Hot Cares Christmas – Autistic Boy Gets to Stay in School and Find New Ways to Show His Love for His Parents
Imagine waiting 15 years for your child to express their love for you?
Well, that’s what Tahrn has been through, as the mother of a non-verbal autistic boy.
Her story reached us via her neighbour of 18 years, Tilani, who just said: “I want to tell you about a special ‘little’ boy called Joshua, or Joshie as I call him.”
Joshua is 15 and still in nappies, but Tilani recently introduced Tahrn to a school for autistic children, which offers a system for non-verbal children to learn to communicate, and Joshua has thrived at it. The Sisu Hub is just fantastic and is a centre that provides age-appropriate tuition to non-verbal and minimally-speaking autistic pupils.
“Last week Tahrn burst into my house to tell me that Joshie ‘told’ her for the first time that he loves her,” said Tilani. “Can you imagine? The first time in 15 years! So, he just has to go to this school! He can communicate for the first time in his life.”
Unfortunately, money is a serious issue. Joshua’s dad was retrenched some time ago, but the family had saved R5000 for the deposit for the new school and have managed finances to allow Joshua to attend. However, the fee for the school recently increased and this was something the family never budgeted for. Sadly, the additional R2000 in school fees puts this school out of the family’s reach.
“This family really could do with a helping hand,” said Tilani. “Tahrn is an absolute angel. My mother said that special children go to special humans and that is 100% true for this woman. She adores her child and will do anything for him. I think it is going to break her heart if she cannot send Joshua to this school. She sees this as his only lifeline for the future.”
Hot Cares can see that and that’s why we’re stepping in to help the family keep Joshua in The Sisu Hub and in the best place possible for him. We want to see this wonderful teenage boy get the education he deserves at a school that teaches autistic pupils practical ways to communicate with everyone around them.
Hot Cares will be covering the R2000 monthly shortfall next year and topping up those school fees.
On top of that, we’ll be opening a Dis-Chem store account for the family and contributing R2000 a month for nappies for Joshua for the whole of next year.
The total value of that Christmas gift – R48 000!
A very Merry Christmas to Joshua and his family!