NPO caring for crash survivors urges caution on the roads during Easter

Within seconds, a person leading a normal life can become incapacitated. The reminder to exercise caution is timeous ahead of peak road traffic expected over the Easter and Freedom Day long weekends later this month. 

The Little Eden Society, a home for the profoundly physically and mentally handicapped, has partnered with MasterDrive to raise awareness of the consequences of road accidents and how they can be prevented.

March was Disability Awareness Month, coinciding with World Head Injury Awareness Day on March 20.

MasterDrive CEO Eugene Herbert said his association was participating to demonstrate people can suffer brain damage and lose their mobility due to vehicle crashes.

“Peoples’ lives were on a completely different trajectory prior to crashes and then suddenly they found themselves in very different circumstances. While they are thriving at places like Little Eden, where they are being taken care of, they tragically lost their previous dreams, ambitions and mobility,” he said.

Worldwide it is estimated that between 30% and 50% of car crashes result in spinal injuries. In SA the top causes of head injuries are motor vehicle, bicycle and vehicle-pedestrian accidents, accounting for up to 50% of brain injuries, Herbert said.

As safety technology advances, there are an ever-increasing number of ways to reduce the injuries. There are important safety features which can reduce brain and spinal injuries and which are found in every car, Herbert said.

“These are the headrest and seat belt. They prevent excessive neck movement and prevent ejection during a crash. Even with the statistics in mind, many drivers neglect to use headrests and seatbelts correctly or at all, exposing themselves to unnecessary risk.”

Most damage occurs when their heads whip back and forth in a crash.

“A headrest prevents your head from snapping backwards with excessive force and reduces the force placed on the neck.”

Seatbelts protect occupants from the high risk of traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord damage that often result after ejection.

“There are three impacts in a crash. The first is the vehicle colliding with another object, the second is a collision with surfaces within the car and the last impact is organs colliding with other organs or the skeleton. A seatbelt reduces the severity of the last two impacts. A body continues to travel at the speed the vehicle was travelling before impact. A seatbelt reduces the force of the impact and spreads it across the body,” Herbert said.

Little Eden Society, an NPO which takes care of 300 profoundly mentally and physically disabled children and adults, can testify to this. Though a large number of its residents are born with a mental disability or are there as a result of abuse or foetal alcohol syndrome, several are there because of motor vehicle accidents.

Ntokozo* was born in 1990. He lived a normal life as a 16-year-old with his mother, his only active parent. While going to a family function in a taxi with his mom, his life changed forever. The taxi driver swerved to avoid a pedestrian and crashed, killing several passengers, including his mother.

Ntokozo sustained a frontal lobe injury which impaired his behavioural regulation, speech and language, memory and motor function. He was left alone in the world with no one to take care of him. The state placed in him in institutions, including an old age home where he spent 10 years, and then a frail-care facility where he was surrounded by older men, almost double his age.

There he received minimal stimulation and little rehab, causing him to develop contractures in his right hand and limited use of his right arm. He had episodes of depression, frequently becoming agitated due to his frustration about not being able to express himself.

In 2024 the facility decided it could no longer look after him because of his deteriorating mental condition and asked Little Eden to take him in. Since then, said Little Eden CEO Ann Coetzee, Ntokozo’s condition has dramatically transformed after being given individual attention and specialised therapy.

“He has had the opportunity to interact with others on a similar cognitive level. Fortunately his ability to understand concepts has remained intact. He can read and write, and have a basic conversation, albeit slowly and with difficulty. He is attending our ‘school’ programme to encourage use of the skills.

“Ntokozo is strong-willed and has a good sense of humour. He is one of our ‘naughty duo’. He loves music, basking in the sun and interacting with the home’s therapy dogs and horses,” she said.

Kholofelo* is another resident who was involved in a motor vehicle accident at the age 14. After eight months of treatment in hospital, he was sent back to his mainstream  school but could not cope due to his profound disability as a result of the accident. He was asked to leave and in 2022 his desperate mother asked Little Eden to take him in.

“He has become one of the most outgoing residents. He is regularly seen walking around with his speaker blaring, helping wherever he can, and his love for soccer is unimaginable. He values his responsibilities, which provide him with a purpose. He is a typical teenager,” said Coetzee.

Susan* was three months old when the car she was in rolled while the driver was trying to avoid a dog. She survived after being thrown out of the vehicle. However, she cannot walk and is permanently wheelchair-bound. She is unable to talk, has a poor understanding of her environment and is fully dependent on others for her care. Susan was admitted to Little Eden in 1977, at the age of six, when her parents felt she would receive more appropriate care.

“She is quiet, making some sounds when talking to her. She sometimes understands and will laugh. Her favourite activity is having her nails painted during beauty time,” said Coetzee.

Little Eden has two separate facilities, Little Eden in Edenvale where the most profoundly disabled residents live, and Elvire Rota Village in Bapsfontein where those with limited ability can lead semi-independent lives doing work on the farm while benefiting from animal and sensory therapy.

The home takes in people who are disabled through natural conditions and abuse, including battered babies’ syndrome, people afflicted with alcohol foetal syndrome and failed abortions.

“Superstition surrounding disability results in children and babies being abandoned at hospitals, churches and in the veld. There is a lot of stigma attached to disabled people, specially in rural areas where children are often hidden away or locked up. Some consider them a curse. When they are found, they are placed with us by police and social workers,” Coetzee said.

At Little Eden, residents are given hydrotherapy, music, play and sensory therapy. Those who can  help with tasks such as laundry and packing. Some are given basic school lessons. Residents vary from the age of four to 69, with the longest stay being 53 years.

The home was established in 1967 and about 1,200 residents have been through its doors.

“We offer a holistic solution to each of our residents, finding the best version of themselves they can achieve. This includes the spiritual aspect as they attend church regularly,” said the CEO.

The society conducts an annual CEO Wheelchair Campaign where company bosses are asked to put themselves into the steps of Little Eden residents to raise much-needed funds.

The cost of each resident at Little Eden Society is R17,000 per month, and they have to raise just over R61m annually to continue giving their residents good quality care.

Little Eden was started by 49-year-old housewife and mother of six Domitilla Rota Hyams (1918-2011), who knew nothing about social work and had no money or government backing. With the help of a group of friends, advice from experts in the field and a R10 donation from her husband Danny, Little Eden opened its doors to the first three girls in 1967.

Initially it was a day-care facility, operating in the Edenvale Methodist Church hall. By the second year, there were 23 children and a nursing sister supervisor and Little Eden had taken occupation of an old house awaiting demolition in Kempton Park.

Hyams promised the dying mother of one of the children that she would look after the child for the rest of her life, and the need for permanent residential care was born.

Over the next few years, the organisation was forced to move several time. In 1974 it was able to start building the present, permanent home in Edenglen on land donated by the municipality. In 1970 a 43ha farm in Bapsfontein was acquired, but owing to lack of funds, more than a decade would pass before the Elvira Rota Village, named after Hyam’s mother, was built.

Little Eden is a benchmark, non-profit organisation accommodating 300 children and adults with profound intellectual disability in two specialised residential care facilities. Their message is “recognise our angels as a whole complete human being created by God, with a mind, a body, a spirit and a soul, and the right to be treated with dignity, kindness and respect”.

* Not their real names

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