Help Sarda this festive season
'We appeal to our community to support this invaluable cause'
“We appeal to our community to once again come together and support this invaluable cause, by donating over the Christmas period,” said Nicole Christie.
Nicole is the media co-ordinator for the South African Riding for the Disabled Association (Sarda) as well as the Equine Assisted Riding Therapy and Hope (Earth) centre. She explained that 2017 was a year filled with exciting opportunities and enormous growth. It also saw the birth of new relationships for Sarda Gauteng. “In the past we have relied solely on donations and our own fundraising endeavours for our continued existence, but with the tough economic times, securing funding is tough, because of soaring costs.That is why we started to integrate the Earth Centre, which is a Non-profit Company and inspired by Sarda Gauteng, to cover some of these costs. We are the same people, operating from the same place, doing the same wonderful free therapeutic riding work but are now able to help more beneficiaries,” Nicole said.
During this year, more than 160 disabled children benefited from the unique horse-riding therapy provided by Sarda, which grew from providing only morning lessons, to providing individual lessons every afternoon and on Saturdays. This necessitated the appointment of a full-time instructor, and four part-time instructors.
The range of disabilities assisted with includes Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Down Syndrome, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, Visual and Hearing impairments, Genetic Disorders, Spina Bifida and Cerebral Palsy. “Equine assisted riding therapy has a number of mental and physical benefits. The rhythmical three dimensional walk (side to side, up and down, backwards and forwards) of the horse stimulates under-utilised muscles in the disabled child’s pelvis, allowing them to relax and strengthen, improving posture, balance and co-ordination. This therapy also develops gross and fine motor skills and promotes self-esteem and improved communication,” she said.
A teacher from Lantern School in Roodepoort said the following, “Sarda Gauteng has afforded our learners the opportunity to grow and develop – both emotionally and physically. Our learners have seen the benefits of improved co-ordination and an increase in general muscular strength and endurance. This has impacted positively on their postural control, which ultimately leads to a better sitting posture at a desk and improved handwriting skills.”
The main issues the organisation is struggling with are lack of funding, and the fact that the land they are operating from does not belong to them. “We are in dire need of ongoing financial assistance to enable us to keep running these programmes and to purchase the land that we are on, so that there is one less concern in the future. Please consider sponsoring expenses or part thereof such as that of a pony (R26 000 per annum), a donkey (R13 000 per annum), a therapy programme, a child (R930 per month) or a school (R14 760 per school term) to ride. Besides a heartfelt thank you, we are able to issue you with a Section 18A/B-BBEE certificate, with which your donation can be claimed back against your personal or company tax,” Nicole said.
She concluded by thanking every company, school, organisation, club, foundation, trust and individual who has supported them during the past 33 years, helping them to get to where they are today. “We are hoping that you will continue to support us on our journey of creating hope through horses,” she said.For more information, contact the organisation on 011 958 5044, send an email to info@earthcentre.org.za, or visit them at 125 Peter Road, Ruimsig.
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