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Vainness Kabotolo 74, walks two kilometres from her home in the Lilongwe Tchotchke area to the Fount for Nations head office in the Likuni area, for her weekly group counselling session. “I am happy to be called to Fount for Nations. Parents getting support for the children who are challenging to raise is not easy to find. I stay in the village where it is a struggle to live a normal life when caring for children with challenges,” Vainness observes.

Vainness is a single parent, one of her children died from an unknown health condition, now she takes care of her two children and her late daughter’s three children and her 90-year-old mother. One of those three grandchildren, Loveness was born deaf. “When I was working, I was getting money and things were easier. I worked as a janitor at the Likuni Hospital from 1977 and was promoted to a senior janitor. I was told that I am too old and I retired in 2005. I am looking for a job to sustain my family.” Vainness has taken her granddaughter Loveness, 12, to several hospitals seeking hearing aids.

“I was told that she needs hearing aids costing MWK64,000 (USD 79.61) but I didn’t have enough money, luckily a well-wisher gave me MWK15,000 (USD18.66) and we bought them, but they’re broken now and need repairs”. Vainness observes. Before joining the Fount for Nations’ Stay and Play programme Vainness did not have information on how to raise her grandchild. She struggled to find a school for Loveness that catered to her needs.

“It was difficult to get my grandchild to go to school,” she recalls, “my grandchild always complained that her classmates called her ‘Kamahediseni’ (someone who wears headsets all the time) they made fun of her to the point that she tried to hide her hearing aids by wearing a hat to school every day.”

The Stay and Play program provides differently-abled children early childhood education as an after-school program. As the children learn, their guardians and parents are offered free individual and group counselling, as well as education on how to care for their specially-abled children. Through the programme, Fount for Nations psychosocial counsellors organized a meeting with teachers at Loveness’ school where Vainness communicated her concerns. After the meeting, all the students were called to a general assembly where the issue of discrimination was addressed. Loveness no longer wears a hat, and her school attendance has improved.

This school year she progressed to standard six. Many differently-abled children like Loveness face similar challenges of discrimination which lead to psychological distress and school dropout. Through its policies on inclusive education, the Malawian Government’s National Inclusive Education Strategy (NIES) promotes inclusive, equitable and quality education and lifelong learning for all.

Fount for Nations seeks to work with the Malawian Ministry of Education and other partners to promote inclusive education in Malawian schools to ensure more children like Loveness have a chance at a better education.

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