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