A fair chance for the mentally challenged

In September 2018, the Disability Rights International (DRI) conducted an investigation into institutions and orphanages across the country on general living conditions on the children.

The investigation also looked into infanticide -- the intentional killing of infants. The report shows that institutions that house disabled children have far worse living conditions compared to other children orphanages.

Inasmuch as there are parents who wish to tend to their children who have special needs, they lack the means to do so. Sadly, this has pressured some parents to kill their disabled children.

Dickson Indiya discovered that his son, David, was disabled right after he joined kindergarten.

“The teacher called to inform me that my son was not at par with his peers in class. She noted that David was having some challenges with learning and proposed that we enrol him in a special school,” he recounts.

CHALLENGES

Dickson admits that at first it was tough raising his now 19-year old son because of the stigma that surrounds people living with disability, more so children. Over time, Dickson came to accept his son just as he was, and raising him became less challenging.

“At times, David needed something but we could not understand due to the communication barrier. It was heart-breaking to see him getting frustrated or dissatisfied with our responses to his needs.
“Parents of disabled children are often forced to keep their children at home to shield them from stigmatisation. The main reason why we did not do this is because we came to accept his condition early.”

GRADUATION

On November 1, 2018, David and his 15 classmates will graduate from the Orione Community Training Centre in Rongai, Kajiado County, after studying there for the last three years.

After graduation, they will each get a two-year employment contract at the same facility.

Days before the ceremony, Lucy Njeri could not contain the joy of her daughter Virginia’s upcoming graduation. For Lucy, this was a miracle.

“I am entirely grateful because I didn’t even think that my child would get here. We visited multiple clinics when Virginia was young and all the doctors we saw said that she may not live past the age of five years. She was diagnosed with down syndrome at a very tender age,” she says amid tears.

The Orione Community Training Centre in Kaburugi, Thika, was founded in Kenya in 2005 by the Catholic Congregation of Sons of Divine Providence.

Father Alejandro Ruiz, a Catholic Priest, started the centre with the main objective of promoting the lives and integration of persons with intellectual disability.

The centre works with children and youth with conditions such as cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism, and those who are intellectually challenged; most of them coming from poor families.

EXPANSION
In July 2015, Father Ruiz realised that there was more he could do to help the community with his four-acre farm in Kandisi, Ongata Rongai.

He decided to open a second branch of Orione Community Training Centre on his farm. Presently, both centres have a total of 100 trainees aged between six and 29 years.

The centres offer special education, rehabilitation, as well as vocational training in farming and poultry keeping.

“Our vision is to help our students be independent and be able to sustain themselves when they leave the centre.

Once the children are brought to the centre, we ask their parents to cover whatever amount of fees they can afford, and we can take the rest from there,” explains Fr Ruiz.

REHABILITATION AND TRAINING

For the centre in Ongota Rongai, the trainees spend five hours at the centre undergoing training, rehabilitation and formal learning. A school bus picks up the children from their homes every morning at 9am and drops them back home at 2pm, five days a week.

On weekends, an integration programme takes over the centre’s routine. The programme is designed create an opportunity for the trainees to mingle with other children and youths from the surrounding community.

This allows for peer learning and has contributed positively to stamping out the stigma associated with disability.

The kind of training that takes place at Orione Centre is usually based on the strengths and interests of the trainees.

Some of them show interest in the farm, others in landscaping and others in the kitchen. Part of the training is offered in form of simple chores that are carried out under close supervision.

SELF RELIANT

The centre believes in equipping trainees with relevant skills that will help them become productive members of the society after graduating.

This is the reason behind the two-year employment contract that gives the trainees an opportunity to save some money and start their own projects after the contract expires.

Presently, eight former students now work at the training centre as full-time employees.

The students' parents feel indebted to the centre for the training. One such parent is Joseph Benwa who has an autistic son, Isaac. He says Isaac can now do simple tasks on his own.

“We appreciate the centre for being a helping hand in raising our children. It is hard to believe that I can now communicate with Isaac, and he is able to receive instructions. He even goes to the bathroom all by himself.”

NEED FOR CONSISTENCY

According to Father Gideon Omburi, a facilitator at the centre’s Ongata Rongai branch, a good number of the trainees lack consistency in keeping up with their day-to-day schedules.

“One of the challenges we face is that many parents fail to see the importance of special education because of the belief that they [disabled children] will never be like the normal children. However, over the years, we have seen a lot of progress in our children, especially those who follow the programme consistently,” he says.

On Wednesday, October 24, 2018, Orione training centre (Ongata Rongai Branch) in partnership with Equity Bank held an event geared towards helping the soon-to-be graduate trainees open joint bank accounts together with their parents.

This was deemed necessary given that all the graduates would begin their employment shortly after graduating.

Speaking at the event, Ongata Rongai Branch Manager Zachary Theuri said the bank’s relationship with Orione Community works towards a common goal.

“There is a similarity with how we work, because we both work to transform lives and the livelihoods of the people by giving them opportunities. We also plan to give the families advice on growing their businesses from their savings over their two-year employment,” he said.

PERSPECTIVE

Angela Paramuat, a sister of one of the trainees who will be graduating, says her family is now more aware of how best to support her sister, Mercy, who suffers from down syndrome.

“Mercy is really interested in selling cosmetics and making carpets, so, after her two-year contract, we plan on opening a shop for her to pursue her passion,” Angela says.

She adds that it is important for the government to support children with disabilities.

“It would go a long way if the government supported community schools for special children such as Orione. Very few in the country are operational, yet there is such a high number of special needs children around.”