Pictures Autism Awareness Month events in Ghana...

Artwork, done on Thursday's at AACT, being sold at the parents meeting



Concert in Osu by Joyful Way Incorporated




AACT field trip to the Legon Botanical Gardens



Thank you Milo for your sponsorship!



Auntie Serwah up at the podem during the seminar at the British Council



Excited caregivers during our community awareness walk



The awareness walk, escorted by the local police




This picture speaks for itself!



Dear readers,

April was sure busy, wow! It is amazing to think of all the events that were organized, the people who connected and the awareness that was inspired by the 2010 Autism Awareness Month in Ghana. Starting from the huge benefit concert at the National Conference Center, to the community walk and field trip, to the radio shows and press conference, all in all... it was a success.

My personal favorite was the field trip to the Legon Botanical Gardens with all of the students and caregivers. Metro Mass Transit very kindly gave AACT a bus at a discounted price for the day and so we all could ride together. The bus ride to the gardens was filled with singing, dancing, and drumming (This seems to be a theme here in Ghana. No matter what you are doing, there will always be drumming and dancing. Amazing!). Once there, we played all morning on the playground, drank cups of cold Milo thanks to a donation from Nestle, ate mounds of Jolof rice thanks to a parent donation, took a walk around the lake and then had another bus ride filled with singing. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted at the end of the day.

The second best event of this past month, I think, was the last event: the parents' meeting. Upon arrival, I was skeptical about the turn out. But as the time passed about 10 parents showed up, a few caregivers and then the administration from both AACT and Awaawaa2. The agenda for the meeting was to recap all of the Awareness events, thank those involved, and discuss the future of the students who are now starting to out grow the center. Unbelievably, a parent of one of the older boys arrived to the meeting prepared to start a parents organization. This organization will be responsible for creating an assisted living & vocational training center for young adults with autism. This one parent facilitated the meeting, took down names of dedicated parents, and even planned the date and time for the next meeting! Motivation and initiation, its about time. As Auntie Serwah herself even said, “A new facility for the older children should have been done yesterday.”



As the month of April comes to an end, sadly so does my time here in Ghana. In three weeks, I will be returning to the US. Its hard to believe. This will not be the end of my work with the Global Autism Project though, I am excited to say that I will be co-hosting the Paddle for Autism Awareness this summer with Molly! What a better way to recap my work here than to talk about it cities all over the USA.

I am thankful to have been a part of Autism Awareness Month in Ghana this year and hope that it was just as successful in all other parts of the world. Only 11 more months until Autism Awareness Month 2011... lets start planning to make it even more powerful! Together we can make a difference.

Casey

HAPPY AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH!

Dear Readers,

As some of you may know, April 2nd was World Autism Awareness Day! Hundreds of countries around the world held events on Friday and will continue to throughout the month to raise public awareness about autism.

The events in Ghana started a couple weeks ago with an awareness campaign at the Accra Mall. For three days, AACT administrative staff along with the members of the Chosen Vessel Choir were going to promote a benefit concert being held the following Sunday. Unfortunately, after the first day they were told to leave. I guess the marketing team at the mall had a particular sensitivity to singing.

On Sunday, March 28th, the Chosen Vessels Choir made of all University of Ghana students, put on a spectacular benefit concert. It was held at the International Convention Center and lasted 6 hours!! Performances ranged from skits, solos, preaching, singing, dancing, lots of clapping and a video documentary about AACT. In the end, there were over 1,000 in attendance, each paying 7 cedis for a ticket. After expenses are paid to the performers and staff, it has been said that AACT will receive the rest of the proceeds. Either way, it certainly raised awareness on a huge scale!!



Last week, Auntie Serwah and Nana Akua (Founder and Director of Awaawaa2 - pediatric speech therapy services), were interviewed on various radio stations. On Tuesday morning, when they were on Joy FM, we turned the radio on through the stereo speakers at AACT so everyone could all listen! I suggested that next year we should get a truck with megaphones and drive around town amplifying such radio programs so the entire community is able to hear it. Hey, everyone else in Ghana is doing it.



At the end of the week, I had a meeting with Salma the director of the West African Consultant Network. This is an company that has offered to partnership in the organization of a fundraiser scheduled for the 22nd of April. Essentially it would be a networking event for their staff and clients, while also raising funds for a local cause. I have attended an event like this in the past and it was quite successful. Hopefully we have the same results.









As far as caregiver trainings go... on Friday March 19th I did a training focusing on Howard Gardiner's Multiple Intelligences. To teach this I started with a game that was actually inspired by my mother(thanks mom!). The idea behind the game is memory retention. The caregivers first numbered their papers 1 - 30. For the first ten: they had to listen to 10 words and then write down as many of the words as they could remember. For the second ten: I wrote 10 words down on paper, they were allowed to look at the word for 20 seconds, then once the paper was covered, they were to write down as many as they could remember. Finally for the third ten: I unveiled a tray of 10 items, they were allowed to look and touch the items for 20 seconds, then once the items were covered, they were to write down as many as they could remember. The idea behind this game was to show them that some people work better with auditory memory while others excelled in visual or tactile memory. Obviously all relating back to the different approaches to lesson planning and teaching students with autism. Similar to past weeks, we also played a few team building games such as the human knot.




Overall, I felt like the training was successful. The caregivers seemed engaged. They asked questions, took notes, and requesting for more. All in all, I felt pretty good about it until, a certain administrative staff asked "Why are you even doing these trainings? You know that the caregivers just nod their heads but really do not understand you." Well... I had a hard time with this comment. It wasn't until last night that I found a quote that descibes how I felt about the situation:

"I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any of them."
-Mahatma Gandhi


In honor of children with autism around the world and as a member of the Global Autism Project, I will always try my hardest to provide sustainable education to communities affected by autism worldwide. In life there will always be mountains temporarily blocking your path. But this doesn't mean that the other side doesn't exist. Together we can help to change the lives of children with autism. Only together can we get over this mountains, supporting each others positive efforts.




Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
Casey