Focus on God because no condition is permanent - Ghana Igbo king to special needs children

The Paramount King of the Igbo people living in Ghana, Eze Dr. Ambassador Chukwudi Ihenetu, has reaffirmed the saying that no condition is permanent.

He explained that regardless of how people are, or the conditions they are in, it is only a matter of time and things will change for them.

For this reason, he has urged all to place their faiths and hopes in God because it is He alone that can turn things around for them.

“I want to assure you that no condition is permanent. As many are looking for children and don’t have, you are here and alive, you are safe. The most important thing to have in our lives is to have faith in the Lord. God is the only person who can do and undo. There’s no condition that God cannot change so at all times, have faith in the Lord,” he said.

Eze Dr Chukwudi Ihenetu made these comments during a New Year children’s party put together by the Ghana Chapter of the Viola Ford Fletcher Foundation for children with special needs.

The children were drawn from the New horizon Special School, the Dzorwulu Special School, and the Osu Children’s Home in Accra.

This was part of the Foundation’s continuous contributions to helping to alleviate the challenges of the less-privileged in the society, but with a special focus on the healthy well-being of old and young Ghanaians.

During the party, the children from the various schools engaged in various performances to the delight of all gathered, while there were presentation of gifts made to them by Dr. Chukwudi Ihenetu, who is also the Vice President of the Foundation.

He also gave assurances to the children that his organisation, the VFFF, will continue to collaborate with them in the future on more progressive projects.

“We will partner with you in so many areas, not just for the purpose we’re here now. We can design many other purposes that will give us the opportunity to support you,” he assured.

About the schools

The New Horizon Special School was founded by Mrs Salome François in 1972.

The School provides day school education for children between the ages of 6 and 18 years old, and vocational training and employment for adults (18 and over), who have intellectual disability. Their aim is to not only provide a well-rounded education for children and adults with special needs, in a safe and caring environment, but also to develop each child’s potential to the full so that he or she can lead a productive and satisfying life.

Persons with other disabilities like spasticity, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, hearing impairment etc may also be admitted so long as their primary disability is learning difficulty.

Their vocational programs include kente weaving, batik dyeing, basket weaving and bead making. Older students are also taught life skills like ironing, cleaning and basic cooking to help them live independently.

The Dzorwulu Special School is a school specially set up for children with autism in Ghana. Most parents with such children find it difficult to handle them alone, apart from the stigmatization of the society towards such children. So, this school was set up to give relief to the parents of such children by providing them with care, treatment, training, and, by helping to explore their hidden talents.

Feeling very sensitive to the plight of children with autism a social welfare officer, Mrs. Josephine Afrifa, along with Mr. E. S. Aidoo, then a Judicial Secretary, initiated the inauguration of the Society of Friends of Mentally Challenged Children.

Through the initiative of the Society, these children were brought together and accommodated at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, together with the adult patients. Later, with their basic aim of providing for the well-being of the children, the Society realized the need to provide relief for these children, by providing them their own rehabilitation center and giving them care and training in skills.

The Society embarked on a successful fundraising venture, which enabled the building of its own institution, solely dedicated to the children before the end of 1970. The facility was run by the Society, with the assistance of the government ensuring that the academic, domestic and medical necessities were being provided by the Ministries of Education and Health. The Society handed over the running of the school in 1974 to the government. Thereafter, the name of the school was changed to Dzorwulu Special School.

The Osu Children’s Home had its origins from a Child Care Society which was established in 1949 by Ghanaian women and a Norwegian Lady to care for orphans and vulnerable children.

In 1962, the society was taken over by the then Government of Ghana and was placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Social Welfare. It was then moved to its present location at Labone and renamed, Osu Children’s Home with the mandate to offer Care and Protection to children exposed to moral and Physical Danger.

The Home is under the Department of Social Welfare which is presently under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

About the VFFF

The Viola Ford Fletcher Foundation is an NGO registered in Ghana and the USA. The visioner is 108 years old Queen Viola Ford Fletcher, one of the three survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race massacre. The Foundation advances sustainable systems for the care of people, families’ communities, societies, nations, and our shared environments globally.

Empowering, advancing and improving people’s physical, financial, mental, and spiritual wellbeing is our mission.

Every individual needs their basic needs met in order to reach their full potential. Ensuring access to clean water is critical but insufficient.

Without access to locally accessible quality healthcare, individuals, families, and whole communities can quickly fall victim to any number of communicable diseases. And a lack of public facilities only serves to spread disease from individual to whole communities.

By investing in the critical infrastructure to enable the delivery of locally available clean drinking water, public sanitation systems, and locally available high- quality healthcare, we improve the well -being of people, families, and whole communities. In short, we stop the downward spiral of impoverishment and enable the upward spiral of human and community development.

The Viola Ford Fletcher Foundation advances sustainable systems for the care of people, families’ communities, societies, nations and our shared environments globally.

Since inception in June 2022, the Foundation has provided thousands of menstrual Pads, panties, brassieres, deodorants and menstrual health education in its project tagged: PAD ME’ to teenage girls in some schools in Accra. The Foundation has also conducted Health Screenings and in December 2022 fed street and vulnerable children in some parts of Accra.

Currently, the Foundation is in the process of constructing a ten – room place of convenience for a basic school in Accra.

The Foundation’s President, Mr. Ike Howard, totally like his grandmother, believes in the empowerment of the girl child and creating an enabling environment for young girls to excel and succeed in life. According to him:

“Every young person in Ghana has the potential to achieve at whatever they desire in life given the right opportunities”. He was full of enthusiasm of what the Foundation wishes to achieve in Ghana and Africa and is full of gratitude to the anchor Partners of the Foundation; Inderbitzin Solutions, Palladian Partners LLC and Demosophy.