Local church leader spreads birthday joy
“So many families in Mamelodi have autistic children but don’t know about the centre in the area.”
A Mamelodi West church founder has celebrated her birthday with local children living with autism.
Apostle Diana Sindane of Holy Ghost Church of all Nations this week donated 26 bags of 12,5kg mealie-meal to Mpho Dream daycare, which looks after children with autism.
She said she donated to the centre in Mamelodi West section B1 because she wanted to do something for the community during her birth month.
Sindane said she was introduced to the centre by the ward 67 councillor and fell in love with it and felt she needed to do “something” for it.
She said she and many other people in the community did not know that there was a daycare for children with autism in the area.
Sindane encouraged the community to learn about autism and stop hiding their children.
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Centre founder Selina Lebese-Ndlovu said the generous donation would go a long way to making the lives of the children better as some came from poor backgrounds.
“Some of the mealie-meal was given to the families of the children, and we will keep some.”
Lebese-Ndlovu said she appreciated what Diana had done for the centre.
“We have so many families in Mamelodi who have children with autism and they don’t know about the daycare centre in Mamelodi.”
She urged parents to bring affected children to the centre to be looked after.
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“Many people are not well informed about autism or understand what autism is,” said Selina.
“Autism is not a mental disorder but a neurological disorder and there are different kinds and many parents in the community don’t know that,” said Lebese-Ndlovu.
She said the centre educated parents about kids with autism, offers them counselling, therapy, finds them schools and also does home visits.
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“Most parents hide their children with autism from the public because they think their children are different,” said Lebese-Ndlovu, encouraging parents to visit the centre to learn about autism. But the centre desperately needed help to make the lives of the children better.
To volunteer or assist the centre contact Selinah Lebese-Ndlovu on 079-831-4619.
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