Give Income Generation to Youth with Disabilities

Uhambo has been piloting a newly-designed stimulation kit for the older youth population at the 2 Care Day Care Centre for youth with disabilities in Vredenburg. Vredenburg is a small rural town located north of Cape Town on the Cape West Coast with a population of approximately 38,382 people. Although it is the transportation and commercial hub of the West Coast area, there is little infrastructure and few opportunities exist for youth with disabilities.

The 26 students attending 2 Care Day Care have a range of disabilities, including intellectual impairment, CP, deafness, blindness, epilepsy and down syndrome. The majority of the group are completely dependent on the structure and activities provided at the day care centre. Some have the ability to initiate leisure activities such as playing pool, watching DVDs or participating in the day to day chores of the center. Very few participate in family or community activities; many are interested in being more involved in community activities or earning an income but do not know how they might reach these goals. The stimulation program will help them accomplish exactly that. 

The students were eager to engage in the new and stimulating activities of the program which included the following four activity areas.

• I am Awesome
• Rad Relationships
• My Community
• Let’s Talk About It

Some highlights of the pilot included:

• Introducing Mr L, who is deaf, to basic sign language. Watching him go through some of the signs and witness his understanding and attempts to use these signs was very encouraging. 
• A tour of and activities at the public library. They are now planning bimonthly visits to the library. The library visit illustrated the need for disability sensitization training for library staff. Although the head librarian was eager to engage with the group, she felt unsure about how to interact with them and how to present the information she wanted to share. 

The program instills the belief of a hopeful future in which youth with disabilities feel like valued members of their family and community with opportunities for the future. Students may be motivated to participate more actively and in doing so gain the life skills required to cope more independently. Such understanding and independence will allow youth with disabilities to have more realistic aspirations for themselves and the motivation to be included in family and community activities.

To continue with the next phase of this program, the Uhambo team in South Africa plans to launch the kit at two day care centers, hold discussions with other service providers regarding future collaboration and ways to expand the kit for specific disabilities, promote and marketing it and conduct a Train the Trainer program.

Thanks to all of you for making this happen!

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• http://www.uhambousa.org
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