ONGWEDIVA – After volunteering and providing assistance to people living with disabilities in her community in Swakopmund for most of her life, Vicky Joel (29) is providing hope to parents and learners with autism in the northern regions through her school Circle of Hope in Ongwediva.
Circle of Hope is a school that enrols children with autism, and just recently cerebral palsy.
Autism is a neurological disorder. These children have challenges in communication, delayed speech, social interaction while some have challenges in behaviour.
Joel says the name of the school was carefully chosen to show that there is continuous hope for the current and future generations with autism.
“Our logo also has a hand, which indicates that we the teachers at this school are giving continuous support to our learners, community and parents. And this school is here to show that these children here are able but just differently abled,” Joel says passionately.
It is her wish to see children born with autism becoming successful in life.
Joel is trained to teach children with special needs, and has registered for short courses in psychology and occupational therapy.
Before the idea of the school came into being, she initially started off with a youth group, but wanted to create lasting solutions for her community because at that time, they were only providing short-term solutions.
Narrating her life, Joel said she grew up in an environment where the needs of children with autism were taken care of. And having been an advocate for people with disabilities, she was driven to set up a school for these children in the north, especially after volunteering at the Saara Kuugongelwa Special School at Outapi for two terms.
While at the special school, children with the autism spectrum were usually referred to her as that school does not cater for autism learners.
This, she said, led parents to beg her to establish an institute to bring their learners to.
“I actually realised that the needs of children on the autism spectrum were not being met. They are not known, or they are known with other misconceptions that the child is being disabled, not normal in the head or mentally ill.
Thereafter, she moved to Ondangwa to start the much-anticipated school.
She started off with two learners, and has had only two learners for two years because of the stigma attached to the school.
Although autism is known, Joel said these misconceptions were rife in Ondangwa, where they initially started, and they were known as the school for omalayi, an Oshiwambo word used to describe a mentally unstable person.
She thus wanted to break that stigma and prove that these children can be taught to be differently-able.
“That was the term used in the neighbourhood, even to give directions. That is when I realised that we needed to do extensive awareness on autism,” she said.
Despite the stigma attached to the school, Joel never gave up. After doing extensive awareness on autism, the school had a bigger intake in 2020, but the number was again reduced when Covid-19 hit the country.
The school then relocated to its current premises at the Ongwediva Elcin Centre to move closer to the children, as most of the children were commuting from Ongwediva.
Today, the school has 16 learners, three qualified teachers, three teacher assistants and two volunteers.
The school caters for children from all northern regions, with those who are from far commuting from rented flats.
The school works with an occupational and speech therapists to assist the children further.
They also adopted the intellectually impaired curriculum, and the primary and junior phase syllabus to teach their learners.
Joel said the difference between formal school learners and her learners is that her learners have a different learning style, and the teaching is aligned to the individual’s need.
The classrooms at the school are not ordinary classrooms as they are designed to fit the needs and the behaviour of the learners.
During a visit to the school, the team observed how each learner was being assisted individually to carry out their tasks.
She said she has seen her learners improve over time, and encouraged parents to enroll their children in school at an early age.
Those who are enrolled early show improvement faster than those who have been kept at home.
Apart from the teaching, Joel said the exposure to school also betters their chances of mingling with other people than being kept at home.
At school, learners are taken out on activities, including to shopping malls, so that they are also introduced to that aspect of life.
She thus advised parents against keeping or forcing the children into mainstream schools as it deprives them of getting the help they need.
“There is still stigma going around, so break the stigma. There are many of us providing in these needs, but no child should be left out when it comes to education,” she stressed.
Joel has dreams of expanding the school, and has land which she acquired from the Ondangwa Town Council two years ago.
She said the building plans have already been completed, and is pleading with good Samaritans and stakeholders in education to fund the construction of the first phase of the school.
While awaiting the construction of the school, they are in need of specialised teaching tools such as electronic devices as their learners respond faster to technology.
The school also needs to expand the playground as the existing one is too small, and does not have much for the learners.
Joel smiled that her learners also have untapped sport stalents.
Outside her school, she provides training, shares skills and expertise with other teachers, and also sensitises communities and institutions on how to handle children with autism.
She has likewise partnered with the University of Namibia to share skills and expertise, and have students from the university visiting the school.
In addition, Joel provides training to teachers in neighbouring Angola and Botswana, and has plans of starting a similar school in the latter.
A volunteer at the school, Sofia Ivanova, whose child is also a learner at the school, said she struggled to get school for her son for at least three years before she was introduced to the school.
She said the school is very helpful, both academically and in the social development of the child.
“We do different kinds of activities with the learners. We engage them in academic and practical activities,” said Ivanova.
Nuusita Ashipala is an information officer at MICT.