Afrika Tikkun launches Paint it Purple Campaign

These bridges are for children who live with disabilities and their families. Too many children suffer in silence - hidden in back rooms, kept away from the public, the object of shame and stigma. But now mural art is spreading tolerance, acceptance and awareness in a big way.

Facilitated by local NGO Afrika Tikkun, this group of parents and caregivers has launched the Paint it Purple Campaign. The campaign brings substance to the meaning of real peace by educating the community and challenging stigmas around disabilities through art.

Images and messages

Since June, the group has arranged to paint one family's house purple each month. The purple houses each have a mural designed to celebrate the child living there - using images and messaging to promote understanding of the child's disability. The Paint it Purple campaign aims to paint 18 more houses purple before the end of the year. And in 2016, it will expand nationally.

"Stigma and superstition are perhaps the greatest challenge to those living with disabilities in South African communities," says Jean Elphick, manager of Afrika Tikkun's Empowerment Programme for Children with Disabilities and their Families.

According to Elphick, families of children with disabilities feel that while the physical and practical challenges of living with disabilities are huge, it is the social exclusion which families battle with most. Most of the time, it is single women carrying the burden of children with special needs in communities that not only offer little support, but stigmatise and reject them as well.

Abused children

"Many people still believe that those living with disabilities are cursed, bewitched or not even human. The result of this is that such people - and particularly such children - are often abused and maligned," Elphick explains.

"The outcomes so far have been extraordinary. Not only have the murals prompted open conversation, questions and understanding, but group members have also met people who, until now, have kept their children with disabilities hidden from the public.

"We are finding parents who have been hiding their children from the world - sometimes for over a decade, bringing their children into the open. They are finding out what the children are suffering from. They are learning to walk with dignity and breaking shame. They are finding support, community, understanding and getting access to services," Elphick concludes.