What started with a mother searching for a place where her autistic daughter could learn and develop has grown into a disability-support organisation serving 93 children.

Mary Amoah Kuffour, a trained teacher and founder of Klicks Africa Foundation, says she never set out to establish a school.

Her journey began with a much more personal need: finding appropriate support for her daughter, Nana Yaa, who lives with autism.

As Nana Yaa grew into her preteen years, Mary Kuffour realised that the programmes available to younger children no longer met her daughter's needs.

“She needed a different programme tailored to her needs,” she said in an interview on The Delay Show.

Kuffour said Nana Yaa had particular interests in music and activities such as folding clothes and helping to keep the home in order.

‘Thought it was an attack’ - Mother recalls misconceptions before daughter’s autism diagnosis

Rather than simply looking for another place for her daughter, she began exploring ways to build an environment around those abilities.

“I thought of finding a place to train her,” she explained.

She eventually brought two children around Nana Yaa’s age together with her, and what began as a small group gradually developed into a centre.

That centre has since evolved into what Mary Kuffour describes as a school.

Today, Klicks Africa Foundation operates three centres in Accra, including an early intervention programme and a vocational training centre, and has grown to 93 children.

The organisation's development has also brought Mary Kuffour's husband into the work.

A retired teacher and former head of the Chemistry Department at Achimota School, he has spent the past three years working full-time at the centres.

For Mary Kuffour, the growth of the organisation is closely tied to what she learned while raising her daughter.

She had worked as a teacher for years before leaving the profession to care for Nana Yaa.

Her experience working with the Awaawaatuu Foundation, which supported children with autism, became particularly important to her development.

She spent 10 years with the foundation, an experience she says equipped her with practical knowledge and exposed her to the realities faced by other families.

That exposure eventually shaped the work she now does.

Mary Kuffour says one of the most important lessons she learnt was the value of community.

“One thing that really helped was the support of a tribe. When you’re going through something and you know you’re not alone, you are encouraged,” she said.

Her organisation has since expanded beyond basic care to focus on helping children develop skills that can support greater independence.

That philosophy is reflected in Nana Yaa’s own experience.

Despite living with autism, the 23-year-old has been employed at Kempinski Gold Coast for the past three years, working in the laundry department.

According to her mother, Nana Yaa operates the washing machine and folds items neatly. She works on Mondays and Tuesdays and goes to work with her caregiver.

Kuffour says the opportunity has been possible because the hotel has made reasonable accommodation for her daughter's needs.

For her, such opportunities demonstrate why people living with disabilities should not be defined only by their limitations.

But Kuffour's ambitions extend beyond the three centres.

She wants Klicks Africa Foundation to establish a large care facility where people with disabilities can receive long-term support.

The foundation, she said, has five large plots of land earmarked for the development of a care home based on the concept of “assisted living”.

The proposed facility is intended to address one of the biggest concerns facing parents of children with disabilities: what happens to their children when they are no longer around to care for them?

Kuffour believes the answer requires more than individual families trying to prepare for the future.

It requires systems that can provide care, training, safety and dignity for people with disabilities throughout their lives.

Her journey, which began with one mother's search for help for her daughter, has therefore grown into a wider mission.

From a small group of children gathered around Nana Yaa to three centres serving 93 children, Kuffour is now working to create a more sustainable support system for children and adults living with disabilities.



AK/BAI