Energy, love and laughter: A recipe for success!

Mpilo* is 4 years old and lives with his mom and dad and his two older siblings in Bhambula in kwaNzimakwe tribal area. Mpilo’s mother, Zodwa*, was unaware of any challenges of her child following his birth, the doctor at the time informed her at discharge that Mpilo was different to other children. It was only when he turned 2 that Mpilo was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy along with significant gross and fine motor developmental delay. Mpilo is one of 19 children at Siyakwazi who have a diagnosis for Cerebral Palsy. 

Some months after Mpilo was born Zodwa realised that Mpilo cannot even sit on his own.  Because of Mpilo’s older sibling the mother was aware of what the ‘typical milestones’ were, it was easy for her to see that Mpilo was not developing like other children. “When Mpilo turned 7 months without being able to sit on his own I began to worry and started to find out more about how I can support my child.” After some visits to the local clinic and receiving support through Siyakwazi’s Therapy programme, Zodwa was able to have an assessment with a Doctor at the hospital which led to his eventual diagnosis. 

During this time Zodwa made sure that Mpilo had access to physiotherapy at the local clinic as well as therapy support from Siyakwazi’s team. 

“I started working with Siyakwazi in 2020, at that time my child was unable to walk. Through working with Thenji and Siyakwazi’s Therapy team we figured out ways to support Mpilo with learning how to walk. I bought him a small scooter that he could sit on and push with his feet, that made his legs stronger. He learnt to stand up holding onto furniture and would try walking around the house. As he got better we would make the walking activities more difficult so that he would get better. Mpilo was 2 years old when he started walking. We were very cooperative with Siyakwazi. Even though Mpilo still struggles with certain words, he is trying. Siyakwazi played a huge role in my child’s life.”

The mother continued attending physio at the local clinic until the child was discharged. “Stretching has helped my child a lot. I did stretching together with Thenji. Sometimes Thenji would come, stretch Mpilo then read books for him. Mpilo is smart now, he can hear if you speak with him. He can do everything that other children do. If he struggles with pronouncing a certain name, he takes or points to that object.  An assessment with Siyakwazi’s Inclusion Tool at the end of 2022 highlighted Mpilo’s strengths in Gross & Fine motor development at 81% as well as Functionality & Independence at 82%, which shows the significant learning and development Mpilo has achieved! Mpilo currently attends a local ECD centre and next year he will be enrolled at the local Full Service school. 

“Mpilo is always such a happy child and is very engaged with the activities,” comments Thenjiwe. “He loves to talk with us and is always full of energy and laughter. His mom’s support in his development as well as the support from Siyakwazi have ensured that he has developed well even though he has some challenges.”

Zodwa is truly thankful to Thenji who is part of the Siyakwazi team because they work well together. Thenji has been supporting Mpilo and emotionally supporting Zodwa. “Siyakwazi has done many things for me and I am truly grateful. I am very happy. Today I have a child who can walk and do everything because of Siyakwazi. There is so much progress in my child because of Siyakwazi.”

(*names have been edited to protect family privacy)