Advantage Africa’s partners Kibwezi Disabled Person's Organisation (KDPO) make frequent outreach visits to people with disabilities throughout Kibwezi district. Through this community based rehabilitation project they encountered numerous girls and boys with learning disabilities left at home, whilst their non-disabled siblings go to school. Advantage Africa supports these very marginalised children and in 2005 started work to establish a special education facility at Kisayani Primary School so that children with learning disabilities were not denied their right to an education.
Accessible classrooms, dormitories, bathrooms and a kitchen were built within the main primary school compound. The school was equipped and staff recruited. For the first time 40 children with learning difficulties, many from very poor families, were able to attend school in the Kisayani community.
This project is a good example of how an externally funded project can start a new initiative and then slowly withdraw without detriment to the project. In this case Advantage Africa and KDPO worked closely with the school from the outset, and the head teacher secured teaching and support staff from the Department of Education. The project now runs with minimal external support, and provides a desperately needed service to the community.
See our other Special Education projects. Special Education at Thinu Primary School and Special Education at Mitaboni Primary School
Thank you to British Foreign School Society for their kind support to this project.