Help Autistic Children in Ethiopia

I’m raising funds to help “Joy Center for Autism” which is a center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that strives to improve the lives of children with autism through education, training, therapy and awareness.  Autism was not understood or even recognized in Ethiopia before the Joy Center started awareness campaigns and introduced what autism is.  Prior to the awareness campaigns, children with autism were seen as children that were “cursed”, “haunted”, “possessed”... parents were forced to hide their children from the views of society and were ashamed to even discuss it.

When my mother told me about how Autism was/is seen in Ethiopia, I went through many emotions.  I was saddened and in disbelief about the lack of awareness.  I felt very sorry for the children with Autism.  I was overwhelmed when I heard about kids being tied to a chair or to a pole for a few hours a day just so that the parents could go out of the house to earn a living.  I just simply couldn’t wrap my head around that.  I felt that was criminal, I even suggested that the parents should be prosecuted for doing that.  My Mom explained the situation in detail to calm me down and then told me about the Joy Center for Autism and the work they are doing. 

In addition to raising awareness, the Joy Center's main objective is to care for children with autism by providing them education, training and therapy.

The Joy Center doesn’t only take care of the needs of the children it also helps the parents by freeing them from taking care of their special needs kids during the day.  Many of the parents that were not able to work or find better opportunities for their families before, are now able to seek employment and improve their marketability by getting vocational or other types of training.  

Please watch the videos listed below to get a glimpse into the work that the Joy Center has done over the years. 

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdbrBTe20rI

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76fv_7Yp3hA

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALnPuG6x2yc


I’m raising funds to help “Joy Center for Autism” with their expansion plans so that they can build a center that can take care of 500+ children, provide more advanced therapies and also have a training and research facility to allow professionals in the field to get training as well as perform research and improve the care provided. 

Please donate to help Joy Center take better care of Children with autism in Ethiopia.  Every amount collected will directly go to Joy Center.  No amount is too small or too big.  Give whatever amount God has put in your heart to give. We can provide receipts for your donations.  Please let us know if you need one.

  

Thank you
Eliana Bruck