Special Mothers Project donates to Madina Unit School

The Special Mothers Project, an association of mothers with children who have cerebral palsy on Friday donated GHc500 to the Madina Demonstration Unit School.

Some children with CP, doing an activity

The donation is a symbolic gesture to kick start a fund raising campaign to upgrade the school and to encourage mothers with children with cerebral palsy to patronize the services of the school.

Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that affects the movement and sometimes speech of children, it is the number one cause of disability in children.

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Initiator of the Special Mothers Project, who presented the money to the headmistress of the school said many parents with children who have cerebral palsy struggle to take care of the children in homes, many of the early childhood development centres or crèches rejects them.

“These children face rejection or discrimination in our society, many parents are forced to hide these children. Meanwhile government has launched the inclusive education policy which among others says that there should be zero rejection for children with special needs…

Children with cerebral palsy are not useless; we have our own Farida Bedwei, as an example of a Ghanaian lady with cerebral palsy who has achieved a lot,” she added.

Front view of the Madina Unit school

The Unit school is part of government effort to help integrate children with special need who are capable into mainstream schools.

The Special Mothers project has adopted the school to help upgrade it to a standard where parents will feel comfortable sending their children with cerebral palsy, Mrs Awadzi said.

Ms Christine Quartey, Headmistress of the school who received the donation, said the money will be put to good use.

Expressing gratitude to the Special Mothers Project, she called on other organizations to support the unit to serve as an encouragement to parents to special needs children.

Multikids Foundation introduces clinics for children with CP

Multikids Foundation, an organisation that advocates inclusion for children with special needs will from the 1^st of February start special clinics for children with cerebral palsy (CP).

The clinic, dubbed: “Community clinic” will focus on providing effective physiotherapy services for children with cerebral palsy while training parents on basic physiotherapy skills to practice with at home.

Ms Mandy Budge, Chief Executive Officer of Multikids Foundation told the GNA in a interview that  parents who want to have one on one therapy session with the physiotherapist will attract a fee of GHc 50 while a group of three parents attract a fee of GHc20 each.

She explained that proceeds from the clinics will be used to support the foundation’s activities.

The Multikids Foundation among others supports the Accra Psychiatric Hospital with food for the children’s ward and supports some of the children with medical and therapy services.

Ms Budge said the need for therapy for children with cerebral palsy was key to the children’s overall development yet many parents were not able to access quality therapy services for their children.

She urged all parents with children who have cerebral palsy to patronise the services, saying, these clinics will also serve as a platform for parents to meet and network.

The clinics will be held on the premises of Multikids Inclusive Academy located at East Legon in Accra every Wednesday.

TODAY I CELEBRATE THE BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF AN ANGEL

Exactly four year ago today, God dropped an angel right into my home, what a joy it was to have a baby girl who we agreed to name “Eyram” which means God has blessed me.

Little did I know about the journey that we were to walk together on the planet called earth..

Well at a tender age of four this girl has succeeded in changing the cause of my life, she has succeeded in opening my eyes to things that I hitherto not see.

I discovered she has what is call Cerebral Palsy, a neurological disorder that affects the movement and sometimes speech of children eight month after her birth. Oooh why God, was the only thing that I could say to God then and trust me I really wept.

But I decided to look at the brighter picture, I decided  to ask God, what He wanted me to do, I decided not to focus on the negative, I chose to look at what God could do with me and my daughter’s life, rather than to look at what the devil has done.

It was a tough decision, because in Ghana, I easily came across people who will readily talk to me and even give me the names of the people whom the evil spirit have used to “harm” my daughter.

Today, I smile, I smile not because it’s been easy, it’s been a really though journey, it is not easy at all to live with a child with cerebral palsy. I keep saying when I meet other mothers “My Special Mothers” that our society absolutely have no place for children with cerebral palsy.

Usually, they are not accepted in schools, they are kept indoors because there are no easily accessible mobility devices in Ghana, many people do not even see a future for a child with cerebral palsy.

I smile because it is because of her that I started the Special Mothers Project – http://specialmothersproject.blogspot.com, initially, I was just looking for mothers like myself to share experiences with and kind of encourage ourselves but it turned out to be a project that would affect lives positively.

I smile because God has been able to use me to touch the lives of mothers like myself who otherwise did not see any hope for their children.

I smile because the project has adopted a government special school for upgrade and when ready will hopefully engage mothers who have had to abandon career because they had children with cerebral palsy to work as care givers.

And talk of care givers, hmmm, how people treat these children, I pray that individuals will learn to change our attitudes towards persons living with disability in Ghana.

I smile, because I have hope, hope that my daughter will be well, that my daughter will walk, will talk and be just perfect. Trust me, I have seen some children with cerebral palsy walking and talking and nothing really shows that they have cerebral palsy.

God certainly had a purpose for this, I smile because I see the purpose being fulfilled.

Join me wish my lovely Angel a Happy 4^th birthday!!!! We will be cutting her cake at the Multikids Inclusive Academy!!! Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurray!!!!