Browsing by Author "Nanyama, Josephine"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Small Homes Development Programme For Disabled Children
    (Tangaza University College, 1999-09-15) Nanyama, Josephine
    A small home is a simple building constructed to accommodate between six and fifteen disabled children. The number may go as far as twenty five in some of the homes. It is a hostel type of accommodation within or very close to a primary or a secondary school. The children are looked after by a house mother creating a family like atmosphere. The community around play a very important role in the growth and sustainability of the home. The community sustains the home by getting involved in the building process, being responsible of the provision of food and other costs of running the home. It is a convenient place for children to receive regular visits from the physiotherapist and other medical personnel to ensure that they have correct treatment and equipment. Before the introduction of small homes, the children used to stay in big institutions such as Moi children's home where there was very little attention and care due to the big number. The condition of most of the children was becoming worse and there was little to be shared among themselves psychologically. The schools near the institutions were flooded with disabled children and it was hard for such schools to participate in normal activities like other schools. Since the disabled were many, there was little competition among themselves which resulted to poor performance. This led to the rise of small homes which came up after various consultations made among interested people from different Dioceses and representatives from other social welfare organizations. I managed to go round all the small homes in the Diocese so what I have written here is my personal experience for two full months. The methodology I used in putting down my experience was participatory observations and interviews which were directed tgrthe coordinator, members of the committees the house mothers of different homes and parents of the children in the home. v