Our center is a renovated family house, located on Kalema Road in Lungujja, Kampala, with well-equipped therapy and class rooms, educational facilities and a spacious garden where children and parents can learn, play and relax.
For the last 12 years, Mukisa Foundation has purposed to deliver quality Health and Education services to over 4000 children with Disabilities and empowered their families with knowledge, skills and funds to enable them take care of their children.
The major reason why parents bring their children to Mukisa Foundation is usually because they have noticed something wrong with their child’s health. Either they have failed to achieve their age appropriate milestones or they have a medical condition that requires medical attention. 90% of these parents will not have had a diagnosis for their child prior to coming to Mukisa, even if they might have been to other medical centers . A big number will have sought for help from faith healers, traditional healers (witch doctors) and other alternative methods as well.
Mukisa offers quality Health care programs tailored to the needs of the child and the family. These include knowledge and information to the parents about the child’s condition, Rehabilitation services including Physio, Occupational , Speech and language therapies, and Assistive devices. Medical care that includes treatment for chronic conditions and Medicine refills for those that need continual medication such as those with epilepsy , Medical assistance for acute conditions, Nutritional support and referrals for corrective surgeries to our pre-qualified partners.
After a couple of years, the children will join our home visit program where they continue to access our services from home by the help of the medical and therapy team.
Our Education programs are through creative learning methods that encourage children to learn in a safe environment that focuses on their strengths to overcome the challenges / gaps in learning. Our goal is to see as many children with disabilities as possible enrolled in school, and finish at least one cycle of education with the appropriate skills and knowledge .
Catch-up / Accelerated learning: This is a three-year program for children below the age of 10 years. The focus is on Self-care skills, Concentration and Attention, Numeracy and Literacy and other age-appropriate academic skills. After these three years, the children get enrolled into mainstream or special schools
Vocational skilling: This program is tailored to youth and young adults with disabilities to gain knowledge and skills to enable them to live more independent lives and /or contribute to their family income.
Currently the students learn self-care and life skills, and a vocational skill at both our centers of Lungujja and Bussi Island centres.
Apprenticeships/ on-the Job work experience: We offer opportunities for youth and young people with disabilities to gain skills and experience in work places that understand them and are able to provide an environment with the necessary accommodations for them to thrive.
We Provide social and economic empowerment for the entire family including parents, siblings and other care givers to enable them create the best environment possible for their child with disabilities to thrive. Socially, We also conduct seminars, workshops and trainings on different disabilities to enable the parents / care givers understand their child’s condition, how to best care for them and any preventative measures . The parents are supported to form support groups and build networks of other parents in similar situations and also learn other social topics such as positive parenting, child protection, advocacy, among others. There are special days and celebrations such as mothers days, fathers days and siblings’ days designed to empower and equip the family members with all they need to support their child with disabilities.
Economically, parents are empowered with skills, knowledge, and funds to either set up their own businesses or scale up already existing business. These skills include activity specific such as tailoring, hair dressing, art and design, soap and candle making. They also receive financial literacy and management skill s and are also supported to join saving groups.
In order for us to reach as many children with disabilities as possible, we need to have as many trained and skilled professionals who are able to offer quality care and services to persons with disabilities especially children. For this reason, we offer internships, apprenticeships, workshops and seminars for both in-service and students of different professionals such as social workers, teachers, therapists, and those who desire to start their own organisations based on our model.
We work with policy makers, law enforcement officers, government, local councils, community leaders and family members on issues concerning persons with disabilities and inclusion. We also participate in an annual awareness day that is aimed at bringing together children with disabilities, actors in the disability space to create a unified voice, improve visibility, and highlight issues concerning persons with disability
