Mentally Retarded Children Need More Assistance

Officials of centres for mentally handicapped children in Douala say they need government aid.

Mental retardation is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic language skills during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as an adult. People suffering from mental retardation may be described as having developmental disabilities, global developmental delay, or learning difficulties.

There are many signs. For example, children with developmental disabilities may learn to sit up, to crawl, or to walk later than other children, or they may learn to talk later. Both adults and children with intellectual disabilities may also have trouble speaking, find it hard to remember things, have trouble understanding social rules, have trouble solving problems, and have trouble thinking logically.

Often, when parents discover this defect in their children; there is a tendency to hide them at home or send them to the village where they might not be exposed to the rest of the world. This is because this sort of handicap has not been well exposed like others. An example is that
around the country, there are schools for the blind, deaf and dumb, etc, but it is difficult to find those for children who are mentally handicapped. In Douala, some people have come up with such initiative and created schools which do carter for children who are mentally handicapped.
Talking to some of them who have taken up the challenge, they said they have not received any aid from the government and they have been operating on private funds.

The Director of Orchidee Home Centre, Which handles mental retarded children, Marie Melanie Bell, said the centre was created in 2005 and they have been functioning with private funds. She said the centre is owned by an association whose members contribute to run it. She added that they also get funds from parents who have to pay 60, 000 CFA every month after registering their children in the centre. As for the government, she said they have not received aid.

The Director of Guy Martial Foundation, which also trains mentally retarded children, Nzali Dorothée did not say anything contrary as far as aid from the government is concerned. Talking to the Provincial Delegate of Social Affairs, Samuel Ndjock, he said the State has not completely neglected this sector. There are two schools he said in the South West Province and in the North and added that they are not sufficient.

He said that there are four private centres in Douala, Which work in collaboration with the delegation of social affairs. The delegate said in the past there they gave subvention to some of the private centre, though he denied mentioning the centres that had received such subvention. He added that they also give material support. The delegate said as far as the rights of the children is concerned; there are laws which protect handicaps. But he added that technical norms still have to be put in place.

EFFA TAMBENKONGHO