A single story fails to convey the magnitude of COBT's impact on the lives of children in Lilongwe!
You might be surprised to learn that COBT provides services to 100 - 150 Children EVERY DAY and 575 - 635 EVERY MONTH!
Thrive Malawi partners with COBT to provide therapy, education services, the daily feeding program, and the nutrition program. COBT is entirely funded by private donations and it is a challenge to keep up with the demand. A donation to Thrive Malawi makes a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of kids and their families!
COBT opened in 2007 with 45 children and adults registering on the first day. At the close of 2013 we had registered over 1500 children and adults and were operating out of two facilities, the Children’s Rehabilitation Centre and the Preschool/School Centre as well as out of 6 Outreach Clinics in the rural communities of Mtandire, Njewa, Mchesi/Kalulu Village, Lumbadzi, Kauma, Mngwangwa Village, all within a 20 kilometre radius of Lilongwe.
Children’s Rehabilitation Program: Provides children with disabilities access to Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy services. These services are integrated into the other programs as well. 45 to 55 children attend daily at our main centre. Outreach Clinics enable therapy services to be provided in rural communities so that the children living in these villages can attend therapy twice a week. 8 to 20 children attend each session.
Integrated Preschool: Provides quality preschool education for children with disabilities and their able-bodied peers 5 mornings a 
week. Over 100 children with disabilities and 7 or 8 able-bodied peers attend the preschool. 35 to 60 children attend a day. They are divided into 3 groups depending on age and developmental level. Each group has a teacher.
Special Education Programme: Provides special education services for children with physical, learning, hearing and behaviour challenges through a variety of programs. The goal is to prepare the children for school whenever possible. Many of our children are too old to enter the school system so they attend ‘school’ at our centre. Special services such as sign language instruction are also taught. 25 to 35 children attend each day.
Our Daily Feeding Program: Provides a meal for each child attending every day. When you add up all the children in the various programs we are feeding between 100 and 150 children a day. 
Nutrition Programme: Provides malnourished children with the assistance they need to increase their weight through provision of maize soya porridge as well as fortified peanut butter paste. Malnourished children are weighed and height and MUAC (middle upper arm circumference) measurements are taken biweekly. Nutrition support is individually tailored. 525 children are assessed each month. 400+ of these children receive nutrition support in the form of maize soya porridge. 20 to 30 of the children also receive chiponde (a fortified peanut butter paste).
Parent Workshops: Provide the parents and caregivers with education about their child’s disability and to teach them how to assist
their child at home. There are 10 different parent workshops that are held three times a year.
Equipment Loan Program: Provides the child with the equipment they need to carry out therapy at home, sit well supported at school and to move around independently.
Epilepsy Clinic: Provides over 585 children and adults with Epilepsy consultation with the doctor and access to epilepsy medication. Clinics are held twice a month. At each clinic between 35 And 55 clients are seen and provided with medication. New clients and those who are not yet well controlled attend the clinics monthly. Clients who are well controlled on medication are able to attend less frequently.