22/09/2026
Kukhanya Centre hosted a parent workshop in collaboration with Pionierskool - Worcester, at Pioneer School for the Visually Impaired in Worcester on Saturday 19 September 2026. The theme for the day was: "Standing in the now, Stepping into the Future."
The motto of Kukanya is: " Every child seen, heard and included ". Saturday's workshop tapped into this motto where the workshop focussed on various exit strategies and opportunities that are available for learners with visual impairment after formal schooling.
Participations from all over the Western Cape participated to make the day a success. We want to thank our main speakers, Mrs. M. Goosen from Breede Valley School of Skills, Mrs. Chalene van der Merwe from Innovation for the Blind and also Mrs. Tammy Botes from Pioneer School, Mr. Len Viljoen and Mr. Phillip Crouse from the Hein Wagner Academy for their informative and thought provoking sessions that were shared with the participants.
We also want to extend a special thank you to the Department of Health, Western Cape Education Department and our sponsors of food, gifts, drinks, transport and the team of Kukhanya and Pioneer School that worked hard behind the scenes to make this day possible. A special word of thanks must go to Mrs. Mia Duvenage and her 4th year Occupational Therapy students of Stellenbosch University who shared their research study briefly with the parents and Kukhanya delegates. They initiated a scoping review on what should be included in a First 1000-days program for children that are visually impaired from an occupational therapist's point of view, as research in this field in South Africa is sparse to non-existent.
So what is the Kukhanya Centre?
BACKGROUND & HISTORY
The idea of Kukhanya started with a parent of Pioneer School, Dr. Theuns Jacobs. He saw the need to address the lack of collaboration between different departments like the Department of Health, Department of Social Development and Department of Education that parents with a child that has visual impairment, experiences. These difficulties are especially challenging during the preschool years, between receiving a diagnosis and then accessing formal education.
In July 2023, Dr. Jacobs coordinated meetings between himself, Prof. Christopher Tinley (private ophthalmologist and previously affiliated with Red Cross Children's Hospital), Deon Minnies (Director of the Community Eye Health Institute at UCT) and Marlene Haasbroek, Occupational therapist at Pioneer School to launch the start of the Kukhanya Centre. The aim: to provide a platform where families of visually impaired children can access support, services, resources, knowledge and skills to better advocate and access support for their children. Partnerships with various organisations and medical professionals involved with visual impairment were formed and were part of the Kukhanya Centre journey from the start.
The first parent workshop happened in September 2024 at Vista Nova School in Rondebosch, Cape Town, and as of 2026, Kukhanya has a permanent office at Vista Nova School. This was the 5th Kukhanya workshop, and going forward, the plan is to conduct one workshop per quarter. During these workshops, a variety of health, social development, education and disability services professionals provide children with severe vision impairment, and their caregivers information, support, assistance, guidance and counselling services free of charge. Kukhanya started small, but has evolved: a Caregiver Support Group was established in July 2026, aimed at providing caregivers with opportunities to talk about their experiences raising a vision-impaired child – an opportunity many caregivers have found to be extremely beneficial. A number of research studies was birthed in this space, advocacy at higher platforms than just on ground level, Kukhanya's focus changed from solely focussing on visual impairment to sensory impairment as to include deaf learners as well, the focus has expanded from preschool learners to learners of all ages, as well as building of informal partnerships between roleplayers and service providers on the ground.
If you want to know more about the Kukhanya Centre, please visit the website: www.kukhanyacentre.org.
