Our Work

Thusanani aims to help the children through imparting knowledge and empowering the caregivers and volunteers directly. It is through sharing knowledge and skills that it is anticipated that the caregivers may continue to sustain progress for future children. Support is also provided through hands-on practical stimulation and therapy sessions. Where a specific toy would be beneficial to a child, we provide it from the donated items we have collected. Our input to the homes is provided free of charge.

Main Activities

Adoption Clinic - Assessment and Therapy

Developmental assessments and follow-up therapy for babies and children awaiting adoption is offered by Thusanani to support the adoption process. Referrals are received directly from the homes and also from the paediatricians at Bigshoes Foundation. A referral is made if there are concerns regarding a baby's development or if the baby is at risk of developmental delay by virtue of prematurity, other medical conditions, their history or their environment. Our assessment reports are sent together with the medical report from Bigshoes to the Adoption Agencies.

Government Agencies have waiting lists up to six months to provide these developmental assessments and this wait can often jeopardize an adoption placement. Thusanani generally provides reports within 10 days of the assessment which helps to prevent unnecessary delays in the process. These reports assist in determining a child's level of functioning and help to identify any 'special needs' or concerns that the doctors may have missed. Developmentally delayed children that have some form of disability or special need are followed up for therapy in the clinic at the Thusanani Children's Foundation.

Current Children's homes Involvement

We currently provide direct therapeutic intervention at 10 children's homes in Gauteng. This includes individual therapy sessions for children with specific needs as well as groups with children and the training of caregivers and staff.

Training Workshops

We provide training to caregivers and volunteers from the homes concentrating on the importance of play, developmental milestones, stimulation, and the importance of touch and creating a bond (and not providing this to children) and the impact of institutionalization. A manual with notes from the workshop is provided to each participant and this includes cost effective ideas to promote play and appropriate stimulation. The sessions are interactive and practical.

Training workshops are also run for community workers in day care centers and crèches. A session where the participants make cost effective toys from waste is often the highlight of the training! On completion, the participants receive a certificate and are provided with a 'starter toy making kit' that they can take home in order to encourage them to start making toys in their own communities.

Thusanani also contributes a module on 'Early Development and Stimulation' for the course on "Basic Child Health" run by Bigshoes Foundation.

Outings

With sponsorship from The Glen Shopping Centre, we are able to take small groups of children from different homes on a monthly outing. Other outings are organized as funding and opportunities arise. For most of the children on our outings it may be the first time they have ventured out of their communities in a safe, controlled and pleasurable way. In addition we also provide an annual Christmas Party at the zoo for children from crèches in Lehae and the Diepkloof Hostel in Soweto.

Educational Toy and Clothing Donations

Thusanani acts as a collection and distribution point for educational toys and good quality second hand clothing for 0-6 year old babies and children. These donations are sorted and provided to homes where we feel there is a specific need. Caregivers in the homes are shown how to use the toys to stimulate and develop basic concepts such as colour, shape, and size, together with self care skills and appropriate fine and gross motor skills.

We also make use of other organizations such as Rainbow Airbridge and Soweto Youth and Development Projects to distribute these items should we have a surplus.