Eight women with intellectual disabilities are over the moon thanks to their new and improved Garden Cottage.
Originally an outdated face-brick building, the care home in Heideveld recently underwent a major renovation to offer a dignified and comfortable environment to the eight permanent residents.
On Wednesday, the new Garden Cottage was unveiled much to the delight of the eight ladies.
Tamaryn Angel, a Social Worker Manager at Cape Mental Health who oversees the home, says they were in desperate need of a renovation as living conditions were cramped.
Tamaryn says: “There was limited space for the eight residents and a care worker, and this became more evident during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“The residents shared bedrooms, four to a room, and slept in bunk beds which became more difficult to access as they got older.”
The whole house has been made bigger, there were only three small bedrooms, now each of the women have their own space and bed.
There are now five bedrooms, with a garden while the toilet has also been made disabled-friendly.
The Cape Mental Health’s make-over project was funded by the Villager Aid Trust trustees and started in February last year.
The cottage has been a home to some of the residents for more than 30 years and the new digs will help the women become more self-sufficient, says CEO Dr Ingrid Daniels.
Ingrid tells the Daily Voice: “This is home for them, they are not using bunk beds anymore. There are two women in a room and they chose the colours of their duvets and choose what they eat.”
The home is also fully secured with electric fencing and armed response.
Ingrid adds: “It changes the narrative of people being institutionalised and we are saying they have a right to live in the community and be independent.”
Before moving into the cottage, some of the women came from problematic homes where they had been vulnerable to abuse or neglect in some form.
A 57-year-old resident who has been at Garden Cottage for 13 years expressed her happiness and pride at her new residence.
She says: “Ek is baie bly en proud op my kamer. Toe ek in kom was ek baie happy. Ek het gespring en geskree oor my kamer.”
The residents also attend Cape Mental Health’s Training Workshops Unlimited.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za