Uganda, Africa– 35-year-old Chrystal Honsaker is helping children with autism in Uganda by donating time, money,school supplies, and mattresses. She got the idea when she vacationed in Africa a few years ago and noticed how much children suffer.
“I saw the need and wanted to back,” she told the Herald Standard. In Honsaker’s recent five week visit she volunteered at the Komo Center for Understanding Autism in Entebbe as a board-certified behavioral analyst.
She told the Herald Standard. :
“The staff was good but they did not have access to resources that we have here. Most families hide their children and don’t see the benefits of educating them. The agency tried to get into the community and get people to see the benefits,”
She also noted that while education in Africa is free, there are all sorts of fees and expenses that hinder a child’s chance to getting a decent education, such as buying a broom, toilet paper, and uniforms. There are private boarding schools, but tuition is often $450, an amount large numbers of students can’t afford. In fact, one family’s poor finances forced them to sleep on the concrete ground in their home, until Honsaker decided to buy them a mattress.
The original article by on the Herald Standard website can be found here