Every life is valuable
By: Sabine Marschner – (from Darum-Journal: EMS 1/2019 page IV)
Elim Home in the Western Cape in South Africa provides a home for children with severe disabilities.
“Every step forward and each smile makes all our efforts more than worthwhile,” says Lesinda Cunningham, nurse and directress of Elim Home talking about her often-strenuous job which she regards as her calling. She has headed the care home for children with severe disabilities for several years.
The home belongs to the diaconical programme of the Moravian Church in South Africa (MCSA). Fifty children and young adults aged between four and eighteen currently live at the home. Their parents are unable to look after them adequately at home or provide them with medical care. The children are looked after round the clock at Elim Home. They receive care, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Games and special activities encourage them to take on as much independence as they can cope with depending on their abilities.
The home has existed since 1963 at the old mission station of Elim which today has about 2,000 inhabitants. It was founded during the apartheid era to look after “coloured” children with severe intellectual and physical disabilities since there were no suitable institutions at that time. Today, Elim Home is still one of the few support centres in the Western Cape. As a result, there is a long waiting list for a place at the home.
Elim Home also offers day care centres in the nearby villages of Gansbaai and Bredasdorp. There, the children spend mainly four to five hours every day and then return to their families. Besides the therapists, also parents specially trained for the job work at the day care centres. “It took a lot of effort and endurance to set up the two day-care-centres. The government runs very few care-centres for children with disabilities,” says Lesinda Cunningham. “The legal guidelines for care and support are very strict. We had to provide evidence of our competence and knowledge as prescribed by law for managing this type of centre.”
Financing intensive care and labour-intensive centres remains a constant concern. The South African Department of Health bears only 40 percent of the costs. The larger portion of maintenance, running and labour costs must be financed from their own activities and donations. The new agricultural project started by Elim provides an enormous help: There’s an olive plantation of almost 100 trees. New greenhouses produce tomatoes all year round. The sale of oil and canned tomatoes is now a contributory factor to Elim Home income.
“Of course, we also enjoy the taste of our fresh home-grown vegetables,” says Lesinda Cunningham. “And you just have to see the joy on the children’s faces when they can help out in the gardens.”