ONLY CENTRE IN SIYATHEMBA SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Zelna Barend’s founded Zenisha’s Play and Learning Centre (ZPLC) in January 2017 with the aim of improving the quality of life for children with Downs Syndrome, FetalAlcohol Syndrome, and other intellectual disabilities by educating them through play and occupational therapy as part of their learning.

Zelna, who has no financial resources of her own, survives on donations and a social grant.

Together with a group of volunteers she provides care for eight children, five of whom have disabilities, runs an afterschool program for 29 underprivileged learners, holds workshops for 22 adults with disabilities, facilitates parent support sessions and runs outreach groups from a 12m cargo container converted into a centre in her backyard. State care for mentally challenged children, particularly those born with FetalAlcohol Syndrome, is virtually non-existent in small towns outside major SouthAfrican cities, and in the Northern Cape’s Siyathemba Municipality, ZPLC is still the only centre supporting children and adults with mental and learning disabilities in the Siyathemba Municipality