Sinethemba Special Care Centre
The Association’s focus is on working with children and families facing the adversities of living with a family member with special needs. The main focus is a day care centre.
Area of Operation
Simon’s Town Magisterial District, specifically in Masiphumelele and Ocean View. The area also incorporates Simon’s town, Red Hill, Scarborough, Kommetjie, Sunnydale, Glencairn, Noordhoek and Fish Hoek. We have recently added Hout Bay to our Area of Operation.
The Association
is a Non-Profit and Public Benefit Organisation with Section 18A status that operates in the Simon’s Town Magisterial District of the City of Cape Town, South Western Cape Region in Southern Africa.
Our Vision in Our Community
Vision
Our Vision is for a safe and fair South Africa with freedom for life-long education that creates opportunities, independence, acceptance, health and well being for people with special needs and their families.
Mission
We will strive to develop public awareness of social inclusion for people with special needs.
We are committed to community development programmes for people with special needs.
We aim to provide supportive and rehabilitative services for people with special needs and their families and special care for those with special needs in the community.
News & Updates
Goodbye to our Friend
It is with great sadness that we need to share that Valerie Bull, the Association’s Cook/Cleaner, passed away on 13 June 2023. Valerie was appointed in 2008 and a soon became a big part of the Sinethemba family. She was a force to be reckoned with, strong willed and...
Hot Chocolate to warm the body
Sinethemba was blessed with a wonderful donation of groceries during the last term. Amongst this donation, was a huge tub of Hot Chocolate. This was the highlight of our children's Friday's. As part of their class activity , they were able to make and have some hot...
Pamper Day for the Young Ladies
On the 15th of June 2023, Chantel, a hairstylist based in our community came in to donate some time and give the girls in our young adult class some new hairstyles. The ladies were so excited to be treated to this experience and left school looking like the Diva's...
Sinethemba Special Care Centre
Fish Hoek – Kommetjie – Noordoek Welfare Association’s main project is Sinethemba Special Care Centre.
Sinethemba is a day care facility that focuses on children with severe and profound special needs.
We have children with Autism, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy to name a few. This is a day care centre where we collect the children in the mornings and take them home in the afternoons.
Sinethemba’s focus is on assisting the children in becoming as independent as they possibly can and if at all possible, integrating children into a mainstream school environment, when a child is independent and has the ability to attend mainstream schools.
Sinethemba has an average of six children annually who are integrated into the mainstream school environment. For those children who have severe and profound special needs we aim to keep them as comfortable as possible with daily stimulation programmes offered by our carers and therapists.
This service enables the parents to go out and work while resting assured that their children are being taken care off.
Sinethemba believes in a holistic approach with various professionals involved with the care of the children ie. Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist. These professionals work closely with the children’s Carers and the Principal of Sinethemba Special Care Centre.
Each child has his/her own intervention plan with its own goals compiled according to the child’s assessment of his or her needs and potential.
Quarterly Team discussions are held with all the professionals during which each child’s intervention plan is discussed and whether goals set are being reached, if not, the reason is identified and the intervention plan is adapted.
Sinethemba also make use of the services of two Community Workers. These workers focus on assisting families and individuals with special needs whether it is through counselling, advocacy or grant applications.
Sinethemba offers:
- Day care for children with severe and profound special needs
- Creative stimulation programmes
- Transference of care skills
- Various Therapies ie Occupational therapy
- Parent Support
- Public Education towards Inclusion
- Counselling
- Community Outreach
Holistic approach is part of the integral service offered by Sinethemba Special Care Centre.
Apart from creative stimulative programmes the Centre also offers therapy to the children. Each child has an individual intervention plan with specific goals according to his or her potential and diagnosis. Sinethemba is in the privileged position of having a Occupational Therapist at the Centre three days a week and a Physio Therapist at the Centre five days a week.
Interdisciplinary meetings between the different disciplines involved with the children’s individual intervention plans ie. Carers, Physio Therapist, Occupational Therapist, CEO and the Community workers, are arranged on a quarterly basis. During these meetings each child’s individual plan is discussed and assessed, if goals are not being reached the cause will be investigated and the plan modified.
Red Cross Children’s Hospital also performs a vital service to children with special needs. Children attending Sinethemba have regular appointments at Red Cross Children Hospital’s various specialized Departments for follow up medical appointments and dispensing of chronic medication. Red Cross also conducts community Outreaches for our cerebral palsy children twice a year. During these outreaches, we have the opportunity to meet with the doctors as well as attending the seating clinic during which the children’s assistive devices (home and school) are adapted.
Other Medical Partnerships. Sinethemba also receives referrals from 2 Mil, Victoria and False Bay hospital. We also work closely with these medical entities to ensure that the children’s medical needs are met.
How You Can Get Involved
Call (+27) 21 -785-7398 to Donate Or Contact Us to get Involved
Volunteer Program
Volunteers play an enormous role in helping us deliver services.
If you have a passion for working with people with intellectual or physical special needs or for promoting mental health, your energy, skills and time would be greatly appreciated in one of our programmes.
There is also the option of joining our management committee that consists of volunteers from our local communities. To participate in our volunteer programme, please contact Lezanne Raath on 021 785 7398 or fhknw@telkomsa.net for further information.
Gifts or Services in kind
f you are in a position to donate an item or items to FHKNWA, please feel free to contact us to find out what our present needs are.
Items that are generally in demand range from new or good second hand children’s and adult clothing to cleaning products and non-perishable food items.
The maintenance of our Special Care Centre is an ongoing concern. A creative way to support us will be to donate your maintenance or decorating expertise, or your services as a plumber or electrician, to keep this facility safe and in good condition.
We also have to maintain the Quantum used to transport our children. If you or your company can donate your vehicle maintenance services, we would be very grateful.
Please see our wish list for further idea’s.
Charity Fund
Our bank deposit details are: Standard Bank, Fish Hoek, Branch code: 051 001, Account Number: 07 209 9194.
As Fish Hoek – Kommetjie – Noordhoek Welfare Association is a registered Non-Profit and Public Benefit Organisation, your donations are tax-deductible in terms of Section 18A(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act.
Our income is also tax-exempt in terms of Section 30 of this Act. NPO REG NO. 002-889 and PBO REG NO. 930-01-804
PayPal
Memorial or tribute gifts
Any gift may be designated in memory or honor of a friend or loved one. The family of the deceased, or person honored, will be notified of your tribute. The amount of the gift is not mentioned.
Bequests by will or living trust
The most common form of deferred or planned gift support to any charitable organisation is a charitable bequest. A will or living trust is a very personal matter and should be prepared with your attorney.
Vital Services
Community Development
The Association also employs a Social Worker and two Community Development workers that are based at Sinethemba. They focus on offering a service to families and individuals that have a disability in the community. This service entails the following: Offering counselling, advocacy, assistance with grant application and also co-ordinating the Adult and Youth group with disabilities. The Association does not undertake any statutory work and will refer such cases to the local statutory agencies and offer the necessary support.
TRANSPORT
Transport remains one of the big focus points of the Association’s service delivery due to the difficulty that our clients face in accessing public transport (due to the severity of their or their child’s disability). Apart from the physical challenges that clients experience some of our clients have added difficulties due to the use of assistive devices that cannot be transported in public transport.
With the petrol inflation costs in 2022 and the financial impact that Covid has had on the Association, the Association is really struggling to sustain this service. Transport cost is our second largest expense of the Association.
The Association has a Quantum that provides transport for children registered with Sinethemba Special Care Centre.
- Children residing in Ocean View and Masiphumelele are collected in the mornings and taken home in the afternoons through three rounds of transport in the mornings as well as the afternoons.
- Adult and Youth group members are collected on a Friday morning and taken home at 12pm when their group meeting finishes.
- Transport is also provided to parents to and from medical facilities i.e. False Bay Hospital, Red Cross Children’s Hospital or Victoria Hospital.
- Our Community Workers also do home visits on a Monday and Wednesday morning.
Due to the fact that the Association only has one Quantum, we outsource the transport that collects our Hout Bay children in the mornings and take them home in the afternoons.
Many of our parents / care givers are unemployed and struggling financially and therefore have difficulty in contributing towards the R175.00 transport fees per month.
Therapy
The Association employs a full time Physio Therapist and a part time Occupational Therapist to assist with setting each child’s therapeutic programmes and by giving them individual and group therapy sessions.
Get in Touch. Get Involved.
We look forward to hearing from you – Please join us in supporting those in need.