In June of this year I wandered into the ATE office in Ramsbury and casually asked Sarah Gardner about volunteering opportunities for someone like me, an artist in his fifties, in the world of the international development. Before I had left the office half an hour later we had agreed that I would go out to Ghana six weeks later, and immediately I booked my tickets to Accra. Such is the power of Sarah’s persuasiveness!
I’ve signed up to create a programme of artistic activities to stimulate the approximately one hundred and fifty physically and mentally handicapped children in the Lawra district. These children have little or no access to schools and spend their days at home, often neglected. In local tradition a child born with a disability is believed to be cursed; not only the child but the whole family will be ostracised and will have difficulty trading their wares. One of the long term objectives of ATE is to try to alter that perception.
In August I travelled to Lawra to visit these children in their homes so that I could get a better idea of which activities would work best with the children and how I might create a programme of art, fun and games that I can roll out in January when I return for six weeks. The children and their families live in far flung homesteads that I reached on the back of a motorbike driven by local ATE workers. No electricity, no running water, these houses sit surrounded by maize and millet fields, all lush green in the rainy season. When I return in January I’m told I’ll see a very different picture of a bone dry, brown and dusty landscape. The children I met have all forms of disabilities, as you might expect. They are also some way behind their UK counterparts developmentally as they’ve not received any real consistent stimulation in their lives. But they and their families are open to any new thoughts and ideas, and the overwhelming impression I was left with is how privileged was I to be welcomed with such charm, friendliness and openness into their homes.
I took many photos and made sketches when I was there in August and I am now in the process of making some landscape paintings of Lawra which I’ll be showing in an exhibition, together with some landscapes of the countryside surrounding Ramsbury. The exhibition will be on Saturday 26th November in Ramsbury Memorial Hall, 6 – 9pm. All proceeds will go towards the cost of creating and implementing the programmes of activities for the Special Needs children. One night only, so be there!
Have a look at my blog entries about my trip in August to Lawra: http://www.offexploring.com/jonathan-in-ghana
I’m raising funds to create and implement a programme of activities for the Special Needs children. Any donations are very gratefully received: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/jonathanhall1
Thanks for reading,
Jonathan Hall