Sabina Chege unveils autism facility

By Judy Jerono There was a big sigh of relief to parents with autistic children at City Primary School grounds, after Murang’a Women Representative Sabina Chege in collaboration with Evangelist Lucy Wa Ngunjiri launched an autism training clinic. Speaking during the event, Sabina Chege said that the initiative will empower parents with autistic children adding that it has been a long journey to some of the parents in raising the autism children. Chege encouraged fathers to support mothers in bringing up the children since the responsibility is good when it’s equally shared. She criticized men who leave their wives to struggle alone in raising children with such conditions. “We should not hide or abandon these children since they are a special gift from God. We should support them and encourage our men to assist the women in bringing up the children,” she said. The autism clinic movement started in the country on Tuesday and is expected to end on Saturday 9^th April this year. It will be pioneered by Kenya across Africa. Murang’a Woman MP applauded the Capital Christian Centre Church, Excella Developmental Service, Kenya Autism Alliance, Autism Bird and Prayers Beyond Boundaries Ministries for supporting the movement saying that the move will give hope to parents who had lost hope since taking care of children with autism is challenging and also expensive. The three-day clinic will provide training and tools that will help parents engage with their autistic children where Dr. Holly Winckel of EDS learning institute stated that they will also train teachers on the same. “We are also going to train teachers at their schools during the clinic in an educational way to prepare the children for adult life,” said Winckel. Autism is a developmental disorder with symptoms that appear within the first three years of life. It appears in different forms with varying levels of severity.