Sizanani Village

 Bronkhorstspruit     South Africa

http://www.sizanani.org     << Visit Website

Coverage:  National

Categories:  Medical, [ View All ]

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Sizanani Village Charity Profile

Sizanani Home opened in 1993 and currently accommodates 60 children and young adults with moderate to profound mental and physical disabilities. Their ages range from 7-30, with an average chronological age of 14 and an average mental age of 6. The children are accommodated in 3 independent dormitories, according to their age and level of independence. Childcare workers take care of the daily needs of the children, with nurses, and general assistants supporting them. The staff currently consists of about 20 childcare workers, 20 general assistants working in the laundry, kitchen and cleaning, as well as 8 professionals.

Many of the children have severe to profound disabilities and require 24- hour care. These children cannot walk, talk or feed themselves, and many of them have severe deformities that limit their abilities of independent movement.

The Home is subsidised by the Department of Mental Health, but this subsidy only covers approximately 50% of the costs. Until recently, the founder of Sizanani Village, Fr. Charles Kuppelwieser, provided the additional funds required for the survival of the organization. Fr. Charles, however, unexpectedly retired in 2004, putting the survival of the Home in jeopardy.

Until the beginning of 2007 the Home accommodated around 170 children, but struggled financially to maintain its services. It was therefore decided that other strategies needed to be developed urgently, in order to offer relevant, high quality, but affordable services to people with disabilities. And while the Home was forced to discharge more than 100 of its residents back to their families, efforts have been made to establish an outreach programme in support of these families. The organization will therefore soon open its first day care centre in one of the surrounding communities.

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