The Samuel Wellington Botwey (SWEB) Foundation has begun the construction of ultra modern disability rehabilitation and remedial centres designed to provide children with disabilities critical intellectual and hands-on training for their effective integration in society.
The centres, which would be equipped with modern computers and disability learning and training materials, are to serve as excellence of post clinical and rehabilitation education centres in the country.
Mr David Norden Botwey, the Executive Director of SWEB Foundation, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency said Ghanaian children with disability deserved better education and training to enable them to realise their dreams.
He said the Foundation aims to scale up the centres in all the ten regions and gradually expand to cover the 216 districts in the country.
He expressed regret that a large number of parents, who have children with disabilities, often locked up the children at home and go to work or do not work at all because they had to often stay back to take care of the children.
“The ultimate aim of this project is to free parents, who have disabled children, so that they too can go out to do some work or perform some economic activity and earn extra income to support their families,” he said.
The Director also said the centres were designed in ways that allow the children to learn and play as well as interact with their social environment towards effective inclusion in the society.
Each of the centres will have study rooms, kitchen, store, rest room, rehabilitation space, two offices, staff common room, toilet facilities and playing ground.
Mr Botwe, however, said looking at the enormity of the project the Foundation was under resourced and appealed to individuals and corporate bodies to support the Foundation execute the project to offer the needed services and skills development assistance to the disabled children to realise their talents.
The Michael Essien Foundation has already donated GH¢ 20, 000 towards the building of one the centres located in Atwere in the Amansie West district of Ashanti, while the Sisala East district assembly has also given out an abandoned edifice to house the children.
The chiefs and people of Atwere provided six building plots and offered free labour to support the construction of the centre there, which the SWEB Director said, was at the roofing level.
The SWEB Foundation is a disability focused non-governmental organization committed to promoting the rights and social inclusion of persons with disabilities in Ghana.
The Foundation became the strategic partner organisation of Liliane Foundation of the Netherlands in 2012, to collaborate to implement the Direct Child Assistance programme for children and youth with disabilities in Ghana, through partner organizations.