|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…
|
By Tendai Guvamombe
The Charity Projects, a locally-based non-profit making organization is determined to strengthen its capacity in rendering unwavering support towards children living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The move is set to become a game-changer in ensuring the health, safety, and warfare of disadvantaged children.
Over the years, the NGO has been making positive strides in providing much-needed support for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This has been a neglected area that has been faced with exclusion and discrimination in Zimbabwe.
Speaking during the Christmas Party and Donation event in December 2021, Charity Projects Founder, Mr. Mark Chunga said that his organization is now aiming at implementing self-sustainable projects in 2022 in the quest to advance the intellectual and developmental disability programme. One of these includes education as a priority area where a daycare centre will be constructed.
“As we enter a new year, our vision as an organization is to help every child in Africa with intellectual and developmental disabilities to reach a full potential capacity. The best way to implement the program was to design the 6 Pillar Mental Health Project Programme to enable us to provide rightful care and safety in their environment.
“But we later realized that this alone was not going to solve all the problems so we thought of expanding our Vision in 2022 to build a Day Care Centre to empower children with intellectual and mental health and disability challenges to be self-sustainable through our programme. We have also come up with various farming projects.”
The Christmas Party held towards the end of December 2021 had seen children with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving worthwhile donations in the form of food hampers, wheelchairs and walkers, and full medical plans.
In order to successfully meet the children’s warfare and demands, Charity Projects last year unleashed the 6 Pillar Mental Health and Disability Project which anchors on awareness, diagnosis, care plan, medication, community outreach, and self-sustainability.
“We have managed to implement the 6 Pillar Mental Health Project for the past year and since our contact with children in Zimbabwe, we have managed to solve mental health and disability crises which were really immense in the country. We also ended up creating mental health and disability awareness to shift social mindset on stigma to make them understand that they are neurological disorders.”
The most important aspect is when Charity Projects partnered with other corporate organizations to carry out pertinent services which include medical checkups and wheelchair measurements for the children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the country.
“As we expand the viewpoint of society, we managed to partner with Doctors and Nurses on a Mission especially when it comes to diagnosis. We also partnered RUBBIES physiotherapists who are supporting us with the care we need for the children to get checkups and measurements that enable us to assist with the rightful aids that include wheelchairs and walkers. We moved on with care plans and medications where we partnered with Medipharm, a Bulawayo-based pharmaceutical company.”
The programmes have received support as from as far as Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and other various parts of the globe.
Some of the partners include BorrowedfromLA, BBGLOWMOROUS, THE REALESTATE TIMES, BE YOU SUITS, Cuppa cartel, Boombox fitness and Dance, Charity Peagants, Clean Beats, Doctors and Nurses on a Mission, and MediPharm.
The NGO is looking forward to partnering with more corporate organizations to enhance the needs of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities as it now integrates food donations into its programmes.