Nappy run to help disabled children

JOBURG – The annual Nappy Run awareness and donation drive kicked off this month and will culminate in November with a 5km fun run at Joburg Zoo.

The 3 November event that follows National Children’s Day will acknowledge and celebrate children with disabilities.

According to Unicef’s 2013 State of the World’s Children: Children with Disabilities report, disabled children and their communities would benefit if society focused on what those children can achieve, rather than on what they cannot do.

“This is exactly what the Nappy Run campaign aims to draw attention to through the month-long awareness campaign, as captured in the slogan ‘Children with disabilities, our future with abilities’,” said Nadia Rossouw on behalf of the event organisers.

“Children with disabilities should be considered as the valuable members of society they are, just like each and every other human being.”

About double the number of children with disabilities, compared to their peers, live at or below the national poverty line, and these children often receive daycare from community-based and volunteer-driven centres with limited resources.

“The observation of children at these centres, not wearing nappies and being ‘wet’ is far too common an occurrence,” she said.

Because nappies are costly and considered, by some, as a luxury item, the daily challenge of incontinence combined with a lack of resources resulted in many children with disabilities and special needs not being adequately cared for.

Rossouw said the campaign was set to make “a strong and positive impact on the lives of thousands of children with disabilities… by providing for a basic need, [and] in terms of the overall advancement of the dignity, care, development and social inclusion of so many children with disabilities”.

She encouraged people of all ages, shapes and sizes to participate in the fun run by running, walking, strolling or rolling, and to wear a nappy in a creative way.

The entry fees will be used to buy nappies for distribution to care centres nationwide.

The run will take place on 3 November at Joburg Zoo, Upper Park Drive, Forest Town. Registration will take place from 7am, and the run will begin at 9am.

Details: www.nappyrun.org.za