MTN Heroes of Change 2018 selects finalists
Ten persons have had their projects shortlisted for this year’s MTN Heroes of Change reality by MTN Ghana Foundation, which says it is determined to produce another credible hero.
The MTN Heroes of Change programme recognises selfless people who sacrifice their time and resources to improve their communities and brighten lives in areas such as health, education and economic empowerment.
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The work of the 10 shortlisted finalists, shortlisted from a long list of entries, will later be broadcast as part of a 13-week television series.
Below are highlights of the exceptional works Ms Naomi Esi Yamoah and Mrs Serwah Quaynor. Other finalists’ stories will be featured here.
NAOMI ESI YAMOAH
She is a 42-year-old evangelist who runs the Royal Seed Home for needy and homeless children at Kasoa in the Central Region. She currently has children between the ages of one month and 22 years, most of whom don’t know their families or cannot trace them.
“Some of them were picked up from the bushes and refuse dumps and brought to me. Most times, the people who bring them never show up again to check on them. The children become my sole responsibility till they are of working age and are assured of a good future,” Ms Yamoah said.
According to her, funding for her project comes solely from what she makes as a preacher in the streets.
“What I make from there is what I use to take care of the kids. I also plead with people to help when the kids are sick and surgeries need to be done. This project has survived only by God’s grace and I thank Him no kid has lost his or her life under my care,” she pointed out.
There are at present over 100 children under Ms Yamoah’s care. The going is tough, she says, is still proud of some of her achievements so far which include have eight of her children at university and 24 in Senior High School.
She has also been able to relocate from a plot of land to a much bigger place that she is still paying for.
The Royal Seed Home is surrounded by thick bushes and one of Ms Yamoah’s major challenges is the lack of electricity on the stretch between her project and the Kasoa township.
She also needs to urgently solve the problem of transportation for the children at her orphanage.
“A good Samaritan bought a bus for us from the United Kingdom and exported it to us. Though I was not supposed to pay anything at the port for the bus, the officials there insisted I gave them something, which was GHC 26,000 or else there were going to auction it.
“They auctioned it and wanted my donor to give them the documents on the bus which he has refused till date. So when the children have to go to school, they walk for two and half hours before they get to the town. On days that I have money, I rent a trotro to convey them.”
Despite the challenges, Ms Yamoah is unfazed and is looking forward to better times. She wishes to complete structures at the orphanage for the children to have proper roofing over their heads. She also wishes to have all the surgery and special health cases attended to and also have proper lighting at the orphanage.
Sleeping condition at Ms Yamoah's orphanage
Ms Yamoah was nominated for the MTN Heroes of Change programme by Ms Pearl Nyarko Mensah, a former participant in the Ms Malaika pageant. She realised the difficulties Ms Yamoah was going through catering for the children and felt she (Ms Yamoah) needed help.
“She deserves help because she keeps taking in children everyday and some come with severe medical cases. She never rejects them because she has no money. I feel touched and I shed tears sometimes when I see the kind of sacrifices she makes for children who are not hers,” Ms Mensah said.
Mr Andrews Quainoo, Assemblyman for the Kasoa Ofankor area knows Ms Yamoah and the work she is doing at her orphanage.
“I am aware of her work, the kind of cases she has been dealing with and how she manages to take care of the kids. Her project has helped take several children off the streets and to school. She deserves all the help she can get, “the Assemblyman said.
Ms Millicent Amoah is a beneficiary of the Royal Seed Home. She says Ms Yamoah has been her mother and father over the last 17 years.
“She took me in when I was six months old. I don’t know what I would have done without her. She has educated, fed and taken care of me for 17 years and I’m grateful for that,” Ms Amoah stated.
MRS SERWAH QUAYNOR
She is the 67-year-old founder of the Autism Awareness Care and Training Centre (AACT), a local support and education centre for children with autism, at Kokomlemle in Accra.
Mrs Quaynor, mother of a child with autism, started the centre in 1998. That was when she relocated from the United States of America to Ghana and search for autism services for her son who had been diagnosed with autism at age two years, thirty-three years, proved difficult.
“What was I to do in a country where there were no services for children with autism? I felt dejected, alone and afraid! I found some solace in church and felt compelled to tell whoever would listen to me talk about my son and autism. Thus began autism awareness and care in Ghana.”
Since creating the centre, they have worked tirelessly to help parents of children with autism in Ghana understand the disability and feel there is a safe place to go for support and help.
AACT focuses on training children with autism to reach their fullest potential. This is done by training them in academic skills, behaviour management, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, life skills, art therapy, drama and movement therapy and social skills.
The centre also creates awareness on autism through walks, the traditional media and on social media. It also lets the children out into the into the community so people would know more about children with autism and why they must be accepted in society.
The project has been partly funded over the years from Mrs Quaynor’s own resources and contributions from some friends. It also gets support from some outfits by way of scholarships for some of the children or funding for some of its activities. Sometimes, some supplies come in from abroad to help with areas like speech and occupational therapies.
Parents also pay monthly contributions that somehow help meet running costs.
As art therapy is a major part of the centre’s programme, art work and bead work are sold to generate revenue.
As a result of the centre’s constant engagement in awareness raising, it has been able to reach out to over 5,000 people across Ghana and beyond.
“Today, we can say people in our regional capitals and cities can describe what autism is and identify an autistic child when they see one. Working together with sister centres in Accra, Tema, Haatso, Tamale and Kumasi, we have been able to train parents and teachers on certain essentials. Now, children who used to be kept solely at home are now being brought out to school or our centres.”
Mrs Serwah Quaynor and her autistic son, Nortey
According to Mrs Quaynor, the centres have tried to get the Ministry of Education as well as Health and Gender and Social Protection to work with them to develop policy frameworks for the benefit of autistic children, but they have been largely ignored.
“It appears they see these children as just disabled and unable to achieve much.
We are, however, not discouraged and will continue to find ways and means to engage them and have specific policies for the children’s special needs.”
AACT’s main challenge is the lack of infrastructure to train the children. They are in costly rented premises w and are looking for donors to support move into a more appropriate and well-resourced centre of their own.
AACT has won some awards, locally and from abroad as well and Mrs Quaynor’s plan for the future is to see a Ghana where all children with disabilities can access affordable and well-resourced facilities so they can reach their maximum potential.
Mrs Quaynor was nominated for the MTN Heroes of Change programme by Ms Yesutor Gbewonyo. She was a volunteer at AACT in 2010. She feels the centre needs bigger space to operate from and also admires the founder’s dedication to the autism cause in Ghana.
“Autism is Mrs Quaynor’s life. She’s not ashamed to share her challenges. She is real in her approach to life. When I see her at work, I feel an aura of love and selflessness that everyone ought to embrace in order to make a change, a better world, for persons with autism,” Ms Gbewonyo stated.
Karen Wylie, a speech and language therapy specialist at the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital described Mrs Quaynor as a mother and strong ally for persons with autism.
“I strongly recommend her for the MTN Heroes of Change award. It will be a fitting recognition of the hard work that has been invested in maintaining AACT albeit with limited resources,” Karen Wylie said.
Nana Sompa Adentwi, a 47- year-old father of a son with autism said his boy had an inconsistent behaviour at an early age.
“We went for frequent hospital check-ups. We were referred to two facilities for tests. I decided to take him abroad and that was where he was diagnosed of being autistic. I was advised to bring him back to Ghana to Mrs Quaynor’s AACT,” Nana Adentwi stated to reinforce his trust in the good work being done at AACT.
