KHANYISA Developmental Centre celebrated a special milestone recently: its 10th birthday.

The centre, which was founded in 2013, offers specialised educational and therapeutic intervention for children from birth to 18 years with different needs.

Amy Rodger, centre director at Khanyisa, gave a brief background to what they are all about.

“It is important to remember that Khanyisa is not a school but a developmental centre where we merge education and therapy. Khanyisa is an isiZulu word meaning ‘where light comes from’. Since 2013, we have been bringing light back to the lives of children who have different needs, and helping them in turn to become bright lights in their families and communities,” she explained.

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The school currently looks after and cares for 55 children with different and multiple special needs.

Speaking on their 10th birthday milestone, Rodger said her long-time vision was to create more awareness on children with different needs.

“Of course we would love to see more Khanyisas in years to come, but our ultimate goal is to see children and adults with different needs being normalised and being advocated more for in society. We have a good relationship with some of the stores in the community, and we would love to see the implementation of a different-needs shopping hour.

“We are working towards that where the store either turns off its music or where there are no loud noises – to allow parents with children with different needs to be able to shop. Another long-term goal would be to see Moses Mabhida Stadium light up in blue in April for autism awareness. We believe children with different needs are valuable and have much to offer our communities,” she said.

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Rodger said there are various avenues in which people can help.

“We also take on volunteers to spend time with the children – there’s just a few boxes we need to tick before that happens. In fact, there are various avenues people can get involved in or help with. In fact, we hope to see as much community involvement as possible,” she said.

You can also visit their website at www.khanyisacentre.co.za for more information.

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