Read for Rose Special Education Programme

Disability is not inability!

We seek to transform the education landscape in Zambia for children and youth living with disabilities. Access to inclusive and quality education empowers individuals and fosters lasting social change.

Here’s how we are transforming lives.

In March 2019, we launched our Special Education Programme called Read For Rose. Now children with disabilities and special needs from the local community are able to access quality education and life skills.

Today, 27 children with a diverse range of disabilities have individualized learning plans that include acquiring life-changing language, academic, and occupational skills. Their disabilities include visual impairments, hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, spina bifada, hydrocephalus, autism and epilepsy.

Beyond Classroom Work

Read for Rose also features inclusive and holistic activities:

  • Tending a community garden;

  • Learning about entrepreneurship and obtaining practical skills like knitting doormats, which are sold locally to support the students’ families;

  • Joining the 700+ other children who participate in programming at the Center for the annual Life Skills & Leadership Camp, designed to build confidence and to develop team-building and leadership skills;

  • Participating in the International Day for People with Disabilities to advocate for change at the national level.

It is about what Rose would have wanted.

Our Special Education Programme was named for “Rose” — a special child with a big heart who left this earth way too soon. Her dream was to become a teacher.

And Read For Rose has a special place in our hearts too because it is spearheaded by an Amos Youth Centre alumni, Febby Choombe.

Febby decided to return to the centre after graduating from the University of Zambia with a degree in Special Education. She was a scholarship awardee for over six years and one of our incredible success stories. She earned high school scholarships for 11th and 12th grade and college scholarships for her undergraduate degree at the University of Zambia, the leading university in the nation.

Febby has always had the dream to change the education landscape for students with special needs. Less than half will ever enter a classroom due to high stigma and few resources allocated to their needs. With her Bachelor of Arts in Special Education in hand, in October 2017, Febby joined the centre’s team as a special education teacher. In March of 2019, Febby officially launched Read for Rose, a free special education hub where students can acquire language and occupational skills. Today, Febby is our Director of Special Education and one of four Co-Directors leading Amos Youth Centre and charting the future of inclusive education.