January 2025 – New Swing!
Hannah (our Physiotherapist) mother came to visit all the way from England! She came to the centre and helped to look after the children for a few days and learn about what we do here. Karen has also helped lots with fundraising which has meant several children now have pieces of equipment essential to their health. The swing is a great addition to our centre. We have many children that have severe physical disabilities and struggle to play with normal toys, so this swing has been amazing for them, and they get lots of enjoyment out of it!
January 2025 – New Equipment!
With some of the funding Hannah (Physiotherapist) did, she was able to order some new equipment for the children. We visited the local fundi and asked him to design a walking aid that was based off similar designs in other African countries. And it was a sucsess! We now have a walker for the centre and 3 being made for children to take home. We also asked him to make some specialist seating to allow our children who are unable to sit up by themselves, have somewhere to sit safely at home. Thank you so much Hannah!
December 2024 – Donations from Mescon School
In the spirit of giving at Christmas time we recieved a large donation of essential supplies for the centre from Mescon School. They provided us with rice, maize, beans, dried fish, diapers, wipes, toothbrushes, vaseline, cooking oil and other items. We rely soley on donations like this to keep our centre up and running so we cannot be more thankful. Asante sana Mescon School!
December 2024 – Parent Physio Group Sessions
Over the Christmas holidays our centre normally closes for over a month but as our Physiotherapist volunteer was here we decided to keep the centre open and run parent physio group sessions for the children who need Physio.
We ran a morning and afternoon group, parents attended with their children in small groups to come and practice their Physiotherapy exercises together, whilst Hannah (Physiotherapist) went around and corrected technique and progressed exercises.
This was a lovely opportunity for parents to come together and see the progress their children are making, share experiences and also helped put onus on the parents to do the exercises at home.
December 2024 – New Sensory Room
Hannah our Physiotherapist volunteer did some fundraising and one of the projects was to make a sensory room for our children with sensory needs. We painted the walls black and gave it an outer space theme. We fitted some soft carpert with cushioning. Fitted some blackout curtains and added some amazing lighting. The room has multiple uses; we can put our children with ADHD and Autism in here to help them calm down when they are overstimulated. The room can also be used for Physiotherapy sessions for children with visual impairments as they like looking at the lights. And also a nice place for children to take their afternoon nap! Thank you Hannah, the kids absolutely love it.
December 2024 – Staff Teaching
Hannah our Physiotherapist volunteer did a staff teaching on the common conditions seen at our centre. The staff learnt about Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome, Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida.
December 2024 – Raising Awareness of Children with Disabilities
Yuster and Hannah attended at parent meeting at a local school with over 100 parents. They did a talk on children with disabilities to raise awareness, encourage them not to be ashamed of their children and hide them away. They advertised the centre on our vision and what we can provide these children. And they also did some teaching on what Physiotherapy is and how important it is for this client group.
After the talk it encouraged a new parent to come forward with their child and bring them to the centre. Great work team!
November 2024 – Parallel Bars
Hannah, our Physiotherapist from England did some fundraising in order to build the center some permanent parallel bars for the children to practice their walking and it has been put to great use!
Walking is essential for those who can. It is a great way for the children to get some exercise, increase their strength and bone density and to learn to gain some independence. Moving is also great for your circulation and digestive system which a lot of our children have issues with.
Thank you Hannah!
November 2024 – Women’s Group
This November the centre kindly received some donations from Phillip and Emanuel to provide our Women’s group with some funding. We held a meeting with the mothers and decided each mother would receive sum of money towards their small business. They discussed in turn how they would all spend their money in order to increase their profits. For example, one mother chose to buy some plastic cups so she could expand her fruit selling business to making juice.
Thank you Phillip and Emanuel!
November 2024 – Decorating the Centre
With help from our volunteer Hannah, our team were able to re-decorate part of the centre. We chose vibrant colors of pink, purple and white for the kitchen and new Therapy Room. Alongside creating a Sensory Room for our children with sensory needs, we painted the room black with an outer space theme.
The whole team spent their weekend off at the centre in order to get the job done in time to suprise the children on Monday.
November 2024 – Physiotherapy Volunteer Hannah (UK) joins us
This month we welcome Hannah, a Physiotherapist from England to join our team for 3 months. We are very excited, as we have never had a Physiotherapist for longer than a few days. Hannah will be conducting assessments and treatments on all our children at the centre with physical disabilities, mainly Cerebral Palsy.
Physiotherapy is crucial for children with disabilities to maintain flexibility, help with lung health and teach new skills such as sitting, standing and walking.
Thank you Hannah, we look forward to seeing the progress our children can make 🙂