After the government put measures in place for the Covid-19 pandemic, all schools and therapy centres closed. During that time, March to December 2020, SEP called all families from the SEP projects on a regular basis. SEP projects are: Ujiachilie Project – St Joseph in Kahawa Sukari, Stella Cometa in Machakos, Maria Njeri Foundation in Kikuyu, and Mary Rice Centre in Kibera.
Parents received moral support and therapy intervention via the phone. Each SEP therapist had the responsibility to follow up on one community. In case of need referrals to colleagues were made to ensure accurate advice was given in relation to the required intervention.
This intervention has proven to be very beneficial and demonstrates even more the importance of partnering with the parents during therapy interventions. A high number of children continued making progress thanks to the parents following up on the advice.
SEP also called the peer educators from the Wezesha Programme to encourage them to continue visiting the families from their support groups. They were instrumental in the distribution of food and medication.
Helpful in advising parents and peer educators were the educational videos SEP made during the Covid-19 pandemic. The videos were sent to show the required interventions for the children.