The Gender Group of University of Health and Allied Sciences has paid a courtesy call on the New Horizon Foundation Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P.) Educational Centre for the Blind at Ho-Kpodzi. The group took along a gift of sanitation supplies and provisions, comprising 26 packets of sanitary pads, 25 masks, 20 bottles of disinfectants, four packs of toilet roll, three sacks of local perfumed rice, two boxes of soap, a box of hand sanitizers and a cash donation.
New Horizon has 20 visually impaired beneficiaries, the majority of whom are adolescent girls, who are all students of the E.P. Basic School. The centre was set up in 2009 through collaborative support from DHBW, a German development agency and the E.P. Church to support and equip the students to acquire requisite and compensatory skills that will enable them participate through the mainstream school system, according to Mr. Eric Kwabla Ofori, Director of the centre.
Mr. Ofori, who is himself visually impaired, said the visually impaired have enhanced hearing, which positively affects their ability to communicate and therefore excel in music and other arts; however, they experience challenges with math and science because those subjects depend largely on diagrams, drawings and formulae which, in Ghana, are typically written on chalkboards and other formats that are inaccessible to blind people:
“If I have access, you will not see my disability; but without access, all you see is my disability.”
Mr. Richard Ametefe, the centre’s Project Leader also said the main activities of New Horizon are focused on ensuring inclusive education, providing rehabilitation services and ICT training to enhance educational and employment opportunities for social integration.
Mrs. Maria Gwira, Director of Public Affairs at UHAS, told staff and students of New Horizon that UHAS is community focused, and showing service and care within the immediate community is one of the main tenets upon which the University was established, hence this introductory visit, which she hoped would lead to a long-lived partnership between UHAS and New Horizon. She applauded the officials of the centre for assuming the responsibility of educating girls with special needs.
The UHAS Gender Group was represented by Dr. Anita Fafa Dartey, Lecturer, who enlightened the gathering about the group’s objectives; Mrs. Maria Gwira, Director of Public Affairs; Mr. Christian Yaw Kofi, Director of the University Library; Ms. Adjoa Banson, Assistant Lecturer; and Mr. Ofoe Gator Kugblenu, Senior Protocol Officer.
Other members of the centre present are Rev. Mrs. Adiepena, National Women’s Programme Officer of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana; Mr. Lovelace Mensah, Board Member; Miss Priscilla Serlom Oboubisa, ICT Instructor; and a host of parents and old students of New Horizon.