When Darlin Musoni returned to Kigali in March this year, it was intended to be a brief visit, a few weeks with family and friends before accepting a well-paying job in the UK. He had spent the past few years working and studying in Europe, building a promising career as a special needs educator. ALSO READ: How Rwanda is faring in special needs education As he reconnected with former students, met their families, and saw the gaps in support for children with special needs, leaving no longer felt right. “I started helping out for free, just while I was here, but the more time I spent with the children, the harder it became to walk away,” he said. A calling disguised as a side gig Musoni’s journey into special needs education wasn’t planned. In 2016, he was a law student, fresh out of his first year at university, when he took a temporary assistant teaching job at Green Hills Academy in Nyarutarama. What was supposed to be a side gig opened his eyes to a different calling. “I didn’t even know what ‘special needs’ meant, however the first time I saw a child go from being non-verbal to speaking, because of something we did, I knew this was bigger than me.” He spent six years at Green Hills, learning on the job, building bonds with students, and falling completely in love with the work. Eventually, his desire to grow professionally took him to Europe in 2021, where he both studied and worked in special needs environments across Poland and elsewhere. ALSO READ: Making school inclusive for children living with disabilities In Europe, he gained hands-on experience with structured therapies like speech, occupational, and physiotherapy, all of which were far more developed than what he had seen back home. “There, each child has access to specialists, here, we barely have three speech therapists in the whole country, and they’re not even Rwandan,” he said. While on vacation in Kigali earlier this year, Musoni reconnected with families of former students. One conversation led to another. Parents shared stories of how little support they still had. Friends asked why he was planning to take his skills back to Europe instead of using them at home. “I realised I was working hard, but not for my own community (the children) I grew up with. That’s when I started thinking, what if I stayed and opened my own center?” He had doubts. As a young man, starting a business focused on children and disabilities felt risky. There were financial concerns and he was only 28. However, with encouragement from friends and a few former colleagues in Europe, some of whom even offered to support him financially, he decided to take the leap. Building from scratch By June, the idea was already taking shape. Musoni and a few trusted friends pooled their savings, enough to sustain a small center, even at a loss, for six months. The focus was never to scale fast, but to start strong. “I didn’t want a big school; I wanted one that makes a difference. I recruited a small team of four and trained them thoroughly. Some looked great on paper but lacked a natural connection with the children. Special needs work requires heart; you can’t fake it.” Special Needs Centre Rwanda officially opened on September 8 in Kibagabaga with a maximum capacity of 15 children. So far, six students have been enrolled, most of them with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, dyslexia, or developmental delays. This is not a daycare or a typical school, but a specialised center providing services that are limited or unavailable elsewhere in Rwanda. Children receive speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and behavioral therapy, including Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is Musoni’s area of expertise. ABA is a therapy that helps improve social, communication, and learning skills by encouraging positive behaviours. “The aim is to work with each child closely, understand their needs, and prepare them to join mainstream schools. We want them to leave here, but only when they’re ready,” he said. In Rwanda, most children with disabilities are not formally diagnosed due to a lack of diagnostic centers and professionals; as he explains, “we can only say we ‘suspect’ a child has autism or another condition, based on assessments and behaviors, but we can’t give official diagnoses. That’s still a big gap in our system.” More than therapy The center charges Rwf700,000, a month per child, a fee that includes access to all therapies and one-on-one support. Originally, it was Rwf 800,000, until a sponsor stepped in to help reduce the cost. Still, affordability is a challenge. “The hardest thing is turning away a parent who desperately wants help but can’t afford it. Some of these families have already been exploited by fake solutions like people promising miracles, or charging high fees for low-quality care,” Musoni said. He noted that trust is an issue as years of misinformation and stigma around disability have left parents suspicious. Many come in with doubt and pain. “Some were told to pray the disability away. Others were told their child would be cured in six months. There’s so much trauma,” he said. To ensure each child gets the support they need, Musoni starts with a careful assessment, then works with families based on their emotional and financial situations. Does he regret leaving law? Looking back, Musoni has no regrets about leaving his law studies behind nearly a decade ago. “I thought law was my dream, but this? This is the purpose. I have seen lives change, and every time a child says their first word or smiles at me for the first time, I know I made the right choice,” he said. For all the challenges that come with working with children on the autism spectrum and other developmental differences, there is joy here, a quiet, stubborn joy that refuses to be drowned out by stigma, lack of resources, or outdated cultural myths, he added. According to Musoni, the joy comes from simple progress like a child who couldn’t speak their name for the first time, a student once labeled “aggressive” now interacting calmly, and a parent expressing surprise at their child’s progress. “Most of the challenges come down to communication, many of our students are non-verbal. So, when they’re trying to tell you something and you don’t understand, that’s where the frustration builds. Eventually, it might come out in aggression, but it’s not misbehavior. It’s a cry to be understood. “Slowly, they are being understood. Through consistent routines, gentle patience, and small, persistent exposure to new environments, the children begin to blossom by feeling safe.” The power of environments He added that something as simple as eating can be impactful as some parents tell him, ‘My child can’t take milk’ or ‘They don’t drink juice’ yet at the Centre they do. “We try everything, as long as they aren’t allergic and that’s where the change begins, routine changes can be hard, but necessary,” the educator said. He mentioned challenges that children face such as sensory sensitivity where they need noise-cancelling headphones just to function, since they can hear everything at once like the trees moving, a conversation across the room, even a plane in the sky. This is said to cause chaos in their brain. He said that the children are very expressive in their own ways, for instance, he would get random hugs out of nowhere. They can tell when someone is having a hard day, because they feel it. “They read facial expressions. They know who wants them around, and who doesn’t, and they gravitate toward love.” Healing doesn’t stop at the center. We have students who are 100 percent independent here, they feed and dress themselves but at home, they don’t because home is a safe space where no one pushes them to try. So, we have started one-on-one sessions at home too, just to show parents what’s possible, he added. Musoni noted that this is tough as many parents are single mothers, some abandoned by their partners simply because they had a child with disabilities. Others hide their children due to shame or cultural beliefs, associating disability with witchcraft or bad luck. He said: “There’s still a huge lack of awareness, even here in the city, if you mention autism, someone might say, ‘Oh, I think I have heard of that disease.’ So you can imagine what it’s like in rural areas.” What Rwanda’s special needs community needs most He said that there is a need to build an inclusive society, both physically, and in mindset, and educators trained in special needs. “We need diagnosis centers, more professionals, not just physiotherapists or general educators. And we need to see the ability, not just the disability.” Musoni added that every child has something to offer, giving an example of some of the math geniuses his centre has. “We have artists. We have students who can paint, sing, do things that would shock you, but without support, those gifts are lost. That support has to start from the top, in schools, in health systems, in policy. “Every teacher should be trained in special needs, full stop. Not just trained in theory, but emotionally ready. Some are afraid of these children, some ignore them. That can’t continue.” Progress Musoni said that the center isn’t yet a month old, but the progress is undeniable as they have a student who is starting to speak. Two weeks ago, the child couldn’t say their name, but now can, which he said is not magic, but the right support. He added that community awareness is increasing, with parents becoming less afraid to seek help. Several NGOs have stepped in to sponsor children who couldn’t afford the center, and WhatsApp groups are buzzing with parenting tips, shared wins, and struggles.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc.Syndigate.info).
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