About Us
Our Approach
Khethiwe’s model is unique and innovative. In our experience the model is sustainable and replicable in resource constrained environments. This lifestyle based model, which focusses on skills transference, has a profound impact on the clients we serve, their families and their communities. Khethiwe was selected as one of South Africa’s best examples of home and community based rehabilitative care for the review of implementation strategies to inform the South African Strategy and Framework on Disability and Rehabilitation services in 2016.
Khethiwe fills a gap by serving as “primary care providers” in terms of helping families to thrive despite the many challenges faced living in a poorly resourced environment with children with disabilities. Our lifestyle-based approach empowers families with the knowledge that they are the ones who can most help their children at home. We have also embarked on a number of skills development programs targeting the mothers in these families in particular.
Who We Are
Bringing the families that we serve from a place of darkness to a place of hope
Khethiwe is a small, impactful NGO providing holistic rehabilitation for children with neurological impairments from disadvantaged families.
Although Cerebral Palsy is the greatest cause of childhood disability, it remains a challenge in the public health care sector with few health care professionals being appropriately skilled or interested in this complex field.
Khethiwe is a Therapy Centre providing free rehabilitation to families who cannot pay for it. Our mission is to provide innovative and passionate rehabilitation bringing our clients and their families from a place of darkness to a place of hope.
Rehabilitation of neurological impairments is one aspect of primary health care inadequately addressed in the current health system. Many therapists are overwhelmed with the needs of these clientele, finding it difficult to treat them adequately in a low resourced, high case load setting,
We PROVIDE HANDS ON THERAPY IN AN EMPATHETIC AND CARING ENVIRONMENT
Over the last seven years, we have built a dynamic and efficient service. We provide hands on therapy, empower parents to continue the rehabilitation process at home and bridge the gap between families and the other healthcare services they access. This includes assisting families in wading through mounds of information on their condition, which need to be interpreted and processed. Furthermore, we have embarked on training and skills development opportunities for the families we work with. Our outreach projects have impacted significantly on the care centres in local communities.
In addition, Khethiwe provides valuable learning and peer support for allied Health Care Professionals and students, networking extensively with other organizations, providing resources and support.
Khethiwe is also running an outreach program at three community day care centers: Happy Hours, (Hammarsdale) Sisonke (Dassenhoek) and Auckland and KwaDengezi providing a life-skills program to children and teenagers with cognitive and sometimes concurrent physical impairments.
Khethiwe has made a significant impact on the children and families we serve, on other healthcare providers working in areas of need, on students going out into the community and on the care centers we support in the community. Our background of working in under resourced areas has equipped us to approach many of the challenges we face as opportunities. We focus on creating a team with the families, helping their children achieve their fullest potential.
All our associate staff are themselves mothers of children with disabilities who have come through Khethiwe, which creates an empathetic and caring environment.
We have a sustainable, replicable model for rehabilitation and believe we are worthy recipients of funding
– Glenys Ross March 2020
Partners
