Devoted her life to children with special needs

A young boy peeps curiously from a dark classroom. Pushing himself on his stomach on a concrete surface, he moves closer to the school’s gate. He keeps his head low, his eyes shielded behind the bars of the old worn out metal gate.

Just then, a woman in a neat black skirt and white blouse stepped out from a dark hallway and eyed the young boy. Her hair is neatly tucked inside the black scarf, her face aged but smiling. She looked exhausted.

As she moved closer to open the gate, she explained that the young boy is waiting for his parents to pick him. Habibu Bilal is six years old and is paralysed from waist down. He has been at the Ukombozi Primary School Disability Centre, a public school, for few years now. Habibu was able to interact, but could not express himself verbally. He is one of the 61 students of Mwanahamisi Hussein at the day care school.

Mwanahamisi Hussein, 54 years old, is the permanent caregiver at the disability centre and has been taking care of young children with special needs since 2006. Being the only caregiver at the centre, the work to feed, clothe and clean, teach and providing day care for 61 students, most of whom have needs more profound than Habibu’s, has become heavy. Today, it shows on Mwanahamisi’s face.

Mwanahamisi is the mother of five children, her youngest daughter Mariam (12), who has special needs, depends on her. Her life and devotion extends to taking care of abused children and helping families with children with disabilities. Mwanahamisi’s life is a continuous struggle, however she is always smiling. “Mariam, my youngest daughter was born with Down’s Syndrome in 2003. Mariam started walking after seven years, till then she was dependant on my back. Mariam is not my sole motivation to help other children with special needs, but being in the shoes of parents who go through hard times taking care of children with a disability, has made me more sensitive towards them,” Mwanahamisi explained.

She continued, “As parents, we go through hard times. I know of a single mother, whose husband left her after the birth of her child who was born with a disability. Her relatives too don’t get along with her. She sells fruits on the streets to earn some money, but needs support like ours to take care of her child who is dependent on her, so that she can continue with her daily chores and struggles. There are times, when she doesn’t have money to come and drop her child at this centre, so she has to carry her little one on her back all day under the scorching sun to earn her daily bread. Can you imagine the hardships of life these mothers go through? So stories of these mothers inspire me.”

Doors open

Mwanahamisi encourages parents to bring their children with special needs to her, especially those who are dependant, instead of locking them in a room due to circumstances, so that she can teach and nurture them.

Aisha Leonard is the mother of a child with special needs who makes it a point to make sure her son Ashraf is present at the centre every day. “It takes me one hour at least from where I reside in Tandale to reach the school by foot carrying Ashraf on my back. Mwanahamisi is a mother and a teacher to my child. She brings herself out, if you want to look at selfless women in this world, she is one of them. She has a very big heart. My child is four years old now, but he responds to me, which is a big achievement. When I ask him to eat his food, he responds. This is learning too. He can now sit, he has learnt to move his hands and play on his own. I see hope,” Mama Aisha explains her appreciation towards Mwanahamisi.

The disability day care centre is located outside the sprawling development, in the interiors of Manzese. The centre was established in 2002 in the premises of Ukombozi Primary School, but was run by Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) in collaboration with the government of Finland till the year 2013. It was only this year, when the government of Tanzania recognised this centre. “Last year, the centre went dormant when the contract with CCBRT ended; the kids were forced out of school due to circumstance and lack of resources such as teachers. We fought to revive it back and pledged the local government to do something about it,” Mwanahamisi was one of the forerunners to revive the centre back on its feet.

The centre separated by a huge soccer ground from the Ukombozi Primary School, has two rooms; one that is a classroom and the second room is a kitchen. They have three toilets, none designed for children with special needs. The children don’t pay school fees and are provided with two meals a day.

Today, at the disability day care centre, Mwanahamisi works around the clock to take care of 61 children (33 boys and 28 girls) with mental and physical disability between the ages of 4-14. Always, someone must be there from the time the parents drop their kids, to the time the parents pick their children up. Sometimes, she is there till late in the evening. Almost constantly, children need to be fed or changed due to bladder and bowel incontinence. Just keeping up with the minimal amount of care is both physically and emotionally hard work, and it comes with its own challenges.

“The government has done strides to reform education for children with special needs at the primary level, but education for smaller children with special needs at the pre-primary level has not been recognised yet. They need to be included,” Mwanahamisi emphasises on the importance of it.

Fair treatment to all

According to the Tanzania 2008 Disability Survey Report, of the total 362,847 children with disabilities and aged between 3 – 14 years, 15.5 per cent were refused entry to schools because of their disabilities. The highest refusal of 8.4 per cent was in regard to entry into regular primary schools. This was followed by refusal to join the regular pre-schools at 4.7 per cent. And of the 362,847 children with disabilities aged 7 – 13 years, only 38.4 per cent were attending school. This figure for children with disabilities was well below the targets of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which had called out for 100 percent primary enrolment by year 2015.

Rose Anselim, a special needs teacher at Ukombozi primary disability school identified lack of special educational needs teachers, as one of the main challenges constraining the development of these children. “This centre has only two special educational needs teachers, where it is 1 teacher to 30 children with special needs. In reality, it should be 1 teacher to 5 children with special needs. Every child needs attention,” she said.

Ms Anselim also identified that the attendance of the children is not consistent due to the challenges the parents face. On an average, the children attending school on a weekday is 25 to 30. “The infrastructure of this school is poor. We have one classroom with only one round table and about 10 chairs for those who are able to sit, 12 CP chairs for cerebral palsy conditioned children and 1 corner chair for those who are developing. The teaching materials are worn out, such as puzzles and picture charts. We don’t have any quality material that will assist the children with coordination and enhancement. What we have in this almost empty classroom that helps us in teaching are pictures painted on the walls, books and pencils and worn out puzzles. Though feeding and toilet training is a lesson on its own, the needs of the children with a disability have not been considered and taken to attention,” Ms Anselim added.

Mwanahamisi is not an employee of the school; rather the teachers of Ukombozi primary school consider her a volunteer and a devotee. “The government does not employed Mwanahamisi, sadly and unfortunately, the government doesn’t recognise the works of such people. Whatever she is doing for these children is out of her will and dedication. We as individuals also fail to appreciate her work and cannot provide her with a monthly salary, but this has not stopped Mwanahamisi’s motivation. She is more than a caregiver; she is a mother, a teacher and a woman of strong devotion. She isn’t a teacher professionally, but her profound knowledge and good heart makes her nothing less than any of the professional teachers here at Ukombozi,” said Biamina Swai, the head-teacher of Ukombozi Primary School.

Ms Swai added that running a special school isn’t easy. “The government gives a monthly sum of Sh1,300,000 to run the special school, from which we are only able to provide two meals per day for the children with special needs.”

The sum provided by the government doesn’t justify in running the school, according to Ms Swai. The disability day care centre lacks repairing, medicines, desks and chairs for children, basic things such as soap, towels and learning materials.

Mwanahamisi believes that the needs of centres such as the Ukombozi Primary School Disability are urgent. Without proper attention, children are confined to limited space, limited education and minimal attention. However, without this centre, the children with special needs would be in a much worse place, either locked in a room or alone in the streets.

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