October 10, 2003

THE Bambisanani Sunshine Centre, a centre catering for disabled children, was officially launched in Soweto yesterday by the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo.

The Sunshine Centre Association is a community based non-profit organisation that works with families and communities to develop a range of early intervention services for children who are intellectually and physically disabled or who have developmental delays. "We are committed to the optimum development and inclusion of children with disabilities," said Sunshine Centre director, Maria Longley.

The face brick structure consists of 12 rooms, including a staff room, a fully equipped modern kitchen, a new bathroom and a boardroom. A refurbished sea freight container, called an edutainer, is to be used as a toy library. Trees planted around the premises provide shade cover and increase the aesthetic value of the school grounds.

Opening the Bambisanani Sunshine Centre in White City, Masondo committed the city to building partnerships with NGOs and civil society. "The challenge that faces Johannesburg is urbanisation and service delivery." Links with other organisations made projects like the Sunshine Centre possible, he added.

"Society," said Sunshine Centre project coordinator, Bridget Munnik, "very often neglected disabled children." The Bambisanani Centre was much needed, "a dream come true", according to Longley.

The Bambisanani Centre, which has been up and running for the past three months, is a place where special programmes are run for disabled children and where their parents and siblings also receive training. "We were operating from a small hall until we managed to get funding for this new centre," Munnik said.

The Bambisanani project was selected as a mayoral project, which helped enormously with fund-raising efforts, said Munnik.

In a major funding drive R500 000 was raised from Nedcor, MacSteel, the ICC World Cup 2003, the Kinderhuis Soweto Foundation in the Netherlands and the Anglo American Chairman's Fund. Other corporations, including First National Bank and PG Bison, assisted with refurbishing and equipping the centre.

Nedbank operations manager, Greg Aucamp, said it was a privilege to be associated with the centre. "We are going to get more involved with future projects," he added.

"The Sunshine Centre Association runs four early intervention projects - in Craighall, Eldorado Park, Soweto and Elsburg - as well as being involved in community development and training," said Munnik. The association also runs a toy library.

The association was started in 1976 when a group of mothers got together to form a playgroup for their young children who were mentally disabled. They wanted to stimulate the children and provide a support group for the parents.

Now there are three Sunshine Centres in Johannesburg, in Craighall, Eldorado Park and Soweto, and the fourth centre in Germiston.

For more information, visit the Sunshine Centre Association on www.sunshine.org.za or call 011 642 2005