KAROO NEWS - The children at Khanyisa Day Care Centre in Umasizakhe were treated to an athletics day by Midlands Hospital staff on Friday 8 September. 

As part of their community service year and in pursuit of becoming independent practitioners, Zita Jacobs, Cecilia Fourie and Andrée Roux had to identify a need in the community and develop a project to give back to the community. 

The three focused on Khanyisa Day Care Centre, and since the beginning of the year, they have been visiting the centre every Wednesday. 

The permanent staff of Midlands Hospital joined forces with the three to help manage the almost 170 children, of who 35 have special needs. 

This was the first time that an event like this has been organised, and Jacobs mentioned that they would like to make it an annual event.

"We usually focus on the special needs children, but we involved the entire school for this athletics day, where the children participated in a wheelchair race, soccer game, relay, bag throw, and more," says Jacobs. All three the practitioners graduated last year. Jacobs, born and raised in Graaff-Reinet, decided that she wanted to give back to her community, where she matriculated at Union High School in 2018. As part of the event, they had to find their own sponsors. Pollution Control Services made a generous donation, and the Department of Sport and Recreation provided some equipment. Toyota donated bottles of water, and Shuaib Mohamed, a shop owner in Kroonvale, sponsored oranges.

"We planned this event twice, and the third time it succeeded. Third time's a charm. We want to give the children a sense of belonging and meaning and show them that they can succeed," says Jacobs."

Cecilia Fourie motivating her soccer team before their match.

After the wheelchair race for WHAT GROUPING are, from left: Ashwin Hobbs (second place), Zita Jacobs (occupational therapist), Neymar Solomons (first place), first NAME Nuxolo (special needs teacher), Altus Stellenberg (third place) and Cecilia Fourie (physiotherapist).

‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’