Making the difference
The Sibanye Day Care, which is one of the Assumption Development Centre projects in Joza, held an event on 4 November at the ADC to raise awareness about how to treat physically challenged children within the community.
Parents, officials from the Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities (APD) and pupils from other schools like NV Cewu and Boy Boy Mginywa were also present not only to support the event but to take part in the different activities that took place on the day.
Grade 5 and 6 children from NV Cewu started off the event with a short play on raising awareness about the causes, dangers and the prevention of diarrhoea. They then entertained the audience by dancing to traditional music.
One of the parents said before enrolling her physically challenged son, Aphelele Khuhlani to the Sibanye Special Day Care Centre, she struggled for a long time to get a school for him.
Kholiwe Khuhlani said a friend told her about the day care centre and she went to enquire further when NV Cewu principal, Anele Dyonashe offered to accompany her to the centre at which her child was later accepted.
“I see a huge difference in my child now because he even knows his vowels by heart,” she boasted.
Sibanye Day Care Centre teacher and events organiser, Nomalungisa Maloni said they started the day care centre in August 2014 together with Aphelele Mdaka, and only accommodating children from the ages of three to six.
“We started this centre because there was always a question within the community as to why the physically challenged children don’t have a day care centre,” she said
Maloni said they enjoy interacting with the children and communicating with them in different ways based on the child’s understanding.
“We don’t get paid because the little that the parents give us is spent on food like morning porridge for the children and cleaning essentials. The only thing driving us is the passion for what we do,” she said.
Maloni added that the Grahamstown community in general are in denial about physically challenged children because they send them to “normal” schools with the hope that they will get better.
“More often than not, parents with physically challenged children believe that their children have been bewitched and some even lock their children inside of their houses while they run errands because of shame,” she added.
Maloni says her wish for their centre is for it to receive more training and to get more resources like toys and educational equipment that will benefit the children in the long run.
“We have had a bit of training over the years but we would like to learn and equip ourselves with as much knowledge as possible,” she said.