On Saturday, June 12, various local organisations collaborated to support parents and celebrate children with disabilities and developmental disorders in die Kouga region.
The event, titled “Same but Different”, took place at the Global Leadership Academy.
Attendees were treated to music by the children from the community development programme, Beats and Books, and a dance by learners from Global Dance School.
Toyer Jappie, founder of the Centre of Grace Foundation and father of a four-year old daughter on the autism spectrum, shared the heart behind the collaboration, which was to ensure that the rights of all children were upheld by ensuring adequate development of children with disabilities in the Kouga region.
Jappie highlighted the immense need for facilities that can accommodate children with disabilities in South Africa, the Eastern Cape and Kouga, specifically.
He highlighted that, although there has been support from local government, the burden of caring for these children is falling increasingly on NGOs to fill in the gap where care, therapy and support cannot be provided by government institutions.
Vicki Fourie, former Miss Deaf SA and motivational speaker, told parents that their children were special and capable of achieving more in life than the world wants them to believe.
Fourie honoured her parents for all the work they did with her as a child, taking her to special therapies and working tirelessly with her, teaching her to lip-read and speak, which enabled her to do what she does today.
Among the attendees was three-year-old Laika Shoko from Gqeberha, who received a cochlear implant with the help of Joy of Hearing in December 2020.
This organisation supports children who need cochlear implants, which can cost R200 000-R300 000.
This kind of implant helped Fourie to achieve 80% hearing, after being 97% deaf.
Joy of Hearing also helps the families who received cochlear implants with the monthly costs of batteries for these devices, which is approximately R300 per month, and without which the implant cannot work.
Dr Mandisa Nkohli, who oversees all the clinics in the Kouga area, as well as being a proud mother to a son on the autism spectrum, better explained what autism was and gave broad guidelines on how to treat children who are on the spectrum.
She also spoke about the importance of mental health to these children, as well as their parents.
“If parents are not healthy, they will not be able to adequately care for their special needs children.
“Parents should remember to take care of themselves, mentally and physically.”
- Further talks by parents of children on the autism spectrum enlightened the audience as to what challenges they faced and how much institutions like the Rainbow Centre, in Humansdorp, had changed their lives and ensured that their children develop skills that they otherwise would not have been able to do.
