By Bahle Gama
AUTISM Eswatini says the organisation will soon be constructing a village for autistic people and their families. This is according to Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Autism Eswatini Pastor Senzo Hlatshwayo, who said the structure will have a school, health facility and homes among other things.
He said autism is a practical issue which requires specialised responses, which then birthed the vision to build a structure that will respond to it. “Autism issues touch people on an individual basis, so we felt there should be a structure for the parents residing with autistic children and be part of running the organisation and we get the real issues firsthand,” he said.
He stated that land has been acquired with the assistance of Microprojects and communities where the structure will be constructed. “We are going to start hopefully soon, and we are going to phase our approach. We were advised to consider starting with a clinic first in the first phase so that the issues relating to autism are quickly addressed,” he said.
He stated that a person travelling with an autistic child is inconvenienced in so many ways, whether they are at the bank or in church because they always have to be seated at the end to ensure they control the child who might be hysterical depending on their condition.
“We have a plan and ENPC’s support through the donation will help the organisation hasten its plans and move forward. “One of our key plans is to host a golf day with the hope that partners will come and support us financially. We are also considering a gospel festival in April where we have partnered with an SA gospel artist who will be coming to support us. We started having a walk this year, and all of these initiatives are meant to help us mobilise resources towards the project,” he said.
Hlatshwako disclosed that they were under pressure and have a serious problem in the country, as autism is a dire straining issue, “and the sooner we are able to set up this structure, the better for the response in the Kingdom.”
Hlatshwako said, unlike other diseases like HIV/AIDS and cancer, autism is still not funded globally which is a challenge. “You cannot go anywhere to seek funding in the world as is the case with other illnesses, which is a cause for concern,” he said.
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He went on to say that for now, it is only partners like ENPC which are coming with donations they can throw into the pot and task the organization to run and respond to autism-related issues. Hlatshwako said he hoped that the donation by ENPC would challenge other entities and partners in the private sector to support Autism Eswatini.
ENPC’s E50 000 boost for Autism Eswatini As part of its Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC) has donated E50 000 towards Autism Eswatini. On Tuesday morning, a handover took place at the ENPC boardroom where CEO Nhlanhla Dlamini said the company through the advice of the Board thought it was necessary to donate.
Dlamini said as a company they realised that over and above, their mandate is to ensure ENPC has an impact on the society they move in because their source of revenue is through tax and that affects their way of living. He said ENPC thought it was important to have a corporate social investment policy to cover the areas and sectors ENPC is also covered in.
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These include health, education, environment, and energy poverty, which is access to clean energy.
Autism Eswatini is the first beneficiary of the CSI programme. “As a committee, we picked Autism Eswatini an NGO which has been in existence for over 10 years, we realized that the numbers are growing, and statistics prove that the equivalence is one to six and mostly in the Lubombo region,” he said.
The CEO said what made it easier is that they want to promote governance and realised that families affected by autism are part of the organisation. He said there are things they consider before looking for an institution to donate to and they are confident that the donation will greatly assist the affected families.
“We have a fully-fledged CSI programme, and we want to have an impact in Eswatini and ensure that over these projects and profits, our ESG should be seen that we interact with those affected by social challenges in the country,” he said.
