Everything Under The Sun: Special Needs Children In A Subsistence Community

Help can come with such basics as additional nutrition.

In some developing nations of Africa, subsistence living can barely sustain adults and children. But when one person in the family has special needs, society misses even recognizing those needs, much less being able to meet them.

Back in 2012, four parents of special needs children, plus Claudia Patka, a student volunteer, got together and formed CHILD DESTINY FOUNDATION, a nonprofit organization that would provide the missing infrastructure and facilities needed by special needs individuals, mainly in Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. The idea was to provide a package of services to provide such necessary services as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, community support, and parental support and empowerment.

Alex Omondi, one of the founding parents, explains, "Due to high level of unemployment and underemployment, poverty rules these 'ghettoes', and the devastating effects are obviously evident in the living conditions of inhabitants. Here, many people struggle to meet their basic human needs, but worse off are the children with special needs and their families. They cannot afford the special attention that their children deserve."

All of the services, from physical therapy to speech therapy, and occupational therapy are provided at no cost to the families. The foundation also provides parent support groups, where families can share their experiences and feelings.

Mr. Omondi added, "This project is committed to provide free access to therapy and rehabilitation services to children with special needs, but we hope it will be a launch pad of a bigger multidimensional initiative to address the various complex challenges affecting people with special needs."

No longer alone, families are receiving the critical assistance for special needs children that they require.

Since its founding The Child Destiny Foundation has added programs, including home and community care support to help with activities of daily living, campaigns to raise awareness and provide advocacy, primary care for contagious illnesses and other communicable diseases, and programs to address HIV prevention and care. There are also programs to develop peer educators and address maternal child health needs. It's a program that keeps growing to meet the needs and it has developed a relationship with The Child Destiny Foundation in Austria, which has given them a greater supply of shared resources.