{"id":5993,"date":"2022-01-24T10:47:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T08:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disabilityconnect.co.za\/?p=5993"},"modified":"2022-01-24T10:47:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T08:47:16","slug":"big-dreams-the-indomitable-spirit-of-caleb-mutombo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/24\/big-dreams-the-indomitable-spirit-of-caleb-mutombo\/","title":{"rendered":"BIG DREAMS: The indomitable spirit of Caleb Mutombo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Caleb Mutombo was 12 years old when he discovered weightlifting. It became an obsession that would dominate the next decade of his life as he started training intensively and eventually competing in body-building competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy brother and I, we were always talking about our bodies and how we wanted to look nice and build our bodies,\u201d said Mutombo, seated on a bed in the bedroom he shares with his sister, her husband and their two children in Steenberg, Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have money for a gym, so we would just lift what we had at the house \u2014 the table, books in our bags, anything. We became obsessed with it.\u201d In the past two years, however, the body-building has taken a back seat as he\u2019s been unable to afford gym fees. However, he\u2019s still in good shape with a visible six-pack and toned biceps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutombo, now 23, does not exactly fit the general stereotype of a bodybuilder. He was born with a number of physical disabilities in his legs, shoulders, arms and hands. A handsome young man with a loud, infectious laugh, his larger-than-life presence belies his physical stature. With a height of around 130cm and a weight of about 40kg, he is used to attracting attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disabilities, however, have never held him back. One of the first things he did when he moved to Cape Town from Johannesburg\u2019s East Rand two years ago was to learn to swim, and shortly after that he learned to surf. He was able to stand upright on the surfboard on his second attempt, he said proudly. \u201cI didn\u2019t choose my circumstances. So I don\u2019t really dwell on the fact that \u2018this is not working, or that is not working\u2019. Or I have been dealt that kind of hand. I sort of just brush it off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutombo and his older brother, Kalala, were both born with sickle-cell anaemia<\/a> \u2014 an inherited red blood cell disorder \u2014 which means he doesn\u2019t have enough healthy red blood cells to move oxygen through his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of this illness, their parents left the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and travelled to South Africa to seek treatment for their two sons when Caleb was only two years old. He had operations done on his legs, his arms and his chest, and also received a blood transfusion. He was lucky that his older sister, Jemima, was a match. But unfortunately for Kalala, their sister was not a match for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that Caleb did when he came to Cape Town was learning how to swim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the first medical procedures on the two brothers, their parents ran out of money. \u201cI don\u2019t know what happened but there was a dispute around the finances. My parents decided to go back to Congo to work and get more money to send to us here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caleb, Kalala, Jemima and their youngest brother, Jeremy, stayed behind with their grandmother in South Africa. Their parents would send money whenever they were able to, but that eventually dried up after his father was retrenched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to feel like a burden. I would think \u2018They\u2019re right, this isn\u2019t my country. I don\u2019t have money, what am I doing here?\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In 2005, when Caleb was eight years old, their grandfather in the DRC passed away. Following his death, their grandmother took Jeremy and returned to the DRC, leaving the three children behind. One of their aunts came to look after them, but Caleb said they soon realised she was \u201cunfit to take good care\u201d of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This started a downward spiral for the children and they eventually became a child-headed household, before Caleb and Kalala ended up in a children\u2019s home. Fending for himself and then living in the children\u2019s home, Caleb had to learn to have a thick skin. He and his brother would be mocked because of their disabilities, their poverty and the fact that they were not South African.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe younger kids would make fun of me. Some kids weren\u2019t nice to me. I was from a Congolese background, but I hardly knew my background. I was not really raised in a Congolese way. I was more like a hybrid, a Congolese-South African kid. I didn\u2019t really know where I fit in,\u201d Caleb explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember the neighbourhood kids would make fun of us. They used to call us makwerekwere<\/em> (a derogatory term generally used for African immigrants). They used to tell us they were going to beat us up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was even a time when we were too scared to come out of the house because of the neighbourhood bullies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he moved to the children\u2019s home, a number of children from other African countries as well as South Africans were residents. Here they entered a programme where they spoke about xenophobia and different nationalities, and dispelled myths around migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to feel like a burden. I would think \u2018They\u2019re right, this isn\u2019t my country. I don\u2019t have money, what am I doing here?\u2019 I didn\u2019t ask to come here and I felt like a burden because of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout primary and high school, insults such as \u201cGo back to the Congo\u201d were common for him. But xenophobic comments from another migrant child in the children\u2019s home left him most baffled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was one particular kid who would bring it up and bring up the poverty and that we\u2019re from the Congo. But he was from Zim. The situation there is also hectic,\u201d he said. \u201cI just think it was his insecurities to bring down the other person so he can feel better about himself. It\u2019s an ugly reality of human psychology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in such trying circumstances, Caleb still managed to develop into a fearless and very positive person, and he has learned to brush off comments and stares from strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a recent visit to the beach at Kalk Bay in Cape Town, a small blonde boy couldn\u2019t stop staring at Caleb. The boy approached him curiously and asked: \u201cHow did you break your legs?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, I was born like this,\u201d he responded, smiling, without any hostility. \u201cYou know, when it\u2019s kids, I just don\u2019t mind them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when it\u2019s a teenager and they\u2019re laughing I kind of feel bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get some kids asking me what\u2019s wrong and how did I break my leg. They\u2019re kids. I would also be curious,\u201d he explained. \u201cAdults normally ask in a respectful way. But it irritates me a bit when they\u2019re laughing. But they\u2019ve got the bigger disability \u2014 a mental disability \u2014 because if you\u2019re at that age and you laugh at someone you\u2019re pretty far gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wherever he goes people stare \u2014 at the fish and chip shop, at the tidal pool. Everyone\u2019s eyes are on him. Some people smile, but others gawk with their mouths open. Caleb doesn\u2019t seem to notice. He just keeps on going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know people stare. People make comments,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had people laugh at me because I have an older face and basically a young kid\u2019s body. People laugh at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it also pays well, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cSometimes I\u2019ll walk in public and someone would just give me money, like R20 or R40, and say: \u2018You\u2019re such an inspiration. I have a brother, I have a sister, I have a mom or dad, whatever, who is sitting at home in a wheelchair.\u2019 When they say I am an inspiration, I honestly don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just living my life, I\u2019m just coming to the mall, I\u2019m just eating a salad,\u201d he said, howling with laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll I have to do to be an inspiration is go to the mall. There are times where I love the attention but it\u2019s not when I\u2019m eating a salad. It\u2019s when I\u2019m competing in body-building and standing in front of the crowd and flexing my muscles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He joked and said he was a broke college kid, so donations from strangers thinking he was an inspiration did help towards his next meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After moving to Cape Town, Caleb enrolled in an IT course at the False Bay TVET College\u2019s Fish Hoek campus \u2014 and it is part of the reason he has been unable to afford his gym fees. Studying IT means he spends a lot of time on his computer, and he credits the YouTube videos he watches for the mental strength and resilience he has developed over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to think I\u2019m strong mentally, I\u2019d like to think so, yes,\u201d he said. The videos he watches \u2014 bodybuilders and fitness professionals Mike Rashid, Simeon Panda and Ulisses Jr being some of his favourites \u2014 have taught him valuable lessons: \u201cDon\u2019t be blindly positive. Be a realist. If you\u2019re just positive it prevents you from assessing the situation properly. You need to see things for what they are \u2014 then you can respond properly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not just the videos. \u201cI had a brother who was basically the same as myself. With our parents not around, he was the next person to follow. We always found our own way around, so I think that\u2019s where the resilience comes from,\u201d he said. He lost his brother about six years ago when Kalala died after contracting meningitis. The loss of his brother and first role model was \u201cdevastating\u201d, Caleb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have money for a gym, so we would just lift what we had at the house \u2014 the table, books in our bags, anything.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While he\u2019s studying IT, he dreams of becoming an inventor, futuristic ideas straight out of sci-fi movies dominating his thinking. \u201cGrowing up, the first thing I wanted was to become an inventor. I wanted to invent things \u2014 flying cars was the first, but obviously that\u2019s an idea everyone has.\u201d One of Caleb\u2019s other big ideas is an obstacle course race with electric wheelchairs called \u201cmotorchairs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to create like high-performance wheelchairs and create an obstacle course and have it run like Formula One. That\u2019s what I want to do. I already found one [person crazy enough to do this]. I will start with myself,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Thisability <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caleb Mutombo was 12 years old when he discovered weightlifting. It became an obsession that would dominate the next decade of his life as he started training intensively and eventually competing in body-building competitions. \u201cMy brother and I, we were always talking about our bodies and how we wanted to look nice and build our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disability-spotlight","category-focus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.disabilityconnectexpo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}