SMP donates Television set, others, to Madina Demonstration Special Unit

 

The Special Mothers Project (SMP), an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy issues, on Tuesday donated a television set and other educational items to the Special Unit of the Madina Demonstration school.

The project adopted the Special unit of the Madina Demonstration school to draw public attention to it and help improve the facility for children with special educational needs within the community.

Ms Patience Puplampu, Project Manager of the Special Mothers Project who presented the items to the school, said many parents struggle to find a safe place to keep their children with disability since many schools in Ghana refuse children with disability admission.

“The Special Mothers Project which is championing the full implementation of Ghana’s Inclusive Education policy, is calling on the government to designate at least one classroom in every school for children with special needs,” she said.

Ms Puplampu said the government can also explore a caregiver system where people studying disability and rehabilitation studies or special education in the universities can be engaged to support the implementation of the inclusive education policy.

She expressed gratitude to Mrs Eunice Enam Gakogo, for making the donation possible.

Mrs Selina Twum-Ampofo, Headmistress of the school, who received the items, expressed delight and said she was committed to the wellbeing of children with special educational needs.

She called on other philanthropists to support the school and make it a model worth emulating.

The Madina Demonstration school is one of the schools being piloted by UNICEF for the implementation of Ghana’s Inclusive Education Policy.

Our ‘Whom you know’ Canker

 It was a Saturday Afternoon, I was lost in thoughts, thinking about what to with my life, when the phone rang…

It was a familiar name, someone I know in the disability advocacy business, he needed desperate information, he wanted to know what I did to help with mothers of children with cerebral palsy.

So I briefed him, he was calling me about an advocacy programme I run for children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, he wanted to know what specific help I gave to parents of children with cerebral palsy.

Adams has encountered a mother of a two-year-old child with cerebral palsy, this mother was feeling helpless and desperate, and she had roamed the length and breadth of Ghana looking for a cure for the child.

I explained to Adam that the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy issues, researched about the policies that exist in Ghana to support children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities and give information to parents to access the policies.

This woman had a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy, because of her child, she cannot work, and her desperation has led her to move from place to place seeking help. She has used all her life savings in search of a cure for her child to no avail. I pointed her to the existence of the Disability Fund at the District Assembly level and urged her to apply.

Where she was going to start from was a big issue, so this Adam who is a disability advocate and knows the system stepped in, Adam knows Mr A at her district assembly and he was going to talk to him to facilitate the process.

For this woman to access the government designated funds for her daughter with disability, she need to know someone within the district assembly setting. Adam who was moved to tears but willing to work got to work immediately, making calls to people he knew at the department of social welfare to ensure that the woman got the funds to start some small enterprise to be able to feed herself and her baby.

As I pondered over the issue of this woman, I thought to myself, how many of these cases are dotted all over the country that do not know anyone and so cannot get any help.

To be able to access the Disability funds in most of the District Assemblies, one needs to know somebody.

Our whom you know canker, if you do not know anybody who can press some buttons for you to have access to the spelt out government policies, forget it, you can’t get it.

As a society, sometimes, it seems that our policies are discriminatory, if you do not know anybody at a vantage place, the policy cannot work for you.

For example, government has an Inclusive Education Policy, but majority of children with cerebral palsy cannot access school or education.

One needs to be very rich to be able to send a child with cerebral palsy and other disabilities sometimes to school.

The last I inquired from a Ghanaian private school that said it was ready to accept children with all kinds of disabilities, their fees was about 6,000 cedis a term. How many parents of children with disability can afford 6,000 cedis a term, especially when they have other children to cater for?

So I always ask, why is the Inclusive education policy for instance not working in all government schools? What will it take for government to effectively implement Ghana’s inclusive education policy? Why is the government not engaging parents of children with disabilities to know what can be done?

Usually on occasion like Mothers’ day or similar events, some of these parents will be gathered sometimes by politicians who will give them “peanuts” in front of TV Cameras and that is the end.

Why can’t the average parent walk into a district assembly to apply for the funds for the purposes spelt out, why does one need to know someone to access a government policy?

As these and many questions continue to race through my mind, I can single out one of the reasons why our policies do not work, it is the “Whom you know canker”

It is about time that government spells out with clarity, what is on the table for children with disability and their families and take steps to make it work.

In my interactions with many of the parents, some of the things they crave include an opportunity to be able to send their children to school or some kind of educational or rehabilitation facility where the children will be well taken care of, to enable the parents work and earn an income for a living

Others are also calling for the formalizing or regularizing the care giver system, such that government could employ trained caregivers and assigned them possibly to a cluster of parents within a community.

I always say that care-giving is not a menial job, it is a job that entrusts the live of a child with special need to a responsible person’s hand. Unfortunately, many parents cannot afford the services of professional caregivers and many do not know how to spell out their terms and condition.

If government is able to put in place such policies and programmes for families raising children with disability in addition to dealing with the “whom you know” canker, the problems of families nurturing children with disability could perhaps be half solved.

 

School Reopening, Children with Special Needs and Matters arising

 The announcement by President Akufo-Addo to reopen schools on 15^th of January, 2021 was received with mixed feelings.

A day after the announcement, I monitored on social media platforms, some parents expressing excitement that the children were going back to school after staying home for nine months, some said the children were mingling with other children anyway and it didn’t make sense to continue to keep the children at home.

Others raised skepticism, how were children especially those at the crèche level going to follow the safety protocols and ensure social distancing among the many questions that filled the thoughts of every concerned parents.

However, for some parents of children with special needs due to disability, the announcement did not make any difference, they have always been home, COVID or not.

In Ghana we have not paid much attention to children with disabilities, sometimes, we behave as if they did not exist and many of our social policies do not directly include children with special needs or disability.

At a time, when it seems that schools are scrambling for pupils and students, children with disabilities are conspicuously left behind. Where should their parents take them to?

Akosua (Not the real name) a mother of a four-year-old with cerebral palsy reached out to me, when I shared the flyer of an Inclusive school advertising for students.

  “Aunty Hannah is this school real” she said amidst tears, “oooh, I really hope that they can accept my child, I am a professional nurse, now, my in-charge, is even getting angry with me. I go to work with my four-year-old strapped at my back, can you imagine?

“I wish there were facilities or schools that accepts children with disabilities, in fact boarding facilities to enable me work and continue taking care of my son,” I sensed a lot of desperation in her voice.

Akosua’s situation is not unique, a lot of parents of children with disability can totally identify with her story. You should have a lot of money to be able to send a child with disability to school.

Parents are usually charged three times the amount you will pay for a regular child. The schools that are charitable enough to accept a child with special needs, some of them will require that you pay extra, you pay for caregiver services, you pay for other services and you pay for the services of a classroom assistant.

That is even if you are lucky for your child to be accepted. Ordinarily, schools, especially private schools will just flip you off with a simple excuse that “we do not have the facilities to cater for this child”.

Usually if they are unwilling, no amount of persuasion or help a parent offers are listened to, let alone accepted by a school.

It seems that, at a time when many Countries are working towards Inclusive Development, Ghana is leaving behind children with disability or special educational needs.

The Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme of cerebral palsy issues and issues affecting families raising children with disability is calling on the government to pay attention to Inclusive Development Policies.

One of the suggestions by the Special Mothers Project is that government introduces an employment scheme at the National Service level where students who go to the university to study Rehabilitation and Disability studies are engaged to work with these children

Every government school can have an Inclusive unit where with the support of the National Council on Persons with Disability and parents, these students can have practical training on what they have learnt at school.

Caregiving is a professional job, it is not menial, it requires a lot of empathy, kindness and humanity to work as a caregiver, however, many parents of children with disability, given their situation will not be able to employ a “Professional caregiver”

We cannot continue to act blind to the situation of children with disabilities in Ghana, we have got to get to a point where schools, especially private schools will scramble over children with special educational needs to be admitted into their schools.

It is possible! but it requires policy, inclusive working policies, that ensures the welfare of children with disability and their families at the centre of it.

 

My New Year Resolutions

 

The way I respond to the approach of a new year has changed over the years. When I was a young child, it was a time to see extended family members and a time to eat and drink.

When I was a teenager, it was writing down what I wanted to achieve in the coming year, most of the time, the written intended achievements were overly ambitious and remained on paper years after years.

Now an adult, I make what I choose to call “Soft resolutions” resolutions that does not necessarily focus on just achievements but one that mostly transforms me from the person I was the previous year to a more improved person.

Now I focus on purpose, I focus on what I can do to make the world a much better place not just for myself but for others.

Anything I think of making the world a better place, one statement comes to mind: “It is only those who are crazy enough to say that they can change the world that actually does.”

My end of year resolutions is usually tailored towards actualizing self-love and extending that love to others. Self-love, because I believe in the statement that you cannot pour from an empty cup. I work on trying to be full all the time, so I can pour from myself to others when the need be.

My Resolutions are also not bound to a particular year because achieving self-love for instance is a continuous process that probably does not end till one dies.

So from the year 2021, on wards, I intend to use my words better. Words are very important to me, as a human being, I cannot do without words because most of the time, we use words to communicate but also as a journalist, my career revolves around using words and using them rightly.

I have decided to use my words followed by my actions to build up instead of tear down. I am intentionally using my words to help build my own self-esteem and the self-esteem of others.

I will use the “I Can and You Can” phrase more. I hope to use my words to build up institutions, organizations and our nation in entirety. I will choose to use my word to build Ghana into a nation that I desire to see.

Most often than not we hear some Ghanaians talk so negatively about their own country.

In 2021 and beyond, I will pursue my uniqueness, I am unique, I am fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Sometimes in growing up, we lose our uniqueness. I am going to chase my uniqueness in 2021 and beyond and be who God wants me to be.

I am inspired by the scripture in Romans 12: 2, which says do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Sometimes, we are made to believe that if we do not follow the patterns of this world then we have failed. However, as a believer in the Creator of the Universe and in Jesus Christ, I believe that it is in pursuing my uniqueness that I will be sure of purpose.

God created me and allowed me to live up to this time because there is a purpose to fulfill, in 2021, I will not allow myself to be swayed to the direction of the wind, I will look within me and find solutions because I believe that God lives within me.

In 2021 and beyond, I will not allow negativity around me. I am a positive thinker, I am optimistic and I am powerful. I have learnt to be content with who I am and who I am becoming and thus I am perfect.

I do not have to behave like another person to be accepted because I accept myself for who I am and who I am going to be.

I will use social media more and I will make good use social media platforms. Social media has become a powerful force in the world, even though people use social media for all kinds of things, I will use social media for only good causes.

Thankfully, social media allows you to choose what you want to read and what you do not, so I will not allow the negative posts and write ups to seep into my social media space. As a trained and practicing journalist, I will endeavor to contribute good content to the world.

In 2021, I will be intentional about giving out love to the world, I believe, we attract what we give out and in giving out love, I will attract love.