Unity College

On the first day that Bubbi arrives, she had to attend an interview, to volunteer at Unity College, it is a school for 6 year olds up to 17 years old. The children that come here have some type of learning disability. Some have Down Syndrome, some have ADHD and other conditions such as uncontrollable muscle twitches. We had a look around the place, its not far from Dainfern, even before the Fourways hospital, tucked away.

It sits on quite a big plot of land, thought they are likely to move next year closer to the lion park. They have occupational therapists at the school and they teach the kids skills that they can use. The kids will not be able to pass their Matric but learn cooking, on tues they have work days and unpack at supermarkets or work at other stores such as Mr. Price. Many of them can type well and I wonder if they could work on for one of those internet based companies that hire out typing.

Here are some pics of the buildings of their school, the rooms are not heated so they are a bit chilly, the kids are sorted according to age but the classes usually have kids of a few years together in order to make up a class. When we went to each classroom, they all stood up and greeted us with "good morning teacher and visitors". I didn't take any pictures of the kids as many of them would come up to us and shake our hands and say hello or enjoy just having visitors.

The guide that took us around also asked about Nate's school, I do home maybe the younger kids can visit Nate's school so that the normal kids can play along side kids from Unity college. I remember in Taipei, Nate once went up to a person in a wheelchair and said hello, they had kind of a good conversation in mandarin and the guy left with such a happy face.

Today, Marcia did her first day. The first thing she said when i picked her up was that, we should hug our kids as we are so fortunate. I am so impatient with the kids especially when they are whiny (usually when sick) or the terrible twos and the difficulty in communicating but I can't imagine how one can cope with a child constantly in need.

In a country where normal kids have a hard time getting an education, this place is quite unique.

Nate in batman towel... and ike napping in school. Yes the mass mats where kids will pass stuff to other kids! Nate's nose seems to have taken a turn for the worse. It now must be like 15 weeks of constant snottiness. It isn't as bad as some kids with like yo-yo snot but still as the dr says, its really bunged up.