Part of the Federation building
There, we met with the Rita Kyeremaa Kusi, the executive director of the Federation (seen below in Green), along with several staff and Board members. They gave us a brief overview of the history of the movement for rights of people with disabilities in Ghana and the mission of the Federation.
Meeting with representatives of the Federation
Their story confirmed much of what we have read in our class assignments. The mission of the Federation is to promote the rights and build capacity to ensure full inclusion and full participation of people with disabilities. The Federation is an umbrella organization that includes six organizations that represent people with individual disabilities. Its current members comprise Ghana society of the physically Disabled (GSPD), Ghana Association of the Blind (GAB).Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD), Parents Association of children with intellectual Disability (PACID), society of Albinos Ghana (SOAG) and Share Care Ghana (an organization of people with neurologic difficulties). The Federation helped to advocate for the Persons with Disabilities Act signed into law in 2006 after ten years of advocacy. Now, of course, they are working on implementing and enforcing the Act, which is challenging.
Miss Rita explained that the major challenge is awareness. The different cultures in Ghana and Africa with different beliefs and customs are difficult to overcome, she said. Many still believe that disability is a curse or evidence of some wrong-doing. Therefore, many families experience shame and hide their family members with disabilities. This is especially true for the Albino population, where is some places it is considered taboo to allow an Albino to step on their land. Miss Rita shared a sad personal story in which one person was hidden in a trunk of a car to prevent him from being used as a sacrifice.
The Federation representatives described a picture that reminded me (at least somewhat) of the situation in the U.S. in the 60s and 70s during which most people were institutionalized (or warehoused) and separately educated, if at all. The group we met with seemed very determined to work hard to significantly improve this situation but admitted that it is slow and difficult, especially given the context of the economic situation in Ghana. We offered to provide any informational help that we could and shared our contact information before departing.
Group picture with Federation Representatives following our meeting.
They were extremely warm and gracious.
Following our meeting, Moses, one of our ambassadors of the University, continued to give us a bus tour of the city of Accra that we had begun in the morning. The City is large but spread out -- no high rise buildings that I could see. The taxi drivers drive fast and seem to have right of way -- pedestrians beware.
We were able to see the current President's palace as well as the new one one being built and one of the local castles. We also stopped to inspect Independence Arch, built to commemorate Ghana's independence. The national motto, Freedom and Justice is boldly inscribed at the top of the arch. Moses gave us a brief history of the political structure and history which is nicely summarized on Wikipedia, along with a picture of the Arch.
The Arch lies right on one of the beaches in Accra on the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean). We were all excited to get out of the bus briefly to put our feet in the warm water and watch locals swimming in the waves. I was able to collect a few pebbles and shells that were a special request of my son, Alec.
Following the the beach we stopped at a highly stimulating (some might say this is an understatement) Marketplace where we were literally mobbed by the local artists trying to sell us their goods. It appeared that they assumed that we had gobs of money and we were all aggressively pursued and encouraged to buy their goods. We had some fun trying our hand at the art of negotiating prices on the many beautiful African goods: jewelery, artwork, wood carvings, African wooden masks, drums, cloth and so on.
Dr. Michael Gamel-McCormick being greeting by the friendly people at the Market
Market artist shows me his favorite piece - the one of his village
Yup, that's me in the middle of two local musicians and artists. I was glad that my friend, Felix, had just given me a few pointers on his set of drums at their New Year's Day party! The drums were hand-made and beautiful... but a little too big for my suitcase.
A boy and his little brother permit me to photograph them at the market.
He is carrying bags of purified water on his head for sale.
Following our short stay at the market, Michael, Laura and I met with Queen Mother Nana Ama Okrakubca, an individual who had been referred to us as a possible contact to show us schools. However, her main interest and work, is on the issue of conservation. She is currently working hard to teach her villagers how to build toilet composts and how to personal hygiene to prevent disease (especially hand-washing). However, she also works on many conservation issues, including trying to save the rain forest and how to better manage waste disposal and other issues designed to preserve the beauty and diversity of Ghana and Africa. The Queen Mother is a very impressive individual, who seemed to have an excellent understanding of local and global politics. She mentioned having scheduled a meeting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the near future, for example. With her permission, we forwarded her contact information to another U of Del. group of students who are staying in Ghana for the entire month. They will be fortunate if they are able to visit her Village that is about an hour drive away.
Meeting with Queen Mother Nana Ama Okrakubca
Today we already visited the archealogical exhibit on campus. Later we will have class outdoors followed by a viewing of the documentary "Emmanuel's Gift." For this, we will join a newly arriving group of U of Del students. Tomorrow evening we hope to actually meet Emmanuel.
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