After the Khanya crèche for children with disabilities was shut down last year due to the mismanagement of its funds, a Grahamstown mother has put her heart and soul into re-establishing a daycare to cater for disabled children and their families.
After the Khanya crèche for children with disabilities was shut down last year due to the mismanagement of its funds, a Grahamstown mother has put her heart and soul into re-establishing a daycare to cater for disabled children and their families.
As part of the Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities (APD) in Grahamstown, Millicent Manana, along with the association, is officially reopening the crèche on 10 April this year and renaming it the Sinakho Daycare Centre for Children with Disabilities.
Sinakho is already a beacon of hope for disabled children and their caregivers, and is currently housed in two classrooms at Andrew Moyake Primary School in Fingo. Generous donations from Rob Beer and his team ensured the rooms were fully renovated and that burglar bars were installed. “Beer Properties does its best to support children in the Grahamstown community. Sinakho daycare facility is close to my heart as my brother was cerebral palsied,” Beer said.
The need for the centre to re-open stemmed from the more than 50 children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities who visited developmental clinics at Middle Terrace and Settlers' Hospital. The APD does monthly evaluations with these children and develops home programmes for them and their care givers.
Sinakho can give more specialised care however, and focuses on speech defects, the development of motor skills and basic activities such as eating and toilet training.
It has two classes; one for children from one to six years old, and another for older children who can’t attend the Kuyasa Special Needs School in Grahamstown. The centre is currently staffed by volunteers. But drive and perseverance to get the daycare off the ground is more than just a passion, and stem from an issue close to Manana’s heart.
Her daughter, Hlanganani, suffered seizures from the age of two and showed signs of delayed speech at four years old. “I took her to a normal daycare and then I took her to Ntaba Maria Primary School but they said she didn’t fit in. I didn’t want to accept it. I said to myself: ‘Hlanganani may not speak but she knows what she’s doing, she’s still very clever’.
But she needed to be with other children like her, where she could get more specialised attention,” Manana said. Hlanganani currently attends Kuyasa Special Needs School. Despite the evident need for the daycare, Agata Runowicz, chairperson of the APD Grahamstown, is concerned about its future.
“It’s very exciting but it’s hanging on a thread because we don’t have real funds. We have lots of eager people and lots of promises and lots of moms and kids that wait, she said. Although Grahamstonians have been generous with donating funds and other things so far, more is needed and the centre relies solely on donations and local government organisations don't seem to be doing much to help the creche.
“The Department of Health isn’t contributing in terms of subsidy, and they should be. Social development is shying away. They subsidise crèches, but not for children with disabilities. The Department of Education (DoE) has labelled our children as uneducable so they aren’t interested, Runowicz said and Makana Municipality doesn’t want to know about it”.
The only governmental help they have received is the education department allowing them to use two classrooms at Andrew Moyake, Manana said. But this doesn't deter her though, and she foresees a permanent home for children with disabilities in the pipeline. “I’ve got a heart that cares a lot because I believe this is going to be around for a long time, she said. And I want to develop more and do more for the disabled people in Grahamstown.”
The APD is willing to accept any donations from businesses, organisations or individuals in Grahamstown to help furnish Sinakho adequately. They are looking for educational toys, carpets, curtains for the 10 windows on the premises, wheelchairs, food and a number of other items. The association has already received generous donations from Beer Properties, Rotary, the Grahamstown Parents' Network, Pep Stores and the Brookshaw Home. Donations can be delivered to APD's offices at the Settlers' Day Hospital grounds on Cobden street.
