JEDDAH — Every child is entitled to a fair chance at life. This is the mission of the extraordinary staff at the Help Center in Jeddah. The men and women of the Help Center are together working hard to make sure that every mentally disabled child has a fair chance at an ordinary and happy life. Ahmad Hakem is one of many children the Help Center has graduated and given the ability to become an independent adult.
Ahmad’s family realized he had mental difficulties before he was even born. It turned out Ahmad was going to be born with a mild retardation, which is a slight form of mental disability. The shock took its toll on the family, but this extraordinary family quickly took in the information and made the brave decision to love and cherish their son any way he came. “Our family is very open and loving,” said Ahmad’s mother, “We are proud and always will be proud of our son.”
When Ahmad was about five-year-old his family took him to the Help Center with hopes of attaining a better life for their child. At once they were greeted and made to feel at ease by the attentive and caring staff. “I did my research well,” said Ahmad’s mother. “I was determined to find the best help for my son. Along with the Help Center, I took my son to the UCLA Medical Center every summer. I wanted to make sure he got the most advanced and effective treatment.”
If you are to meet Ahmad today, what you will find is a self-sufficient 29-year-old adult who has a steady job and three Special Olympics gold medals under his belt. Ahmad is by no means ordinary. He is an athlete with a passion for the Al-Ittihad soccer team and basketball.
Through the carefully tailored development programs at the Help Center, Ahmad was able to blossom as an individual and truly find his inner self. Of course, Ahmad is not the only child who has had this opportunity. None of these opportunities and advantages would have been possible without the help and support of two individuals, Ahmed Abdullah Al-Juffali and Suad Al-Juffali, who set up the Help Center in 1985 as a pilot center.
Children with disabilities have a special place in Suad Al-Juffali’s heart as she grew up with a next door neighbor who suffered from Down Syndrome in Jerusalem. Suad would play with her neighbor every day. During the 1948 war she and her family moved to Saudi Arabia. By chance many years later, she bumped into her neighbor’s father and asked about her playmate. Suad was shocked to find out that the playmate, who she thought was of the same age as her, was over 10 years older, had always suffered from Down Syndrome and had passed away. Suad had no idea her playmate was somehow different and her death came as a shock that was to have a lasting effect.
It was always a dream of both Suad and Abdullah to start a charity together, but they differed in their opinions of what that charity should be. Finally, they decided that a center for the mentally disabled would be their charity and together they set the foundation for the Help Center.
It was very clear to Suad that children with disabilities, like all other children, need the right environment and special care to grow individually. Through her vision, hundreds of children have been given a chance to a new life.
The Help Center uses what they call a “holistic approach to education and training.” This means that the center trains and develops children’s functions, including their articulation, grasp, memory and so on. The center also develops motivation programs, which offer the needed stimuli and information to help children use their acquired skills in their everyday life.
The center is also working hard to arrange for society to accept people with special needs. The center is leading an initiative to raise awareness and acceptance of people with special needs in the wider society.
“Attitudes toward children with mental disabilities have changed,” said Rania Gazzaz, a staff member at the Help Center. “A few years back, parents’ solution to their special needs children was to either send them away or lock them up at home. Today people are beginning to understand that being mentally disabled is a challenge that is manageable and possible to live with.”
The center is currently taking care of 350 students and has about 160 staff members. Staff members include both male and female. All staff members in the child care department must go through a two-year training program and one year internships, all of which occur in parallel with their work. The program includes both practical and theoretical training.