Success Stories
Spreading Joy in Ethiopia
- By The Global Fund for Children on November 16th, 2011
- Region: Sub-Saharan Africa, Success Stories
Grantee Partner
Nia Foundation
Location
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Rahel wanted her daughter Aster, who has autism, to go to school just like the other children in Addis Ababa. But schools turned her away. And family members would not take care of Aster—it was too hard to understand and control her.
Rahel, a single mother struggling to make ends meet, could see no other choice: she tied her daughter’s hands behind her back with a shoelace, left her with a neighbor’s maid, and went to work.
Aster and Rahel’s story is unfortunately common. In Ethiopia, mental health disabilities and developmental disorders are frequently misdiagnosed and misunderstood. Often, children with these conditions are believed to have been cursed or possessed by the devil. Without social support, parents of autistic children lack the knowledge, resources, and wherewithal to care for them. In the worst cases, children with autism are subject to neglect and abuse.
Zemi Yenus, founder of our grantee partner Nia Foundation, understands these struggles.
“Every morning when I was going to take my other child to school, my Joy had to watch us depart through the window. This…broke my heart,” Yenus says, talking about her son Yousef, nicknamed Joy, who is autistic.
When she could find no place for her son to learn and socialize with other children, Yenus decided to create one. The Joy Center for Children with Autism and Related Disorders, which we support, challenges the pervasive belief that children with mental disabilities are incapable of achievement and undeserving of services. It is the first center of its kind in Ethiopia.
The center is renowned for its innovative blend of therapy, life skills training, and advocacy for children with autism spectrum disorders. The severity of autism varies, so the center focuses on helping each child realize his or her unique potential.
Because many of the children have difficulty communicating verbally, Yenus developed Abugida Fontetiks, a language curriculum and tool that uses the Geez alphabet, the root of regional languages such as Tigraic and Amharic. The center also holds regular parent meets and workshops, geared toward engaging families in the rehabilitation of their children at home.
Yenus is happy to report that, since coming to the Joy Center, Aster is showing great improvement through treatments and therapies. “We are blessed to be able to share her mother’s burden, and contribute to Aster’s smile,” she says.
Photograph © The Nia Foundation
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