This project will deliver a new purpose-built Lonwabo Special Care Day Centre for 60 children in Mfuleni, near Cape Town. The centre will form part of an integrated campus development to promote inclusivity and create opportunity for these children to flourish and develop optimally. There is an urgent need to complete the new centre because the existing facility is threatened by closure.
Lonwabo is the only special care day centre in Mfuleni. The principal is unable to meet the increasingly stringent health and safety regulations and after 10 years of operating Lonwabo currently faces closure - a disaster for children, parents and those employed. The Lonwabo centre serves 35 children and parents from Mfuleni and surrounding communities. Without Lonwabo, children requiring special care will have nowhere safe to go when their parents are at work, increasing their vulnerability.
This project will replace the existing Lonwabo facility with a new specially-designed centre to increase capacity to 60 children from 0 to 18. It will meet the licensing and registration requirements for special care centres, enabling access to government subsidies which are needed to assure financial sustainability of the centre. Being purpose-designed, Lonwabo will be able to offer extended support services required to improve the early diagnosis and development of the children.
The new centre will accommodate almost twice as many children requiring special care, bringing hope to many more children and parents than is otherwise possible. The inclusion of a healthcare facility will enable better access to specialised support for children attending Lonwabo and improve training available to parents in the broader community who have children with special needs. Earlier diagnosis will improve development potential which could result in greater employment opportunity.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
