Empowering Children with Disabilities at the Huis Talje Children's Home in Warmbaths, South Africa
Uhambo received a Global Grant in 2015 to work with the Huis Talje Children’s Home in Bela Bela (or Warmbaths), in the province of Limpopo of South Africa. We provided 29 children with new custom wheelchairs, conducted training for staff at the home on wheelchair seating / positioning and disability awareness in order to destigmatize disability and create inclusion opportunities. The project was highly successful and we are submitting a new grant in order to take this project to the next level and build on our successes by building additional capacity for the Home to be self-sustaining and broadening our impact. We will achieve this with additional training, more devices, new equipment for the home, a recruitment strategy for new staff and more community outreach to create social change.
Huis Talje provides care for orphaned children with physical disabilities. Over the past few months, sadly new children have been admitted to the home and the home is now at capacity serving 56 children. The Warmbaths Rotary Club helped to establish this home in 1999 and since then, over 100 children have been served. The children at the Children’s Home are seated in ill-fitted wheelchairs which can cause secondary medical problems, shorten their lifespan and impact their quality of life. Some children with disabilities at the home do not have a wheelchair at all. The children are using out-dated and old beds which can also lead to secondary medical problems. In addition, staff are inadequately trained on how to properly seat and position children in the devices and maintain and use the devices. Stigma is one of the largest obstacles for children with disabilities in Africa which prevents the children from interacting and being included in the community. They are excluded from usual daily activities such as going to school, going for walks and visiting the library.
Our objectives included: providing proper wheelchairs for children, conducting training to staff, creating community awareness through education and working to overcome the stigma of people with disabilities. These activities built a foundation for future opportunities for children, older youth and adults with disabilities to reach their full potential and will help to develop educational and developmental and social inclusion opportunities. Rotary Global Grant #1530066 and #1639622 Implemented 2015-2017.
Read MoreHuis Talje provides care for orphaned children with physical disabilities. Over the past few months, sadly new children have been admitted to the home and the home is now at capacity serving 56 children. The Warmbaths Rotary Club helped to establish this home in 1999 and since then, over 100 children have been served. The children at the Children’s Home are seated in ill-fitted wheelchairs which can cause secondary medical problems, shorten their lifespan and impact their quality of life. Some children with disabilities at the home do not have a wheelchair at all. The children are using out-dated and old beds which can also lead to secondary medical problems. In addition, staff are inadequately trained on how to properly seat and position children in the devices and maintain and use the devices. Stigma is one of the largest obstacles for children with disabilities in Africa which prevents the children from interacting and being included in the community. They are excluded from usual daily activities such as going to school, going for walks and visiting the library.
Our objectives included: providing proper wheelchairs for children, conducting training to staff, creating community awareness through education and working to overcome the stigma of people with disabilities. These activities built a foundation for future opportunities for children, older youth and adults with disabilities to reach their full potential and will help to develop educational and developmental and social inclusion opportunities. Rotary Global Grant #1530066 and #1639622 Implemented 2015-2017.
