Build an inclusive future for kids with disability

The need for holistic, wrap-around care for children with disabilities and their families could not be
more perfectly exemplified than by the story of Eunice.

Eunice is a 12-year-old girl who came to the attention of the Kyaninga Child Development Centre
(KCDC) therapy team, when she was about to be excluded from yet another school due to her
violence towards other children. The school had judged Eunice to be ‘mentally disturbed’, a simple
diagnosis which her mother agreed with. It had been decided by the family that the cause of
Eunice’s mental disturbance was a childhood accident where Eunice’s older sister had pushed her
over causing her to bang her head. Her sister, now 13, had grown up in the tragic belief that she was
entirely responsible for her little sister’s aggression, lack of mental capacity and sadness. Running
alongside this is the financial hardship, ostracization and inevitable sense of shame that tragically
goes with having a disabled child in Uganda. It is not difficult to imagine the enormous guilt she must
have carried and the inevitable blame felt by her parents.

It took just one minute for KCDC’s team of therapists and teacher’s to diagnose Eunice with Down
syndrome—a genetic condition caused by a random error in cell division that results in an extra copy
of chromosome 21. There’s no one to blame; it’s simply a matter of biology. Yet, Eunice’s family has
struggled tragically under the misconception that they were directly responsible for her challenges.
Since KCDC became involved with Eunice’s family, their lives have completely transformed. Eunice
now attends Kyaninga Inclusive Model school (KIMS) where she is thriving in our Special Support
Centre. She is receiving occupational therapy to support her to become more independent and
counselling to help her speak about her frustrations. Eunice is a different child to the aggressive, sullen, sad and lonely child who joined us at KIMS just 6 months ago. Eunice’s mother attended our Down Syndrome Awareness Day at the KCDC therapy and rehabilitation centre, where she saw other
children with Down syndrome for the very first time. Meeting other mothers helped her realize she
wasn’t alone on her journey, providing a sense of community and understanding.

The construction of a purpose-built Centre of Excellence will create the type of supportive
community where, on one site, families such as Eunice’s can access the holistic services necessary
for their children to thrive.

It will:

• act as the new headquarters for the organisation, providing purpose-built accessible facilities

• allow the Kyaninga Inclusive Model School (KIMS) to continue to model best practice whilst providing education to a greater number of children

• provide a forum for parents of children with disabilities to meet, share stories and provide the support and companionship they so desperately need

• offer multiple therapy/treatment rooms to reduce waiting times and treat more children daily.

• provide simple self-catered accommodation for long-distance families requiring specialised intensive therapy and longer-term rehabilitation services.

• have the capacity to host training workshops for teachers, healthcare and community workers, local leaders and other stakeholders.

Building our new Centre of Excellence would remain an impossible dream without your ongoing support. Every contribution, no matter how small, brings us closer to our goal. Together, we can profoundly impact the lives of children and their families.

Thank you for your steadfast support and belief in our mission. Without your help, families
like Eunice’s may never discover the immense potential she holds or have the opportunity to
embrace the bright future that awaits her.

Kyaninga Child Development Centre

The Kyaninga Child Development Centre (KCDC) was founded in 2014 in response to our founder's personal experience. Motivated by the lack of suitable care for their son, Sidney, who was born with severe epilepsy and developmental delay, they decided to take action to help other families facing similar challenges in the area. Alongside Fiona Beckerlegge, a paediatric physiotherapist, they established KCDC intending to improve the lives of children with disabilities in Uganda. Their mission is to create, provide, and integrate sustainable, community-based, inclusive services that enhance children's lives through healthcare, education, assistive technology, and strategic partnerships.

About 13% of Uganda's children (2.5 million) are living with disabilities, but access to healthcare and rehabilitation services is still extremely limited. Additionally, just 9% attend primary school, and less than 1% finish secondary school because of the complex issues of gender, poverty, accessibility, stigma, and poor health and nutrition.

Since its inception, KCDC has transformed the care of children with disabilities in Uganda by adopting a comprehensive approach that includes healthcare, rehabilitation, education, and social inclusion. The centre has supported over 6,750 children with various disabilities and their families. Working with 26 local health centres across 7 districts, covering over 1,000 km2, KCDC focuses on community-based inclusive development (CBID), striving to include people with disabilities both socially and developmentally.

KCDC advocates for the rights and overall well-being of children with disabilities and their families, promoting functional independence and primary school enrollment. The centre works closely with the communities it serves to implement relevant and sustainable solutions, fostering local ownership and setting high standards in the field. KCDC's community-based rehabilitation (CBR) approach provides a cost-effective way to improve the lives of children with disabilities by offering essential therapies directly within communities. This proven strategy, introduced by the World Health Organisation more than 40 years ago, eliminates transportation barriers and encourages families to actively participate in their child's rehabilitation journey, promoting long-term success and reducing reliance on costly centralised healthcare facilities.

The success of our CBR program led to a crucial realisation. Many children who had reached their therapy milestones were now ready for school yet lacked access to appropriate educational opportunities, often being turned away because of their disability. This alarming reality – only 9% of Ugandan children with disabilities attend primary school - led to the establishment of the Kyaninga Inclusive Education Hub, which focuses on training teachers in inclusive education to improve the learning outcomes of all children and working with communities to change negative attitudes towards disability.

The Centre of Excellence

Education cannot exist in isolation; rather, to give Children with Disabilities the skills they need to participate in school successfully, healthcare and rehabilitation must come first. To create a supportive community where, on one site, families can access the holistic services necessary for their children to thrive, we are constructing a purpose-built centre which will encompass the Kyaninga Inclusive Education Hub & Model School, rehabilitation centre and training facilities. By integrating therapy, rehabilitation, and education under one roof, we can enrich the lives of 10,000 CWDs by 2028. The facility will prioritise sustainable development that addresses current needs without endangering those of future generations. It will balance the natural environment, society, and economic considerations harmoniously. From the outset, sustainable design principles will seamlessly integrate into the centre's design process.

Over the past year, we have completed four units of the Phase 1 construction plan, which accommodates the therapy, rehabilitation, and temporary administration space. This has already improved the working environment for all and reaffirms our dedication to completing the Centre's construction.

Now, we are turning our attention to the inclusive school and want to break ground on the foundations in the coming months. We plan to build integrated classrooms that can support the individual needs of a diverse group of learners from nursery into primary classes and a dedicated special support centre for children who need additional support beyond mainstream learning.

We have outgrown our current premises, where 56 students are enrolled, of which 50% have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The classrooms are cramped, and there isn't enough space for wheelchairs. We make the most of outdoor learning during the dry season, but this becomes impossible in the rainy seasons. We are, therefore, turning children away who would benefit from our integrated and inclusive learning environment. Tragically, these children have already been rejected from other local schools because of their disability and feel that they have nowhere else to turn.

It is for this reason that we are also focused on improving the inclusive teaching and learning of local schools through our Excellence and Inclusion professional development programme so that KCDC is not seen as the only option for these children who not only have the right to education but the right to a brighter and more optimistic future.

Call to Action

We cannot achieve these goals without your continued support. No matter how small, every contribution brings us one step closer to building the classrooms needed to provide these children with a safe and nurturing learning environment. We urge you to donate and share our project with your network. Together, we can significantly impact the lives of these children and their families.

Thank you for your unwavering support and belief in our mission. We look forward to sharing more progress with you in the coming months.

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