never disappoints.

As we leave, Senyega`s customers keep teasing him about the name Maila which they say he earned for rarely going to his village despite being offered free rides. However, Senyega remains adamant that Maila is an abbreviation for Moilakgotla. Ends

Buy Online Now!