Families living with autism came together at the Multipurpose Centre in Cosmo City at the weekend for the Owethu Ausome Fun Day, an event designed to raise awareness and offer support to parents navigating life with autistic children.

The day was organised by Bokang Montjane Tshabalala, founder of the Bokang Montjane Foundation and director of the Owethu Ausome Centre. While children enjoyed activities indoors and outdoors, parents attended talks from speech therapists, occupational therapists and psychiatrists.

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Crucially, they also heard from mothers with autism who shared their own experiences.

“It is important for autism moms and parents to know they are not alone,” said Montjane Tshabalala. She added that the event was particularly aimed at black communities, where misinformation about autism remains common.

“There are so many myths and stigmas. People need to know it can happen to anyone.

There really is no religious or cultural reason behind it. It is a medical condition.”

Speech and language therapist Trully Kheswa told parents that communication goes beyond spoken words.

“Just because a child is not speaking does not mean they have nothing to say,” she said, pointing to gestures, pictures, and even crying as valid forms of expression.

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Nomsa Masoka, founder of Mothers of Children with Autism and the Daisy Autism Village centre in Walkerville, spoke about her 22-year journey raising an autistic son.

She called on the government to fund autism programmes the way it has funded HIV and AIDS initiatives.

“Autism is a lifelong condition, and our children need support throughout every stage of their development,” she said.

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