Tumelo Home, Residential Care Center
Started by Dr. Thindisa: 1997
Officially supported by DFL: 31
This center is in the Johannesburg area, and was started by a couple by the name of Thindisa. This center is for the children who are physically and/or mentally handicapped. Some of the children have lost their parents to AIDS and others were just abandoned because of their handicap.
We will shortly relate a bit about a few
of the children in his home:
Minkie can walk, talk and even feed herself. She is mentally
retarded and it is difficult for her to take or follow instructions. She has
been sexually abused and molested several times. Care-givers fear she could
contract HIV or AIDS. At one stage she was lost for three years. Her mother
died several years ago and for three years she was lost. Her mother having
passed away there was no one left to care for her during the Christmas holidays
but her alcoholic aunts.
Tina is severely retarded, is incontinent and has poor movement.
Her speech is blurred and cannot feed herself. She sufferers from epilepsy
and she is on treatment. She is in and out of hospital constantly. .
Levuyo is severely retarded. He cannot move from one place
to another .he cannot feed himself nor can he speak and his hearing is impaired.
Both his parents are deceased.
Khensani Khoza has been adopted as a permanent resident. His
parents are nowhere to be seen, they disappeared. We have kept him at the
centre for the past three years. As a result we have closed during holidays
like Christmas, Easter and so on. The parents have not contacted us for the
last three years that he has been here. Khensani cannot feed himself however
he is normal and only deaf and dumb. He is on treatment for epilepsy. Khensani
needs 24 hour monitoring because he has the urge of always running away.
