Hannes and Jana Viljoen are a South African couple who have four children and three of them have special needs. Top left: Kyna (14) is their eldest daughter who survived a pediatric stroke and partial paralysis at the tender age of 13 months. Top right: Gian (13) has Down Syndrome, Front left: Leo (11) is on the Autistic spectrum and Abigale (front right) is a well 10-year-old girl and her siblings’ protective little sister.
Ten years ago, the couple attended a parent training course in Pennsylvania USA. This training was transformative and the therapy techniques which they applied, resulted in their children making more progress in four months than in the preceding three years of conventional therapy.
Hannes and Jana realized two things namely 1) they found a solution for their children and it would be too expensive to fly up and down with the kids for the evaluations every few months and 2) they had an undeniable call upon their hearts to bring this program to other South African special needs families who don’t have access to these techniques. They were advised by one of the wise directors to focus on their own children first – private victory before public victory and that’s exactly what they did. They sold everything they owned, boarded a plane to the USA and dedicated themselves full-time to rehabilitating their children for eighteen months. The results were incredible. They returned to South Africa for a short time, founded Brain Child Fund their nonprofit and started a movement that brings Hope for the future, Truth for the now and Support for the journey for the special needs community. They started sharing their story and spreading awareness through media, edutainment, public speaking engagements and interactive music shows.
