Out of 6 million people, there are at least 400,000 people with disabilities in Dar es Salaam, the largest Tanzanian metropolis. In the populous suburb of Kawe, where the burden of care falls exclusively on mothers two-thirds of the time, children with disabilities live segregated at home, deprived of all rights or discriminated against in special classes. The fight against their social exclusion cannot go without medical and health rehabilitation.
This is precisely why, in 2017, we wanted to start a rehabilitation center equipped with a gym, medical offices, offices and training rooms to provide concrete and qualified answers every day (kila siku in Swahili). Since its opening, the Rehabilitation Center A. Verna Kila Siku has seen 507 children with disabilities registered.
ST Bernard Centre
The center is located in Kibamba, an urban district in Kinondoni district. After a few years of operation, in 2021 the center’s administration realized the need to combine educational services with the possibility of offering its children with disabilities rehabilitative services. Thus was born the collaboration with our center A. Verna Kila Siku, which has been supporting the center since September 2021 by offering physiotherapy treatment, training to parents, caregivers of children, the community and authorities in this urban area with the aim of spreading and promoting rehabilitation and the rights of people with disabilities.
Center in the Goba neighborhood
Since December 2021, we have started to work and collaborate with local authorities in order to expand our rehabilitation service and identify a health facility present in the urban district of Goba in Kinondoni district, where it is possible to offer our rehabilitation services to children with disabilities and the local community. We hope for timely developments.
Baba Oreste Center
Bunju district is run by the Pope John XXIII Community. It consists of a day care center that houses children with disabilities.
A child with down syndrome carries out cognitive rehabilitation activities at the Baba Oreste Center.
Salt Center
In the Mbezi-Kimara neighborhood. A kind of group home run by Rebecca, the mother of a child with down syndrome.
Rehabilitation
At the A. Verna – Kila Siku every day children receive rehabilitation therapy. Thanks to the multidisciplinary team, children are followed from motor, cognitive and speech therapy as well as general health point of view. An individual rehabilitation plan is drawn up for each child by the therapists, which is then reviewed every 3 months.
Training activities
The CBR methodology provides for constant involvement of the family throughout the entire rehabilitation process. For this reason, parents and caregivers periodically attend training days to learn more about disability-related issues and learn exercises to be repeated once at home.
Home-based activities
The A. Verna – Kila Siku offers home-based services for children who cannot attend it due to too the long distance. Home activities also allow the staff to get to know the family environment in which the child lives.
Satellite centers
Three important collaborations began in 2021, enabling the Center to be able to offer its services in three existing facilities. The A. Verna – Kila Siku team travels weekly to each center and in this way is able to reach more distant areas and guarantee children their right to receive the care they need. Activities are underway to start a fourth collaboration.
Inclusive education
One of the components of the CBR array concerns education. Among the goals of the Center’s Social Department is to make school settings inclusive through training activities aimed at elementary school students and teachers.
Community-focused training
Throughout the year, A. Verna – Kila Siku staff organize meetings with local authorities and citizens in order to promote the Center, raise awareness of the services that are offered and of the rights of people with disabilities.