Ndeilenga cherishes guiding Ishitile

“I am not only Lahja Ishitile's mentor but more like a big brother,” says David Ndeilenga's words as he describes his relationship with the Paralympic athlete.

Ndeilenga, who specialises in field events, has been a guide to Namibia's junior sportswoman of the year with disability for about five years now.

In an interview with Sport Wrap, Ndeilenga talks about his athletics career and that of being a guide runner.

“I started doing athletics while in high school at A Shipena Secondary School, when a teacher said to me that I had potential and could excel in sport.

“I started doing most of the events in athletics, that is track and field events, and in 2009 I went to Oshakati to upgrade my grade 10 points and that is where I was introduced to the Oshakati Athletics Club.

“There I was really inspired to take my athletics more seriously and that is where I met Ananias Shikongo and was helping him out with his training.”

There was a Cuban coach helping the team that was preparing for the 2012 Paralympic Games but there was no one that could help with coaching, so Ndeilenga took up the responsibility to coach as well as guide.

“In 2013, I received a call that there was an athlete who needed a guide and that was just two weeks before the world championships. I then agreed to take the role as Ishitile's guide, which was not easy since we only had two weeks to prepare and then go to the competition.

“After the world champs I said to myself that guiding is not difficult and looking at her and her background that she told me, I felt that I needed to assist since she was so passionate about running,” he says.



Relationship

To date, the pair have managed to win the Junior Sportswoman of the Year With Disability award for four conservative years.

“Our relationship is getting stronger and it seems like I am her mentor and I look at her as my little sister on and off track,” Ndeilenga says.

“When we're off the track, I constantly motivate her academic wise and tell her that she has to work hard because sport is not a life-long career.

“When we are on the track, she sometimes gets really stressed, especially when it is competition time, but I always tell her that we have to do it and that she said she wants to be a gold medallist one day so if you are like this then where will we go.”

He says it requires dedication and compassion to be a guide, as there are times when the athlete is not in a good mood and refuses to speak to the coach or any other teammate except the guide.

“I remember when it was time to go for the All-Africa Games, and then I was at training with the Correctional Service so I was not sure if they would release us and she said if I was not going then she was also not going. She felt that was the end of her career. She only trusts me, even when I told her that there would be someone to help her,” he says.

Going to the Paralympic Games last year was already a dream come true for Ndeilenga, and setting personal and regional records made it even more special, “because our dream is always to improve at every competition and I always tell her you can become the best in Africa and in the world”. “With Lahja, she has the potential and she is a person who can make Namibia proud and be another Johanna Benson,” he says.

The passionate athlete is now doing only field events but hopes to assist more T11 athletes.

“I feel that there are many other T11 athletes that I can help and I am still willing to help athletes and motivate more guides,” he said.

Ishitile is based in Ongwediva and Ndeilenga lives in Windhoek, which means that they do not get sufficient training time together.

“At least she is now in grade 10 and I know that she will make it because she is also very smart so after grade 10 she will finally move to Windhoek and we will get to train together more often,” he says.

Ndeilenga was born in Oshakati and grew up at Omunyekadi in the Ohangwena Region, where he attended primary school before moving to Windhoek.

KAINO NGHITONGO