Dar-ul-Khushnud, Centre for Mentally Handicapped Children & Adults

Karachi

Province

The Church of Pakistan (United)

Diocese

Karachi

Goal

The goal of the center is to provide special education and rehabilitation facilities to the special people and to make them self independent as much as possible.

Activity

Dar-ul-Khushnud – (Home for Happiness) established in 1980 is a Day Care Training Centre for Mentally Handicapped Children and Adults.

During the last 32 years Dar-ul-Khushnud has served about +5,000 mentally handicapped both at the center and at the houses of the respective families under its Community Outreach Program. At present, the total strength of the center is 140 students.

1. Dar-ul-Khushnud (Morning Shift) Project

DUK morning shift project runs from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (aged 4 to 18 years) and serves students with mental (Multiple) disability. Dar-ul-Khushnud provides the trainings to their students in the areas of Cognitive Skills, Communication Skills, Social Skills, Behaviour Management, Physical Development (Fine & Gross Motor), Self Help Development, Speech/ Occupational Therapy, Activities of Daily Living Skills (ADL), Art & Craft / Academic Skills, Recreational Activities, Self Grooming/ Home Skills and pre academics skills. Following are the classes (named after colors)  and their main activities:

Blue Area having the children with severe mental disabilities and cerebral palsy.

Orange Area  having the children with moderate to severe mental disabilities.

Pink Area  having the children with severe to profound mental disabilities.

Green Area  having the children with moderate mental disabilities.

Purple Area  having the children with moderate to severe mental disabilities.

Red/ Rainbow  Area  having the children with mild to moderate and mild mental disabilities.

Dar-ul-Khushnud has transportation facilities and provides pick & drop facilities to their students. The centre also provides physio-therapy to the children with physical disabilities.   

2. Dar-ul-Khushnud (Afternoon Shift) Project     

DUK afternoon shift project which started from the year 2001 runs from 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The afternoon shift was initiated to cater to growing number of admission seeking students. The afternoon shift aims to provide the same services offered in the morning shift to the students. 

3. Adult Center Project

The Adult Centre located in the same premises has been working from 1994, and teaches vocational skills to mentally handicapped adults from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Adults are divided into small groups according to their mental abilities for their learning/ training. At Adult Centre, imparting vocational skills is our main focus and we place more stress on teaching such skills hat enable them to earn some money. The adults are being trained in gardening, candle making, packing work and washing/ cleaning of school building/ floors, and some other house hold activities such as listening to music, playing games, watching television etc.  

4. Autism Project[[

There are no institutions specifically targeting autistic children. In fact there is no systematic method of identifying autistic children. Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills. Most parents of autistic children suspect that something is wrong by the time the child is 18 months old and seek help by the time the child is age 2. Children with autism typically have difficulties in Pretend play, Social interactions, verbal and nonverbal communication. We have been running a separate unit for autistic children since 2001.

5. Community Outreach Project

DUK staff visits in the slum areas of the nearby communities so as to raise awareness about disabilities and the facilities/services DUK offers to the special children/adolescents/adults at the school and at their own homes.  Presently, DUK Community Workers regularly visit neighborhood slum areas namely: Kashmir Colony, Akhtar Colony, Azam Basti, Raiti Lane and Slaughter House. The purpose of these visits is to provide home-based treatment to those unable to travel all the way to school and to identify special children in the areas who are not being sent to any rehabilitation centre owing to socio-cultural reasons or due to sheer ignorance of the parents. 

Outcomes

– DUK glorified the name of our Lord among other religions

– Mental level of children improved by trainings and rehabilitation sessions

– Created awareness for mental retardation through seminars, writing material and print media

– Provided satisfaction, comfort and relief to more than 5000 parents and their families through special education facilities since 1980.

 

Main language

Urdu