Estralita National Childrens Day

The goverment of South Africa declared the first Saturday of November as National Children’s Day. The aim of this celebration is to highlight the progress being made towards the realisation and promotion of the rights of children.

According to the organiser, Romana Sultan-Hoosen, an occupational therapist at the school, the constitution of South Africa highlighted the rights of all children. These basic rights, such as food and shelter, are imperative, but too often we forget that they are not restricted to only these. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises the human dignity of all kids and the need to ensure their well-being and development.

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“As an occupational therapist, I can confidently emphasise that one of the ways to maintain a child’s well-being is through meaningful play, and love.

“This day intended to give the children at Estralita exactly that, with the added benefit of collaborative work with the Department of Health, a vital component in upholding the rights of children,” she commented.

“We hope that this day haslaid the foundation for many more successful initiatives between Lydenburg Hospital and Estralita Special School,” Sultan-Hoosen added.

Activities that took place on the day were face painting, dancing, exercise routines, a fun walk and also audiology screening for grade Rs and ones.

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Lydenburg Hospital audiologist and South African Integrity Icon for 2019, Sakhile Nkosi, who was doing the hearing screening at Estralita, said the purpose of that was to identify children with hearing losses, which may affect their intellectual, emotional, social, speech or language development. “Early identification and intervention to hearing loss provides the best opportunity for effective remediation, and aim to reduce the negative effects of hearing loss on the child’s development,” he said.