THE LISTENING HEART FOUNDATION

OUR STORY

The Listening Heart Foundation was founded by Suzy Mabiala, a Speech-Language Pathologist passionate about serving children with communication needs. While working firsthand with children with various disabilities, Suzy Mabiala quickly discovered that despite their various conditions, children with special needs have amazing potential and each one has a God-given purpose. The Listening Heart Foundation was birthed out of a compelling desire to provide special needs children within African countries with opportunities for equal access to education.

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Why Africa? Individuals with disabilities and children with special needs in African countries are often stigmatized, discriminated against, and neglected. They are unfortunately frequently mistreated, seen as "cursed", and live in countries where specialized education is lacking and not funded by their country's government. 

At the Listening Heart Foundation, our purpose is simple: 

• We believe in strongly advocating for the needs of African children with developmental disorders, down syndrome, autism, communication deficits, and other types of impairments.

• We endeavor to take steps to raise awareness to de-stigmatize the special needs children we serve within African countries, and to raise funds to help various special needs schools, organizations, and centers in Africa that do not receive funding or support from their countries. 

• We strive to provide effective and practical training to equip parents, caregivers, and teachers of children with special needs to help improve the children's functional life skills.

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Every child regardless of their disability has innate abilities. They deserve the opportunity to be taught, valued, taken care of, and the chance to live a fulfilling life. That is why we exist, to break down barriers and provide a lasting hope for African children with disabilities as they are invigorated to thrive. 

Empowering Exceptional Lives

 Our mission is to empower exceptional lives while championing the unique abilities and potential of African children with special needs. We are dedicated to providing unwavering support and creating opportunities for every child to thrive, learn, and grow. We achieve this by conducting trainings to help improve their quality of life and by raising awareness about the challenges they face. Through our fundraising efforts, we provide access to education and other needed resources to help these children grow and thrive.