Human Rights Day coincided with World Down Syndrome Day on March 21.
“The reason it’s also on March 21 is that Down syndrome children have a third chromosome on their 21st pair of chromosomes,” said Ancella Ramjas, national director of Down Syndrome South Africa (DSSA).
Ancella and a number of children from DSSA paid Baby Toddles Infant & Toddler Day Care Centre a visit on March 28 to talk about Down syndrome.
Ancella used jelly beans to explain to the children the difference between them and somebody with Down syndrome.
“You see, here I have a big green jelly bean and it represents you guys. In my other hand I have a small yellow jelly bean and it represents the children with Down syndrome. Even though one jelly bean is small and the other one big, and there is also a difference in colour, it still remain a sweet and you would eat the green and the yellow one, because it is a sweet,” she said.
“So even if we are different, we are the same.”
She showed the little ones a book with images of children with Down syndrome. The children with Down syndrome who visited the daycare centre with Ancella interacted with the other children.
The day ended with Ancella reading a poem about Down syndrome, after which everyone enjoyed a decorated waffle.
More about Down Syndrome South Africa:
Down Syndrome South Africa (DSSA) is the national umbrella body of all Down syndrome associations across South Africa.
They have eight branches, one support group and four outreaches in most of the major centres of the country.
DSSA is a non-profit organisation (NPO 009-415) made up of people with Down syndrome, their families and interested people working to improve the quality of life for those with Down syndrome.
They also include people with other intellectual disabilities.
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
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