TIMION

 Every child is different. Some are clever, oth­ers are good at sport, some speak very well. Some children cannot walk or hardly commu­nicate because of a disability. These children are often re­jected by the community and seen as mistakes, as without value or purpose.

 We believe eve­ry child is a precious creation of God. He rejoices over each of them. Even when they can­not communicate with people, it does not ex­clude them from having a relationship with God.

We want to help children with disabilities through special equipment and therapy BUT it is even more important to us to love these children and so show them how much God loves them, and also encou­rage their parents to love them and show them that they are precious and won­derful.

TIMION means precious, of considerable value, held in honour and especially dear.

 

1. Outreaches in the Townships of NelsonMandelaBay Metropol. The department of Health, Timion and other organi­zations work together to organize weekly outreaches in the townships. The mothers/caregivers and their children with disabilities are invited. The caregivers are instructed how they can help their children develop. We measure and fit the special equipment that are produced in the workshop in Jeffreys Bay.

2. Production of Equipment. Daniel and his co-workers work 2-3 days a week to produ­ce the assistive devices in a small carpentry workshop in Jeffreys Bay.

3. Homevisits.We visit the children with disabilities and their families and pray for them. We document the prayer requests of the family and then relay it to the people who «adopted» the child and has committed to regularly pray for that family. We also find poeple to «adopt» and pray for children and their families.

4. Camps. Recently we started to organize camps. The mothers and their children with disabilities are invited and brought to Jeffreys Bay for a few days. We aim to encourage the mothers, to take them and their children out of their mundane daily routine, to spoil them a little and show them how much they are loved by God.

 

A. Standing frames: It is very important for a child to stand, especially for the development of stable hip joints and the prevention of contractures.Sadly many children cannot stand indepen­dently. Our standing frame sup­ports them so they can play while standing.

If a child is regularly lying in a poor position, it affects spasticity and breathing negatively and leads to the development of contractures. The side posi­tioner supports a child in a bet­ter position to prevent these problems.

It helps a severely disab­led child to sit in a functio­nal position. The cushions and seat angle give stability so the child can sit with better posture.

D. Table and bench. To posi­tion the child for better func­tion.

E. Other devices. Depen­ding on the needs of a child, we also produce equipment such as soft splints, rolators, walker horses, scooter boards etc.

 

The Timion equipment is pro­vided free of charge as the families of most of the child­ren are too poor to afford it. Timion aims to produce equip­ment that is functional and of good quality, using cheap ma­terials. To enable us to provide the equipment free of charge, we have and need the following ways of support:

1. We are able to sell some equipment to schools, hospitals and wealthier fa­milies. The funds generated through this covers about 5-10% of project costs.

2. Some South African companies sponsor us with materials. Truss&Timber gives us free wood and Sondor gives us free foam.

3. Financial support, mainly from Switzerland:

-It costs R400 (50CHFr) to help a child to stand. (Standing frame).

-It costs R480 (60 CHFr) to make a side positi­oner to prevent contractures and reduce stiff­ness.

-It costs R250 (30 CHFr) to make one trip to the Townships to give out devices and visit the children.

4. Volunteers from Switzerland and South Africa saves us much money and is a big encouragement to us. We are always delighted when vo­lunteers wants to get involved in our work. Please contact us if you are interested

 

 Anika is a physiotherapist from South Africa and Daniel an orthotist from Basel, Swizerland. We worked to­gether with children with disabilities in Sierra Leo­ne and Iraq before com­ing to South Africa. We now live with our daugh­ter, Tehilla, in Jeffreys Bay.

 

Timion

PO Box 4404

Aston Bay

6332

Tel: 0784561512

www.timion.org