Abbey Academy

Last Thursday morning we were collected by four of the youth: Passie, Tyras, Elizabeth and Bonnie (yes we did inform him that this is a Scottish term!). As always we has no idea where we were heading and so we were delighted when we were told that we would be visiting a local school for “special” children. We soon arrived at Abbey Heaven School tucked away behind the safe compound walls. We were greeted at the gates by a smiling welcoming woman Tabitha, the founder of Abbey Heaven School. We walked into a reasonably big, well kept, blossoming garden where a boy sat on a near-by swing smiling to himself as several dogs excitedly leaped around us all, scaring Laura a lot. Tabitha introduced us to the boy as he ran to jump on the small trampoline, explaining to us that this was her son George who suffered from Autism. We greeted George before Tabitha took us on a tour around the grounds.
The school is made up of two main buildings (which used to be Tabitha’s house and her late father in law’s house), converted into care rooms, a big kitchen, boarding facilities for the children and an area for self administered massage and physical therapy. The attached garage and some smaller rooms built around the back of the houses act as different classrooms. Everything in this school has a purpose, with so much thought and understanding obviously behind it. Examples of this thought were everywhere; classrooms were filled with pastel colours so as not to be stressful for the children, most learning is done through pictures as this is a better way for autistic children to process information, there were toilet training facilities, a black room the children could retreat to under adult supervision to learn when the normal settings become too distracting or promote hyperactivity, there were many activities which not only encouraged learning but also skills such as hand-eye co-ordination and concentration (e.g. threading beads with smaller and smaller holes) and most of the essential equipment was available to the children.

Tabitha explained to us that although primary education is free to Kenyan tax payers, education for children with special needs comes at a high cost and generally involves a daily, long journey on the public transport which is crowded, unreliable and stressful for anyone of a relaxed, sound mind. Due to these high costs of time, money and stress she had watched several parents having to take their children out of education over the years. Tabitha herself had eventually had to withdraw George from his school and hired a private tutor to come to their home. However she was more than aware of the importance of socialisation and integration with “normal” children for an autistic child. After many years involved with the schools, and the background of a social work degree, Tabitha had come to the conclusion that the size of the schools and the high number of staff needed were what resulted in the steep school fees being paid by the parents. After much research Tabitha has found several ways around this problem, keeping things small scale (around 30 children attend Abbey Heaven), but more importantly enabling the children to help themselves where possible, providing the appropriate equipment to allow this. For example, rather than having to pay the wages of several physiotherapists, she has one full time physiotherapist who, rather than having to do all of the massaging and nerve work herself, helps the able children to use a massaging, acupuncture machine she had imported from Asia. This machine has a paddle with several balls that heat up and hit the different pressure points used in acupuncture, when it is placed in the right positions. The physiotherapist can work with each of the children that need regular massage and as long as they are capable, they are taught how to use the machine themselves. And so at the end of a long day, although she will have to work directly with some of the children, the physiotherapist can just supervise several of the children as they administer the treatment themselves. This dissolves the amount of work from several to one full time physiotherapist, thus cutting wages dramatically. They also have other equipment such as a balance ball to improve balance, a swinging seat to improve co-ordination and an exercise bike, which also improves balance and co-ordination. Even the many pet dogs have a purpose; children with autism find it much easier to relate to animals naturally than they do humans, so by developing relationships with the dogs the children improve in their social skills. These skills are also improved by the integration of the autistic children with the 15 “normal” children that also attend the school. This integration allows natural socialisation and learning between the children to take place.

About 10 of the children board during the week, although they are encouraged to go home over weekends when possible to allow them to still feel part of their family. This means that Tabitha, her husband and a member of staff that stays overnight must always be ready to respond to any upsets or problems from the children and a guard is hired for the gate overnight to enhance security. When I asked Tabitha if she ever sleeps she laughed as though this was a ridiculous question but then went on to tell us how it can sometimes be good when she wakes up through the night as she can start the cooking for the next day at around 3am! The most incredible thing about her is that she is just so completely genuine and humble. When we asked about her lack of personal space she explained to us that her house is really God’s house she is looking after and since she can only sleep in 1 of the rooms she should really be putting the other ones to good use for those that need them since they deserve them just as much as she does. This sounds as though she is some really airy fairy, sickeningly sweet superwoman, but far from it. Everything about Tabitha is practical and honest. She happily described the difficulties she also faces being a mother of an autistic child, the worries she faces and the space she can need, and as she opened up to us there was an uncommon, overwhelming sense of vulnerability in her voice, but she was happy to show this so as to let us know her heart and why she is doing what she is doing. Everything about Abbey Heaven is about having this heart for caring for these children, and Tabitha employs according to this passion rather than training, as she is confident that she can provide training, but you can’t make a person care for and love children that demand so much, and it is only this love that will keep you going through the difficult times.
When she started the school 3 years ago Tabitha never had huge dreams, or any personal agenda, other than her son getting the best education possible, but yet 3 years on and the school is flourishing and she is now looking to open a home nearby for the older pupils to share where they can live together and live independently with only essential assistance. In the nearer future she also hopes to put a heated pool into the gardens to hire out for a source of income to allow her to keep the school fees low, but also to be used as part of the relaxation and physiotherapy treatment programme for the pupils. She also hopes to buy a bus so the children can be taken on day excursions as she explained to us that many of the children have never even seen a river, as due to their mental limitations imagination is not accessed so easily, so experience of such things is essential for understanding. However, Tabitha relies on bank loans which she slowly pays off as she can or donations which can be unpredictable.

Tabitha never once asked Laura and I for anything, but before leaving we asked excitedly if it would be possible for us to come back sometime. Thankfully Tabitha was happy to agree and so we will be attending Abbey Heaven this Friday to assist with their outside play day! I can’t wait, being there is actually like someone wrapping warm, sparkly fluff around all your cynical thoughts and giving you the hope and encouragement you never thought you needed.

Abbey Heaven is the perfect example of what happens when someone accepts that they can’t do everything, but knows they must do something. When we look at poverty and Africa as a whole it is so easy for it to all seem helpless and utterly hopeless, and it’s far too easy for us to take the easy option and turn our backs on the dark situations. But when you take the time to look hard enough you find that sometimes amongst the darkness tiny, very basic, very simple stars pop up from the hope burning from people like Tabitha and their courage in their dreams. And what a huge difference each one of these little stars makes in an otherwise pitch dark world. Maybe we don’t need to change a whole world, we just all need to have the courage to take the risk to light just one little star.
A humbled Jenn xx