Working in a Special School in Kenya!
It’s been three months already since I arrived in this
beautiful country, time flies!
The main focus of my deployment here would be to build
capacity in the local community, mainly training teachers in special schools to
support children with physical disabilities.
The reality of a child with disabilities here is quite different from
what I was used to seeing in Europe, and the first time I entered in Rise and
Shine Special School, I could not be indifferent to the number of children
moving around without a wheelchair or any assistive device… just crawling on the
floor. Seeing the knees already covered with a hard skin layer because of the
constant pressure contact with the grown, it was not easy I have to admit. And
the first thought that came to my mind was… “There are so many issues…from
where should I start?”
 |
| Children playing with the teacher in outdoor activities. |
Well I started from the beginning, with a lot of observation
and multiple conversations with the teachers and staff, understanding their
needs, motivation, and attitudes. We discussed, planned together actions
to improve the classroom and dorm management providing to the children
opportunities to change the positioning, to eliminate cases of children seating on
the concrete floor, strategies to improve hygiene, knowledge on transferences,
positioning and so on.
Despite the lack of infrastructure, assistance and support these children developed ways to move, wash themselves, wash their clothes,
eat…etc that a child with the same disability in Europe would not be able to
develop without therapy. This made me think about a Portuguese saying “a
necessidade aguça o engenho” “necessity is the mother of invention” and when
there is no other option these children do create their own way with amazing
strength. Being a child with disabilities here is not easy, not only because of
the environment physical barriers but mainly because of the attitudes towards
disability. Sometimes the discrimination comes from parents and family,
sometimes they hide and feel ashamed of the child, believing the disability was
caused by a curse. Others families feel that because of the disability the
child will not be able to learn, and so it’s not worthy to go to school. Having
large families with a lot of children,
and struggling to afford them being in school, it’s a difficult choice
for parents, and the child with disabilities sometimes needs to be in a special
school where the fees are even higher compared with regular schools. This puts
children with disabilities in a very vulnerable situation.
Rise and Shine despite being a school for children with
physical disabilities, accommodate students with intellectual and multiple
disabilities. The lack of knowledge about the proper school the child needs, the inefficiency of the referral system and the geographic location of the school
creates this situation. Since this is the only special school in Shianda's area,
the parents choose it based on proximity.
Being a school for children with physical disabilities it
was not set up with an alternative curriculum and vocational training, the
teachers adapt in the best way they know to each child's academic level, but they
do see the urgent need to implement vocational skills training in the school. To
inspire them and the children we decided to do a “Rise and Shine Jobs week”, a
week where the children had the chance to go to the community visit different professions
and learn some skills.
During this week we also invited an adult with a physical
disability to inspire the children to trust in their abilities and prepared a workshop
on shoe repairing, where they had the chance to learn this art and, at the same
time, repair some of their own shoes!
The older ones will have the chance to continue mentorship
in shoe repair during the school break and we are preparing a proposal to
present to the education office to support the implementation of vocational
training in the school.
Andreia Silva
EU AID Volunteer in Shianda, Kenya
No comments :
Post a Comment