Members of the Ikhaya Elitsha Foundation (IEF) and OR Tambo Autism Centre from Umtata in the Eastern Cape have partnered to raise awareness about autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Members of the OR Tambo Autism Centre flew to Cape Town on Thursday to engage with their newly formed counterpart, IEF.
The Eastern Cape delegation was led by OR Tambo founder and director Nomaza Nkohla and Busiswa Duma-Zotwa, a quality assurer and dance teacher.
OR Tambo Autism Centre was founded in 2016 by Ms Nkohla after struggling to find a school for her autistic child.
The school aims to help children who have been diagnosed with autism, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The centre provides the services of an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech therapist and educational therapist. The centre started with eight children and now has 44 pupils and 21 staff members.
According to the two NGOs, the purpose of the visit was to strengthen their relationship and to help IEF to develop an autism-focused school in Cape Town. The organisations also met to go around Cape Town to educate the public on autism and promote an environment where children and adults with autism are accepted and included.
On Saturday, the delegations from both sides met at the Spade Hotel in Khayelitsha to finalise their relationship and partnership.
Founder of IEF, Thembisa MaDlamini Skaap said she was excited to have people that will train and teach them about autism.
She said they had made a call to the Eastern Cape centre with the aim of learning from them.
“The most important part of our meeting and of their visit was to learn from them. We want people to understand that autistic people are different but not any less,” she said.
The duo will come back to Cape Town to train the IEF staff.
Equally excited was IEF’s chairperson Thando Makapela who said his organisation is starting to take shape.
Mr Makapela said the partnership with OR Tambo will go a long way and help many people living with autism. “It is God that has put us together with OR Tambo Centre. It is also God’s grace that our founder Ms Skaap had a grandchild with autism and struggled to find a school until she heard about OR Tambo Centre. We will learn from them as we know autism needs a special person, not any Jack and Jill,” she said.
Ms Nkohla, a well-known community worker from Umtata, said she had dedicated her life to working for the upliftment of autistic children.
She said although they had experienced many challenges along the way, their dedication, love, honesty, and hard work had kept the mission going, even today.
“The initiative’s main aim is to educate the community that people living with autism can be independent too.”
She advised the IEF to find a safe and secure place for children with autism.
Her colleague Ms Duma-Zotwahas committed herself to come back to “train the trainer”. She said it was important to train those who will be dealing with the children. She also pleaded with parents to stop being in denial when they have children with any disability.
Ms Duma-Zotwa urged the IEF to take the awareness to schools, clinics and in public places.
The delegation left on Monday after having interviews with local radio stations.