James Getengah
Founder & CEO
James Getengah knows this all too well. At the strike of 4.pm on a warm and sunny afternoon of November 13th in the year 2013, his family welcomed baby Tatianah with celebration and there was optimism as to the person she would ultimately become when grew up.
Their joy turned to worry when Tatianah’s growth and developmental milestones were not as expected. She could not respond to sound, she swallowed food whole without chewing, was not responding to pain stimuli when falling or from cuts and her speech was not developing among other challenges. This worry led James to seek medical attention for baby Tatianah.
The initial diagnosis was deafness. This led them to undertake numerous hospital visits in Kisii County and later a referral to Gertrude’s Hospital was made where she was diagnosed with autism. Tatianah was booked for therapy every fortnight at Gertrude’s Hospital in Nairobi. This proved very costly.
The financial and physical strain to the family quickly became unbearable – more so to a three year old child. This necessitated him to seek a local solution within Kisii County at the level 5 hospital. The facilities at the level 5 hospital were not comprehensive to cater for the full spectrum of needs that an autistic child such as Tatianah had.
He opted to team up with other parents that were facing the same challenge to set up a facility to cater for the needs of their autistic children – Dazzling Center for Autism. It quickly became very clear, that the biggest hurdle they would have to overcome, was the cultural misconception around autism.
Parents hid their autistic children from the public that would shun them as bewitched. This led men to abandon their families due to this misconception, leaving their wives to fend for the family and contend with an even tougher burden of catering for an autistic child “If I died today, my prayer is that I die with my daughter because I cannot see her surviving and thriving on her own.” These were James’ words to echo the fear of every parent with an autistic child.
Mission
To create awareness and build supportive networks for children with special needs to thrive through life skills development and individualized learning.
Objectives of Dazzling Autism Center
Our Key Milestones
Dazzling Center opened its doors
Dazzling opened its doors in March 2018 after its members came to the realization that there was no appropriate institution in the region that was well equipped to handle children with autism towards their full potential.
The First 3 Students arrive – April 2018
The center opened its doors with three autistic students,
one special needs teacher, a part time speech pathologist and Occupational therapist. Currently, the Center has 13 learners, 3 Special Needs Teachers, 1 full-time & 1 part-time Occupational Therapists, and one cook. We outsource Speech Therapist and Psychologist services once a term to meet the needs of both the learners and the parents.
Awareness and Sensitization
In 2018, we created awareness by walking around Kisii county meeting the locals and sensitizing them about the condition. We held various training at the center educating new parents on how to handle children with special needs.
In 2019, Cycle for Autism was born. It involved one of the parent cycling for 1,000km through 15 counties in 18days meeting parents, medics, and county governments and sensitizing about the condition.
The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Pandemic. We teamed up with Kisii Cycling Club to traverse the Kisii Sub-Counties, but it was cancelled the last-minute forcing is to do a stationary cycle at the center.
Equipping the Center
The center started from a very humble beginning with little learning and therapeutic materials. Over time, it has managed to get one trampoline, one bike, two therapeutic balls and most important, received book donations from Maktaba Mashiani who partnered with Moran Publishers.
We equally got a water tank from CPF. Despite such progress, we are miles away from becoming a fully Montessori system that we strive to be.
In recent times, we got a donation of Kshs. 100,000 from the National Council of Persons with Disabilities. We used the funds to make chairs and tables, paint the center, buy some musical instruments and construct an art area for the kids.
Society Acceptance
Due to the awareness and sensitization, the center enjoys a supportive society that has accepted children with special needs. Although the discrimination and stigmatization has reduced, much needs to be done especially in the rural areas. We have teamed up with various artist in this endeavor. Greatest of all a movie dubbed “My Cursed Gift” that aired on 16th October 2021. Many more projects are in progress all aimed to increase autism acceptance and equipping the center.
Children Progress
Over time, the children at the center have greatly improved in all aspects including and not limited to behavior, social skills & interaction, speech development, skills of daily living and language and arithmetic usage. For instance, the center is considering integrating one of its one learner into the mainstream learning system as she has passed the threshold the center has set. However, the center will continue to monitor and support the child while at the mainstream
