What are we REALLY doing for children with disabilities?

Yesterday I was at a network meeting where the topic of discussion was around children and disability. As the various presenters spoke and questions were asked, I was transported back to my first year at University where we were told that people with disabilities were only disabled because of their environments. The fact is that the environment or the community are the disabling factors and not the person's functional difficulties.

As the meeting progressed I was shocked to hear what little in roads had been made in a city in terms of removing these barriers as opposed to those that have been made over the past 7 years in the Umzinyathi District in Kwazulu-Natal. After being told that the Department of Education did not see a need for special schools in Umzinyathi District, there is now a registered special school in Msinga and an informal special school in Umvoti who are in the process of registering. In some areas people have successfully advocated for taxi owners to stop charging double fare for people in wheelchairs and therapists and parents alike have been able to quote Educations White Paper 6 back at the schools to enable children to access mainstream schooling, despite their difficulties.

So the question I pose to myself and others is this....Have we become complacent in advocating for the rights of these children and families or are we persevering through some difficult processes to ensure that more and more children in South Africa have access to the opportunities that every child deserves?

A hard hitting reality

Over the past couple of months I have been busy with LETCEE's new website and this has meant that I have been looking through photographs of many of the families that we have been working with over the past two years. As I began to recognise the same children coming up in the photographs (with very happy faces I might add) I noticed that they are still wearing the same clothes (jackets and pants) two years down the line. The clothes have faded a little and they only reach half way down the children's arms and legs. Wow, it made me realize that though we have an ECI programme, maybe greater effort needs to be placed on family resources and sources of income generation so that these families can generate their own income to provide for basic needs such as clothing for their childen.

Making a difference in a different way...

Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend a meeting looking to help inform the policy on Community Care Workers from the Children's Sector perspective. A small group of people from different areas of the sector spent the day looking at the draft policy, alternative models and a way forward in terms of addressing the issues that these crucial workers face. What a privilege to be a part of making a difference for these amazing people who consistently make a difference in the lives of many in the most rural communities without much recognition or compensation. I know these processes take a long time but I once again have some hope that we can make a difference in this way....we just need to persevere.

Small beginnings... great success

This is Norah Ndumo. She came to visit LETCEE today to say thank you. Norah started her ECD training with LETCEE in 1996 and completed her Level 4 certificate. Today she proudly shows us her NPDE and Advanced Certificate in Education and is still continuuing her studies, completing her B. ED honours. She is a Grade 3 teacher at Cosh Primary School, and is on the commitee of the creche which she orignally started at.

She says it all started with LETCEE and wanted to come and thank us for the strong foundation we layed- without it- she would have never got this far. She says she still remembers what she learnt whilst training at LETCEE, and uses this in of her assignments- she still refers to her manual and notes.

LETCEE is incredibly proud to hear of Norah's achievements- what a wonderful surprise her visit was! Good news stories like these certainly make the work which we do WORTH IT!

Amazing women

After meeting with the Family Facilitators of Eshane yesterday I was once again humbled by their dedication to the children they visit and the community from which they come. These women face many challenges in their work and home lives and often we just jump into work mode not stopping to listen to their challenges and difficulties. As these women shared their troubles with us and one another they emphatically stated that despite these challenges they love their work and would not want to change that for anything. It left me amazed at their resilience but also wondering how we can better support them and honour them for their dedication to other people, prefering others above themselves!

Developing people

One of our core philosophies at LETCEE is to ensure that we are constantly assisting those we come in contact with to develop to their full potential be they children, caregivers, learners or staff members. It is exciting to watch people grow as they realize just how much they can do and achieve.

In the past week however I have once again had to reflect that growing people often means that they move on from LETCEE and the vital roles that they fulfilled here. This is truly bittersweet! On the one hand we get behind them, cheering them on and on the other we are very sad to see them go. This is the case with one of our committee members from Siyabathanda Abantwana who left last week to go and study nursing in Pietermaritzberg. We are so glad that her dreams are being fulfilled but we are aware of the huge gap she leaves behind. I guess her moving on opens up the opportunity for someone else to begin to reach for their dreams...

Positive feedback

Another group of LETCEE Level 4 students have completed their modules of training and will soon hand in their portfolios of evidence for final assessment.
The feedback in the reflections after training were incredibly positive, here are exerts from 2 learners...

"This course teach me how to handle and develop a child. It also help me to get more knowledge how to plan my activities. Now I do not have any problem to stand in front of the children because I know what I'm going to do with my children. I know how to work and communicate with children and the parents and how important it is to involve the parents in the ECD Site. I will encourage the other practitioners in my site to come and get what I got in Level 4, and I'm going to implement my knowledge in my site." - Nompumelelo

"When I started Level 4, I was willing to go extra miles, gain more knowledge about this course and to know better about Early Childhood Development. Look at where I am today: I have knowledge about a lots of things I have not known before, I know about teamwork, how to be a good ECD teacher and to to apply my knowledge and better understanding to the learners. And this is not the end for my carrer, I still want to get more knowledge. This course has changed a lot of things in my life." -Hlengiwe