Hope for the needy

GABRIELLA CHILDREN’S REHABILITATION CENTRE

GABRIELLA is a non-profit making, non-partisan, nonpolitical, non-

discriminatory and service oriented organization registered under

Tanzania non-governmental organization Act, 2002 with registration

No.003511 in year 2009. It is registered to work all over Tanzania

mainland. It is located at Sambarai-Kibosho road, Moshi

Kilimanjaro. Gabriella was started mainly in response to the need of

children with learning disabilities and Autism. The reason for

focusing in this group is because in all type of disability this is most

neglected group in the area of service delivery.

CONTENTS

x About Gabriella 1

x Summary 1

x Introduction 2

x overview 2

x Social problem 3

x Our activities 3-4

x Impact 5

x Stakeholder3 6

x Footprint 6

x Future plans 6

For the past 3 years Gabriella Centre has put more efforts on rising awareness about Autism the condition which is

less known through hosting diagnostic clinics and workshop for the purposes of having clear understanding on

autism These clinics bring light to parents as they get to know exactly what is Autism and what are the abilities of

their children. Also staff at Gabriella have had an opportunity to learn more on diagnosis and training of parents. As

a result we have been receiving referrals from all over the country and we have managed to expand our horizon by

working in new areas and for the year 2014, 657 children with different disabilities were directly impacted by our

service. That includes doing assessments and intervention at regular primary schools aiming at inclusion

World Autism awareness day

What is GABRIELLA?

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Organization overview Mission and vision statement

Gabriella has a mission of ensuring children with disability

will be early identified, properly assessed and given early

and quality intervention and finally become valued

members of their communities.

Gabriella is dedicated in working with parents, teachers,

health workers and social welfare officers, the community

at large, to reach our vision of seeing all children with

disabilities in Tanzania become independent and accepted

members of their communities

2014 has been a rewarding year for the team at Gabriella center and for

all the lives of children with disability that have been touched by our

services. Since having a disability in the communities here is a reason

enough to be treated as an outcast and sometimes even endangering

their lives. For this reason Gabriella center has been a center of hope.

Offering a place where a child or youth with disability can access our

services and enjoy a caring environment, conducive for learning skills

that empower them with having an independent future. Not only has

our services targeted children but also caregivers/parents who come

for training on how to handle their children, and furthermore the

communities get educated on issues about disability through our

outreach program therefore preparing a welcoming and acceptable

environment for the child/youth with disability as they go back to their

home environment. I would like to thank the parents, the center’s

Governing Body, for giving the staff and myself their full co-operation in

order for us to provide quality rehabilitation and vocational skills

training for children and youth with disability. With the full co-

operation of all the stakeholders, we can continue to maintain high

standards of service for children and youth with disability of which we

are distinguished.

We are grateful for all the support we get from our donors and

stakeholders for their tireless contributions. And hope for a bright

coming year 2015.

Brenda Deborah Shuma

Director/ Founder

Gabriella Centre

Although the Tanzania act on person with disability

2010 stipulates clearly the rights of a person with

disability to access health, rehabilitation and

education services. The situation is still in need of

improvement in areas such as education and access

to rehabilitation services. UNICEF report on access to

education in Tanzania, indicates only 0.35 per cent

of all children enrolled in primary school were

children with disabilities. These percentages are

extremely low when compared with the estimated 7.8

per cent of the population with disabilities in

Tanzania, which indicates that most children with

impairment are not enrolled. There is no functioning

national system for the identification and assessment

of children with physical or mental impairments, and

no coherent data to track or respond to their needs.

For those children with disabilities who do enroll,

regular attendance is often extremely difficult which

leaves children and youth without any hope, and

makes them more vulnerable to abuse including

sexual abuse.

Introduction

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Scope of the social problem we are addressing

Main problem Lack of proper systems that lead to earlyidentification and referral

Negative attitudesand believes

Children and youth with disability are mostlyneglected andreceive little or no care

Bureaucracy inimplementing existing policies

Community has limitedknowledge on services forpeople with disability

Solution

• Provis ion of high quality assessment, diagnosis & therapeutic support at

Gabriella Centre

Communityinvolvement

Awareness & educationcampaigns

Rehabilitative servicein and outside the center

Forming Alliance and Networkingwith other Organization

The Service that we offer consist of therapeutic and integrated school program for children with and without

disability, family empowerment, skills training and outreach activities. Aiming at empowering children with the skills

for independence, support families by equipping them with tools to tackle day to day challenges and preparing

the community to accept and support children and youth with disability.

Montessori kindergarten this is a 5 day

program me for children from 3 to 6 years. It

is an integrated class, involves children with

and without disability. it also aims at breaking

stigma in the community and give opportunity

for children from surrounding to benefit.

Special need class- this is for children above

kindergarten level who have difficulty in

coping in regular school due to their learning

needs. This aims at identifying their needs

and giving school opportunity in special way.

This includes integration back to regular

school and provides advice to teachers.

Nanginyi is a 9 year old girl with a condition called Down

syndrome. She comes from a Maasai society in Manyara region.

her condition has made her slow in learning and therefore

hindering her from attending school or leaning basic life skills,

her physical development is delayed which also was a

contributing factor for not attending school or any other service

since where she comes from the children have to walk long

distances to reach any social service including school. Since It is

difficult for Nanginyi to go to school it makes her prone and is at

risk of being forced to early marriage. Though our outreach

activities Her mother heard about Gabriella center and brought

her, she was accepted and is boarding at the center. She is very

happy to be able to experience socializing with others and

gaining skills. Since she joined the community from where she

comes from has change its attitude towards disability and are

bringing forth other children with disability to receive intervention.

School programme Case story

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Children learning how to make key hole garden

Youth learning how to milk goat

Skills training – children and youth learn life skills which

involves self-care such as dressing, bathing, toileting, bed

making etc.

Also we assess the talents and interest of children/ youth

and develop them for use in the future to be independent

and productive – in the area of

x Cooking food, bites,

x Livestock keeping- chicken, rabbits, milk goats

x Gardening

x Art and craft

x Drama and traditional dance

x Modeling

Intensive therapy weeks – this is mainly training of

caregivers on how to handle their children with

disability at home, also for them to get support

from each other. Training includes therapy, diet ,

play, information about child’s condition etc.

The team goes out in the community for rising

awareness, assessment, intervention and referral to

appropriate services.

.

Skills training

Intensive therapy weeks

Outreach and home visit

Intensive therapy weeks

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Cooking class for youth

Parents and teachers workshop

657 • Children received assessment and

intervention.

228 • caregivers receive intensive training.

77 •School programe •26 youth gain vocational skills •27 attend special needs class •24 children enrolled in intergrated kindergarten •5 youth reintergrated back to their communities with income generatingg projects

•44 ofthe children board at the centre

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•WORKSHOPS IN TOTAL HAVING 900 PARTICIPANTS INCLUDING HEALTHWORKERS, COMMUNITY LEADERS, PARENTS,TEACHERS.

•we have managed to engage 13 community leaders, in our service provision.

x Mayor of Moshi municipal Hon.JAFFARY MICHAEL

received the walk during the world autism

awareness day and commended the effort done

by Gabriella centre to ensure children in need get

right services

x Police officer incharge of special desk for gender

and children Sgt. GRACE LYIMO told community to

protect children right and stop violence.

x Reach through media coverage. We have had

radio(local and international) and newspaper

coverage on all events, resulting to tremendous

increase of number of parents who access our

services

x Visit by the Tanzania national board of NGO from

the Ministry of Community Development Gender

And Children

x School Visits with Moshi Municipal Council to

identify the need of children with disability for the

aim of influencing more support from government. 5

schools were visited

x 13 public school receive assessment advice and

teachers training

x Events – Kili-marathon ,world autism awareness

day, African child day, world day for a person

with disability parents day and community meeting

Impact

This year we have put up a fence and gate surrounding all the center premises, for more safety of the children. Since most of them if they go out of the center don’t know how to get back and can’t express themselves.

Our team

Gabriella center strengthens its team day by day to ensure services provided are professional, quality and adequate. Our team comprises of 15 staff members. And 9 volunteers to assisst Includes Occupational therapists special need teacher, art trainers, Montessori teachers, therapy assistant, matrons also on consultation we have pediatrician, physiotherapist, and psychological counselor.

“It is the smile that we see in

a child that keeps us going”.

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Stakeholder involvement

It has been pleasure to work with children and their families

in which has been enabled by the support of our donors.

TIGO/REACH FOR CHANGE, GO CAMPAIGN, YES

Kilimanjaro, EDPOWERMENT, CAPDA,AFRICAN YOGA

GROUP and individual contributions.

In our outreach and Centre activities we are grateful for the

involvement of village leaders, educational officers, district

directors, community leader such religion leaders .

In raising awareness about disability in the community it has

been very successful due to the support we have had by

working together with other like minded NGOs such as

CCBRT – Kilimanjaro, YWCA, BCC, and DPOs such as

Tanzania Federation of Disabled People's Organizations

(SHIVYAWATA)

We operate mainly in Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions in 7 districts and also attend to children from other parts of Tanzania as indicated in the map with red arrows.

Children accessing the center

Geographical food print

Social problem that we are addressing

Alot of referrals are sent to us from all over the country. The

center is limited in terms of space and human resource. We can

only have a maximum of 70 people at a time. So many are

assessed, passed through the intensive therapy weeks program

and remain in the waiting list to be enrolled in our daily

programs. It usually is very heart breaking to a parent when

they are told to try another time for their child to be enrolled in

our services. it is in our plans to build our own center which will

have more space and bigger capacity to handle many

children at a time. As shown below.

Our future plans

For more information

Web : www.gabrielllarehab.org

Facebook: gabriellachildrenscentre

Blog: reachforchange.org/Brenda-deborah-shuma

Email:Gabriellacentre@hotmail.com,info@gabriellarehab.org

Mobile +255713456727,+255 766559968

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