Lola, a lively child with Down syndrome, has been helped by the Community Based Rehabilitation programme of Caritas in collaboration with local NGOs and the Tajik government. The programme entails training parents and staff and removing the stigma of disability.

Dushanbe (AsiaNews) – "Caritas implies 'equality' for me. My daughter Lola is able to participate in daily life. She has become an equal member of society,” said Ozodhakon, the child’s mother.

Lola’s actual name is Parivash. She is nine and has benefited from the rehabilitation programme provided by Caritas Germany to people with disabilities in Tajikistan.

On 19 April, the Tajikistan chapter of Caritas Germany celebrated ten years of active involvement in support of the most vulnerable along with partner groups and high-level Tajik officials.

Caritas Germany helps people with disabilities, lonely seniors and even victims of natural disasters, working with local NGOs in co-operation with the Tajik Ministry of Social Protection.

With the support of Caritas’s Community Based Rehabilitation programme and its partners, Ozodhakon learnt how to take care of the child and provide her a happy life.

The programme is designed to train parents and staff who deal children – from doctors to teachers – to deal with children with disabilities as well as counter the stigma associated with it.

Early on in Lola’s life, the doctors at Maksad, a local NGO partner of Caritas, diagnosed her as having Down's syndrome.

In Tajik society, this kind of diagnosis leads to a blame game against mothers and children. For many, disability is seen as divine punishment, a "fault" to pay for.

Children are segregated, kept at home or sent to "special schools", hidden from public view, and the child's father often abandons the family.

"My husband left me, and his family turned their backs on me. Lola was a 'disgrace' for the family – this is what they told me," Ozodhakon said.

"In most cases, even if the father leaves the family, [the wife] must stay in her husband's home, and continue to look after her in-laws," said Parvina Tadjibaeva, director of the Tajik branch of Caritas Germany.

Lola took hard her relatives’ attitude towards her mother and the different treatment of other children in the family.

Still, despite the difficulties and resistance of other parents, Ozodhakon was able to send her child to school thanks to the support of the social workers of the programme.

"To integrate people with disabilities, change comes with children, who never talk about the special child in the group,” said Tadjibaeva. “Most of the time” those who object are “other parents and seniors, worried about infectious diseases.”

“For this reason, we try to include local mothers in our outreach since often they are relatives or people who know each other.

“At the beginning, most of them are full of negative ideas, but after the second, third meeting, they begin to understand that there are no differences between children like Lola and the others."

"Now Lola is attending in a school that is inclusive, in a 'normal' class, taking additional lessons to keep up with the other children” said Tadjibaeva.

“She loves going to school, and that's fine: she can read and has learnt many poems. She loves to dance during playtime when children play and dance together. When she hears music, she loves to be well dressed and dance, like all little girls."

The programme has not only give the girl a new lease on life, but her mother came to realise that she could take care of her daughter and turn it into a vocation. Now Ozodhakon uses her skills as a social worker, a profession she is proud of, and "I have my daughter to thank for this."

"In Tajikistan, most women are homemakers and do not work,” said Tadjibaeva. But for Ozodhakon, “work is very important. Now the neighbours do not look away but support her in everything. They do not look at her just based on her daughter's situation. She is accepted as a normal woman, who has a child."

• tajikistan
• germany
• carias
• disability
• integration
• society