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Mutual support and advocacy association for the parents of children with disabilities
Zimbabwe Parents of Children with Disabilities Association (ZPCDA)
February 12, 2002

Zimbabwe Parents of Children with Disabilities Association is a mutual support and advocacy association for the parents of children with disabilities.

The association acts as a watchdog for the preservation and promotion of the rights of children with disabilities. Its members meet to share experiences, advice, and ideas regarding the welfare of their children.

Members give each other support through community-based initiatives that seek to change people’s perceptions and attitudes towards disability.

ZPCDA also runs workshops for their members on the nature of disability, culture and disability, families and the disabled child, the community and the disabled child.

As many parents/families of children with disabilities are from disadvantaged social groups, ZPCDA tries to assist them with skills training and fund-raising ventures.

History of ZPCDA

The association was established in 1987 and registered as a welfare organization in 1990. As many branches have been formed across the country, it is now the national organization representing children with disabilities and their parents.

One of the most active branches of the ZPCDA is the Harare Branch which is run by an elected committee that co-ordinates the activities of the branch. It has more than 450 members, mostly mothers.

The Harare branch employs a full-time co-ordinator and a secretary who operate from rented office at Cheshire Homes in Westwood. The committee meets at least twice a month to oversee and discuss branch activities.

With the aid of donors the Harare branch been able to build five play centres in various high-density suburbs of the city. These act as relief-care centres for disabled children and are run by the mothers themselves.

The Harare branch consists of fourteen groups which are engaged in various income-generating projects that seek to promote self-sustenance and self-sufficiency.

Before the establishment of the ZPCDA parents of the disabled children suffered in silence, as there was no association to help promote the rights of their children. Now, through the association, they act together to provide mutual support and to lobby for their children’s rights. The association also works actively to counter the negative public image of children with disabilities. Parents feel self-empowered rather than marginalised, as they come to understand the rights of their children, provide each other with support and. network with other organizations through the exchange of information and ideas.

Branch Activities

ZPCDA groups are engaged in the following activities:

• Mutual support: In this activity parents give each other moral support and share experiences about the welfare of their disabled children.
• Child care stimulation: The branch engages in training parents, especially mothers, about how to stimulate their children through play and simple mental and physical exercises.
• Relief care: Mothers take it in turns to look after and play with a group of disabled children. This enables them to have time to attend to other matters.
• Projects: The Harare branch of ZPCDA runs a number of income-generating projects which include embroidery, tie-and-dye, peanut-butter making, vegetable and fruit drying.

Problems experienced by disabled children
Though it is Ministry of Education policy that children with disabilities should be included in mainstream education, many schools and institutions are not equipped to cater for such children and do not have the necessary infrastructure. Teachers do not have the necessary skills to support or teach these children.

The policies exist and have been endorsed on paper, but implementation is proving very difficult.

Another area of concern is that of the rehabilitation of young adults. There seems to be no clear policy regarding disabled youth or young adults who are neglected as there are no institutions willing or able to help and support them or provide them with skills.

Funding
The Harare branch of the ZPCDA is funded by the donor community, both nationally and internationally. These funds help in day-to-day running of the branch and other centres. As most parents of children with disabilities, who belong to the association are poor, money is needed to pay for school fees and to cater for the children’s medical requirements (as they need constant medical attention).

Recommendations
It is being recommended that children with disabilities are enabled to go to normal schools and that this policy be not only accepted but implemented. It is further recommended that working with disabled children become part of all teacher-training courses and curricula.

Children with disabilities should not be required to pay school fees and, when necessary, their parents should be given government assistance with travel and accommodation allowances. It is also recommended that such children receive free medical treatment in all government hospitals.

Types of Disability
The association does not discriminate with regard to the disability the child suffers. Within the association there are children who have cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, hearing impairments, microcephalus, hydrocephalus, who are physically disabled, have Down’s syndrome, visual impairment and muscular dystrophy.

Below are some definitions of such disabilities.

• Cerebral palsy is a permanent disorder of movement and posture due to non-progressive damage or loss of function in some parts of the body. It is caused during birth, after birth or before birth and sometimes it is mild, moderate or severe. The effects of cerebral palsy vary from child to child: it might not be able to suckle have problems with speech, difficulties in walking, crawling or sitting.
• Muscular dystrophy is a condition in which muscles month by month and year by year grow progressively weaker. The subject experiences difficulty in being able to feeding, dress, bath, go to the toilet or walk and will need assistance with all these activities. Requirements: special balanced diet, regular exercises, wheelchair.
• Hydrocephalus is a condition in which a child is born with an enlarged head. Problems include difficulties in walking, crawling or sitting, and understanding. The child also experiences behavioural problems. To overcome these problems the child needs support from the family, motivation and encouragement.

Some of the children with disabilities are not accepted in mainstream schools, say the School Psychological Services. That is why ZPCDA Harare Branch Programme decided to run relief care centres for these children.

Support
The ZPCDA does all it can to help itself, but it is still reliant on financial support from donors. We also need food, clothes, toys and equipment for our play centres. Some of our children need wheelchairs.

All support will be fully acknowledged and accounted for.

Visitors are welcome to come to our Centre.
Please call us on: +263- (0)4-220184 or write to us for further information.

E-mailed enquiries may be sent to Kubatana - nnap@kubatana.org.zw for referral, as we do not yet have an e-mail address, but we are now seeking funds for a modem.

Winnie Matapure Co-ordinator
Theresa Makwana Secretary
ZPCDA, Harare Branch, c/o Westwood Cheshire Home, 188 Westwood Drive, Kambazuma, Harare, Zimbabwe

Visit the ZPCDA fact sheet

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