AS morning light filters into the room, Tendai Chaperevera (46) finds herself engulfed in the never-ending cycle of caregiving, with three children living with disabilities.
Her eldest child, born with hydrocephalus, requires constant medical attention, while the other two, facing autism spectrum, demand specialised care.
Jiggling alone without proper knowledge about her children’s conditions was exhausting. She had to give them the love and care they all needed.
Each day was a struggle, as she navigated the burden of her responsibilities, longing for her own dreams which were often overshadowed by the profound love and commitment she felt for her children.
Such was the life for Chaperevera, who lives in Chizungu, an area in Epworth, a dormitory town 16km on the outskirts of Harare, the capital.
Her journey took a different turn after she learned about the Disability Inclusive Parenting Programme, an initiative by the Zimbabwe Parents of Children with Disability Association (ZPCHCA), a stimulation facility that has been operating in Epworth.
ZPCHCA’s initiative is part of a programme by the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare ministry supported by Unicef’s Child Protection Fund III.
It is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency that seeks to strengthen caregivers’ capacity to advocate free access to disability-specialised services.
As the programme is gradually being implemented in schools around the area, Chaperevera now takes all her three children to Chinamano Primary School, which has a stimulation centre to cater for children with special needs.
Stimulation centres are more than the traditional “Special Class”, which gives every child an opportunity to go to school.
“My eldest child is 24 years old, the second one is 12 and the last one nine. My last two children have autism and both of them, especially the youngest, have been struggling with speech,” she said.
“They have been able to access services at the stimulation centre and now they are both able to communicate and gradually, things are changing.”
She added: “My younger kids were the hardest to take care of because, with their condition, you never know what is coming next.
“At one moment, they would be fine and the next, any of them can start screaming and you wonder what you would have done wrong.”
She said without proper knowledge, one would be left thinking their children were cursed or possessed.
“However, I am grateful because this programme has helped me in an indescribable way. My eldest child now has a wheelchair and it has helped me to move her around easily,” she said.
Living as a single mother after her husband left her after giving birth to a disabled child was hard.
Losing her second marriage after giving birth to two children with autism added salt to the injury, she said, adding that the changed circumstances piled more misery in her life as she faced financial difficulties to take care of her children's day-to-day needs.
“Now since my children started going to school, I and other mothers in similar situation to mine are making floor polish and peanut butter to sell so that we get money to sustain our financial needs. We were taught to make these products here at ZPCHCA,” she said.
Her children are her greatest motivation to work harder as she navigates motherhood alone.
Chaperevera encouraged parents who have children living with disabilities to take them to stimulation centres to access all the help they can get for the upbringing of their children.
The initiative is contributing to the implementation of the National Disability Policy in five districts: Epworth (Harare), Mutasa (Manicaland), Beitbridge (Matabeleland South) and Zvishavane (Midlands).
ZPCHCA project co-ordinator Regis Manjoro said the initiative had assisted 800 children in the last 12 months across all five districts.
“What we are now trying to do is to formalise services that are required by children with disabilities, particularly access to early childhood education,” he said.
“What we are now doing is we are establishing school-based child stimulation centres.
“We are now decentralising the National Disability Policy, which says that services should be brought to the community where children live.”
Added Manjoro: “We are taking physiotherapists to the school simulation classes, social workers from the Department of Social Services and other various government and local authority professionals to go to the communities and offer services that are required by children daily.
“Over the last 12 months, we have managed to reach out to 800 children to have access to various services, including access to registration in five districts.”
Explaining how the stimulation centres work, Epworth district ZPCHCA field officer Kudzai Garanewako said the children at the stimulation centres are learning through the ECD curricula and it has been very beneficial.
The children also have access to services such as physiotherapy, among other needs.
“We target out-of-school children with disabilities here in Epworth,” Garanewako said.
“They do a range of activities like colouring, shooting, indoor and outdoor play.
“Much of it is early child development curricula and they learn through play.”
Lead child care worker for ward 5, Priscilla Rongoti, said the programme has helped her to intensify her knowledge of childcare protection issues which she shares in her community.
“My role is to identify and prepare cases for children in the community, especially those living with disabilities,” she said.
“We have to identify children who are neglected, abused in any way, or who are being kept away from the public eye and help them get the help they need.
“I am happy to share all the knowledge I have gained with the community I grew up in.”