Many of you will have read our previous blog about Patrick (Patrick's 16th Birthday (wixsite.com)) and would have heard the story of Patrick’s determination and his incredible mathematical mind, but also the barriers that he had faced growing up. Unfortunately, this is the case for many children with disabilities in Ghana, they are often deprived both medical care and education due to a lack of awareness and support. This barrier is what FFG are working to break down to improve opportunities for families and children with disabilities! One child at a time, one school at a time, one community at a time – we are dreaming of an inclusive and accessible Kumasi for all!
After several months of physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and tutoring for Patrick at home and with his determination and hard work, he was excelling. However, there was something missing: social interactions and the challenge of learning alongside peers. Through a friend of FFG, we were recommended to reach out to a local Government School who agreed that they would be willing to accept children with special needs but would first need to make some accommodations. Our project manager, Fred, and our physiotherapist, Bismark, visited the school and sat down with the headteacher to make a plan for Patrick’s transition to school. We decided that Patrick would need a gradual transition to school, starting just 3 mornings a week. This decision was made for two reasons, first we thought this new challenge would be tiring for Patrick and we wanted it to be successful and secondly that the school does not have accessible toilets or anyone to support Patrick to use the bathroom.
There were several other accessibility issues, such as a lack of wheelchair ramps to get to the classroom block and also Patrick would not be able to sit on a typical classroom chair. FFG had a ramp cemented for the school. We then worked with the local carpenter and physiotherapist to build Patrick a specialist chair fitted specifically for his needs, this chair supports Patrick’s posture and has a table which allows him to be able to write easier – this chair was kindly paid for by @colorful_minds_art in the USA.
The school wrote a letter to the Ghanaian minister of education to explain Patrick’s needs and request a special needs educator to support him (and hopefully other children in the future). Within just 2 weeks the Government had responded and had assigned a specialist teacher to work at the school, and within just 4 weeks Patrick had started at school in a mainstream classroom with a 1:1 aid to support him. We are just so ecstatic with this achievement and the positive and accepting views that the school has had throughout. Furthermore, ever since Patrick has started, he has been accepted fully within the school by both the staff and students and although he is class with children who are a little younger than he is, he spends most of his time socialising with agemate peers, talking football and laughing and joking as any 16 year old would! Soon after starting school 3 mornings a week, Patrick was begging Mum to go 4 mornings a week and then 5 mornings a week!!! A sure sign of how much he loves going to school, learning and socialising! Patrick has even just been made class captain!!! We are so excited to see how Patrick thrives, there will be no stopping him now - I know he will continue to challenge himself and we are all so proud of him!
*** Use the arrow to slide for more pictures ***
Inclusive Education:
Inclusive education is utmost important, not only does it give children with additional needs the opportunity to learn alongside their peers, but it also allows all children to learn to be kind, caring, and understanding to others. Through growing up with friends who have a range of additional needs children will learn to accept others, breaking down the stigma that individuals with disabilities can face in Ghana! Check out Mrs IJ's Kids podcast, raising much needed awareness of the challenges and successes of inclusive education in Africa (https://open.spotify.com/show/4RZsDkMjx8gnqHkF5PVVvM?si=MnqtZHdXSIuTCxsKf2Axyg&dl_branch=1)!
What is next:
Now that Patrick is settled at school and thriving, we need to think what are the next steps to get more inclusive education in Ghana! A small school in a rural community in Kumasi are currently working on becoming inclusive, they are planning to build several new accessible classrooms to expand their school and accept children with special educational needs. They have bought bricks and wood and are currently saving up to buy cement and roofing so that they can start building. This is a school that we would love to be able to help. We already work with several children in this community who are not currently at school and would benefit from this provision. Supporting them to get started in the building, and with resources and physiotherapy when they are up and running would be the dream.
We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties with our website – so if you would like to donate towards inclusive education, please use our Go Fund Me link:
Comentarios