SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR PARENTS
Accomplish Children’s Trust was founded in 2008 to support the work of two local organizations in Kasese district in Western Uganda. These two organizations SADICH (Save the Disabled Child’s Home) and RAPCD (Rwenzori Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities) were set up by Ugandan parents of children with disabilities.
Biira Agnes (founder of SADICH) recognized the difficulty of bringing up a child with disabilities, both in fighting the negative attitudes towards disabilities, and also the financial implications of providing for the increased health and educational needs of the child. Together with other parents of children with disabilities, she established SADICH to promote children with disabilities and enabling, encouraging and supporting parents to look after them.
Maali Wilson is the founder of RAPCD. His eldest son, Khembo, was born with Cerebral Palsy. Maali and his wife were proactive in seeking medical health and saw their son being able to walk and attend school, (he is very good with a computer). Other people in the community were amazed at what Khembo was able to achieve. Maali realized that many people did not know what was available to help children with disabilities, or the potential that these children had. He also realized the financial difficulties many of these families faced in accessing available facilities. RAPCD was established to help these families.
From 2005-2008 Rebecca Cornish worked as a physiotherapist in Kagando hospital in Kasese. She recognized the huge need to treat children with disabilities in the community. Towards the end of her time in Uganda she was introduced to both SADICH and RAPCD. She was impressed with their vision and the work they were doing with such meager resources. She secured some funding for land and carpentry and tailoring tools to set up vocational training for people with disabilities. But, she struggled to secure more support.
On leaving Uganda she set up Accomplish Children’s Trust (ACT). Her vision: TO ENABLE CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES TO ACHIEVE THEIR POTENTIAL.
Rebecca (second from right) with Edd, Maali Wilson (on left), his wife and children
Accomplish Children's Trust’s three objectives are:
• To advance education for disabled children and their families;
• To enable medical relief and treatment for disabilities of all types effecting children and young families; and
• To provide a Christian response and social outreach to children & young people with disabilities and their families in Africa.
In last four years, ACT has supported SADICH and RAPCD in a variety of ways: sponsored deaf and blind children, bought goats and chickens for income generating activities, paid for salaries of vocational training teachers and a community-based rehabilitation (CBR)worker, run a craft shop, supplied bicycles, paid for special needs teachers, built toilets, provided desks. beds, books and mosquito nets, provided sign language training, provided water supply and helped wire the building s for electric supply, and much more.
This kind of support has helped SADICH and RAPCD to establish themselves, stand on their own and secure support from other sources. Thus, ACT has given them the “wings” to be able to fly on their own.
