support for parents and caregivers 189
A group with few resources can still make a difference!
We believe the whole community — neighborhood, village, city, or
nation — is responsible for supporting families with children who have
disabilities. But sometimes it takes parents working together to make the
larger community take that responsibility. As the following story about a
group of determined parents in South Africa shows, when people cooperate
and put their resources together, they can overcome obstacles and make
something where there was nothing!
Building resources — the power of determination
In a city in South Africa, children with learning disabilities rarely
played with other children or attended school. Many parents could
not work outside the home because the local day care centers did
not want to include their children. The centers told the parents who
approached them, “You cannot tell us what to do!” and “We have no
facilities for teaching these children.”
A group of parents — all unemployed mothers, many with little
or no formal education — got together and decided they must do
something for these children and their families. They decided that 1
or 2 of them would look after all the children so that the others would
be free to look for work.
We had no funding, no
special resources. We
agreed that parents would
send something with their
children — half a cabbage,
a carrot, or a potato —
whatever we could manage.
With these ingredients,
those of us who were
caring for the children
would cook soup.
The mothers organized a schedule for caring for the children. One
of them volunteered to cook. One became a teacher. Others looked
for work that they could do at home. Parents who managed to find
work began to contribute a little to those who cared for the children
and to the growing day care center. One parent who worked began to
buy books for the children.
A social worker heard about the group and came to see what they
were doing. She was able to get the local government to give some
money to pay the mothers who took care of the children.
With the only resource the mothers had — determination — they
were able to establish a day care center for their children, and they
were also able to earn a living!
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)