It all began with a small pilot project at Malamulele Hospital in Limpopo in 2005. At the time, there were no therapists stationed at the hospital and children affected by CP were treated only by a small team of dedicated therapy assistants. A team of nine therapists from the Johannesburg area volunteered five days of their time to work with twenty-six children from the area affected by CP. The children received intensive therapy on a daily basis, while their mothers were taught how to continue the programme at home. The changes evidenced in the children over the five days surpassed all expectations, resulting in the founding of a formal organisation, dubbed Malamulele Onward, in 2006.

The vision of the newly-formed organisation was to “address the unmet rehabilitation needs of children with CP in rural areas of Southern Africa through access to sustainable support services.” Our initial focus was on caregivers and children themselves. However, for the long-term sustainability of the change we brought about in the lives of the children and their caregivers, we recognised that we needed to create a supportive environment for them, which included the local rehabilitation services at hospitals and primary health care centres. Therefore, for the past three years, we have turned our attention to strengthenng CP services as a whole, through the provision of training and ongoing support.

From a small project consisting of twenty-six children, a very hands-on board, a team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, a budget of R40 000 and no formal office, Malamulele Onward has grown to a staff of ten full-time and four part-time employees led by the Founder Director, a newly renovated Therapy and Training Centre situated next to the Malamulele Onward house for parents, an annual budget of R4 million and a network of CP services located 21 rural sites in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu Natal and Lesotho that collectively provide services to over 1200 children.