Special needs pupils require an equally special education
Polio sufferer Richard Obwol grew up believing that he was a curse – a physical manifestation of black magic – cast on his family.
Mr Obwol’s health began to deteriorate when he was five years old and the polio virus spread through his tiny body, paralysing his right leg and left hand.
Desperate to save the youngest of their 10 children, Mr Obwol’s parents did the only thing they thought could help him. They took him to a witch doctor.
“In those days they used to follow the route of witchcraft,” he said. “They went through some other sources, not medical, to try and bring my energy back.
“They failed. I was told I was paralysed and no one had hope of me regaining my health, but thank God I regained it.”
Even at a young age, Mr Obwol resolved to do whatever he could to complete his education.
“At first I could not get the walking aids, but I supported myself as best I could,” he said. “I would just walk while bending.”
When he reached Grade 5, Mr Obwol’s father made him a wooden stick.
After finishing secondary school, the young man enrolled at the Mulago Paramedical School in Kampala, where he was given proper elbow crutches and academic support to help complete his diploma in orthopaedic technology.
Now 27, he works as an educational social worker with Cheshire Services Uganda, the only organisation focused on promoting inclusive education and supporting children and young people with disabilities in the district of Amolatar in the northern part of Uganda.
About 21 per cent of the population of 147,000 people has a disability, including almost 8,500 children, Cheshire says.
But support for them is limited. Anyone needing rehabilitation services must travel more than 100 kilometres on mostly dirt roads to reach the district of Lira.
“Only 9 per cent of children with disabilities are in school,” said Steve Obote, manager for the Dubai Cares Inclusive Education Project for Children with Disabilities, in Amolatar.
“And only 6 of the 9 per cent are moved to the next level – to secondary school.”
Dubai Cares recently awarded Cheshire US$767,134 (Dh2.8 million) to help enrol 500 children with disabilities in 10 mainstream primary schools across Amolatar.
The three-year project will cover the cost of refurbishing the 10 schools to make them accessible for pupils with disabilities, supplying the children with necessary medical accessibility equipment, scholastic materials, rehabilitation or surgery.
With limited foreign aid targeting special education in Uganda, Mr Obote said there was a very high demand.
“People are always coming here seeking support, but the project can only support 500,” he said. “It’s only Cheshire Services in Uganda supporting children with disabilities.”
In Amolatar last month, a UAE delegation led by Dubai Cares’ chief executive, Tariq Al Gurg, met some of the project’s beneficiaries, their families and teachers.
At Alemere Primary School, Mr Al Gurg presented five visually impaired children with canes and two others, who were physically disabled, with wheelchairs. “It is very important for me not to be sitting back in Dubai in the office and getting reports,” he said.
“It was very important for
The three-year project will refurbish the 10 schools to make them accessible for pupils with disabilities
me to witness this, and also to speak globally about this issue and bring Amolatar and Uganda to the attention of the world.”
James Isiko, the chairman of Cheshire, said extra costs associated with special education often deterred donors.
“Disability is always at the bottom of the ladder,” Mr Isiko said. “The main thing is that it is very difficult to reach a very big number of children with disabilities, to put them in school, because they have additional costs with their education.
“You have to make the school environment accessible, teachers have to be trained to handle children with disabilities and the communities have to accept that these children can and should attend school.
“So, all that cost goes into a project like this.”
Mr Obwol is the only member of his family to have finished school. When people in his community see him now, they no longer think of him as a curse.
“They saw me succeeding,” he said. “They see that really I am supporting the family. They understood later.”
Mr Obwol and his wife are expecting their first child in February.