Seeing classroom misbehaviour through new eyes.
Kuzwa* is a 7 year old learner at The Kusasa Academy. He is a very bright, clever little boy, but once he joined our school we became concerned by his behaviour. Kuzwa struggled a lot with pushing, fighting and hurting his friends. There were quite a few incidents where he would hit another learner or struggle to follow instructions.
His teachers, his mom and our in-house intervention specialists worked closely together to seek to understand what was really behind this behaviour. As Kusasa Academy teachers, we always want to know the “Why” behind the behaviour. We knew that there had to be more to him than what we were seeing.
During our annual eye screening, our optometrist discovered something that changed everything. Kuzwa had severe cataracts in both eyes, and his vision was badly compromised. After further screenings and testing, and with the incredible help and guidance of our optometrist, Donovan Savage from Michelle Hlava, we started to understand just how much his vision was affecting him.
Kuzwa was struggling with things such as depth perception and being able to judge distances properly. Imagine being a very young Grade 1 child in a busy classroom, trying to play, learn and move around with your friends when you cannot properly see or judge what is happening around you.
It made us realise again why our whole-child approach at The Kusasa Academy is so important. We cannot just look at a child’s behaviour and decide that they are wantonly difficult. We have to ask what is causing the behaviour and what the child might be trying to tell us.
In discussion with Kuzwa’s mom, we also discovered that she had struggled with similar vision difficulties as a child. And it became apparent that Kuzwa’s older sister (not a learner at our school) had a similar condition. We were able to facilitate specialist examination for her too.
We were so excited when, with the support and involvement of Kuzwa’s mom, our team and the medical professionals at Tygerberg Hospital, we were able to get both Kuzwa and his sister onto the waiting list for the surgery they needed.
On 17 July 2026, Kuzwa and his sister both had the operation at Tygerberg Hospital.
Within the first week after the operation, Kuzwa reported being able to see lights and colours. We are already seeing such a wonderful difference in him, and it has been incredibly special to watch.
This story has reminded us once again why we love what we do at The Kusasa Academy. Sometimes the behaviour that challenges us the most is actually a cry for help. Sometimes we need to look a little deeper, ask a few more questions and make sure that we are not simply treating the behaviour, but understanding the child.
In traditional – and especially under-resourced – schools, his eye problems would probably have gone undetected and he would have simply been written off as a poor performer. But not at The Kusasa Academy. Kuzwa’s story is a beautiful reminder that when we understand a child, we can change a child’s life.
We are incredibly grateful to his mom for working with us, to our staff who continue to support and care for him, and to Donovan Savage and the team at Michelle Hlava for helping us find the answers.
Most of all, we are grateful that we did not give up looking for the “Why”.
Because now Kuzwa has a much clearer view of the world around him and we are so excited to see what he does with it.
* name changed to protect his privacy
