Visitors to the ruins of Fethiye castle, Kings Garden and Amintas tomb may think that the small school located half way up the hill opposite the strangely situated sarcophogus in the centre of the road, is a normal primary school. In fact it is a special school for severely disabled youngsters. Fifty children, aged 6 to 16 from all across the Fethiye area, some with Downs syndrome, autism, profound deafness, muteness and other serious disabilities attend the school where the very special, enthusiastic, caring and dedicated team of 21 teachers help the children to cope with their disabilities and teach the youngsters basic lifeskills so that hopefully they can have some degree of independence in the future.
The school recently applied to the 3C’s for assistance as they desperately needed special rehabilitation equipment for their exercise room where the children exercised to improve their co-ordination and strengthen their muscles. Apart from a few small balls, they had very little else. They also wanted two automatic toilets to make toileting the children easier and easy lever basin taps which the children could operate themselves.
We asked the headmaster to provide us with the school's "wish list" and to prioritise the items and said that we would see what we could do. The full list of items totaled over 5,000 TL but we felt that this was such a really worthwhile project that we decided to purchase everything on their list, much to the delight of the staff. Items included Step and Twist machines, pilates balls, body weights of varying sizes, dumb bells, mini steppers, hoops and a soft ball pit. We also provided and paid for the installation of the toilets and new lever taps for all their sinks.
We recently returned to the school to meet the children and watch them using their new exercise equipment. We then had a tour of the classrooms. The youngsters were really happy and smiling, proudly showing off their artwork, much of which adorned the walls, and the school had a lovely warm atmosphere. It was a very uplifting experience and we were so glad that we had been able to help.
We would love to show you pictures of these children but understandably we are unable to do so. However the little boy on the Step and Twist machine below was more than happy to demonstrate the new apparatus to us and this photograph was taken with the permission of the headmaster. Instead we will show you the hardware purchased!
Thank you all for helping us to help these children
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3C's members with the school staff
