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Polokwane team helps intellectually challenged adults

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The Polokwane News team has identified the Reakgona Adult Centre in need of help. They will paint two of the centre’s hostel rooms for males. The team will also be collecting clothes, material, plants, flowers, food and books for the centre.
Reakgona Adult Centre in Polokwane in Limpopo caters for 154 intellectually challenged adults from 18 years and over. It was established in February 1998 with 22 adults. It is an extension of the Grace and Hope special school, which was founded in 1990 by Grace Sekhu, who has an intellectually challenged son.
Sekhu is also the founder of the adult centre, which started after realizing that her son had nowhere to go after completing his education at Grace and Hope. While the school met their needs, the learners needed to move onto the next phase of their lives after turning 18. Reakgona has filled this gap by providing life skills like furniture making, bead work, needlework, gardening and catering.

Wednesday 13 July 2011 12:28

The centre’s biggest challenge is the lack of funding

The place caters for people from all over the province who have various
mental disabilities. These include brain damage, autism and down
syndrome. Sekhu says their aim is to economically empower and impart
independence to as many benificiaries.

The centre’s biggest
challenge is the lack of funding. The subsidy from Limpopo’s Health and
Social Department falls short of the centre’s needs. The other major
challenge is accommodation for the increasing number of permanent
residents.

On July 16, the SABC News team in the province will try help in lightening the load of challnegs facing the home.

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