Autism Centre

One evening a man bought his son to my house for help. He wanted my advice on his son, because he was 6 years old and still could not speak. I spent the evening chatting with Kwaku Frimpong and playing with his son, Oscar. He was the sweetest little boy and after getting to know him, I was sure that he had Autism (See image right). For more information on Autism, you can click here.

His father was an amazing man and had a good relationship with his son. Although he was not sure whether his son had Autism, he had heard of it before and had done a lot of reading around it. Oscar was very responsive to his father and he was learning well at home, but not at school he sadly was not welcomed into the classroom and was given little attention

Frimpong was a biology teacher but also had great interest in Psychology. We promised to stay in touch and I told him I would be able to provide them with more information on Autism that was relevant to Oscar.

The Plan:

First, we want to start by registering Kumasi Centre of Autism Research and Education as an NGO in Ghana. This will open many doors for us in the way that we will be able to spread awareness, form links with other charities and organisations and approach fundraising.
Frimpong will visit churches, schools, communities to do talks on Autism. Discussing with individuals and groups what ‘Autism’ and ‘Disabilities’ are, in order to slowly begin reducing stigma and changing the long held ‘spiritual beliefs’. We are not saying this is something that is going to happen overnight, many people have been bought up believing this. However, we have to start somewhere and hopefully as the next generation begin to grow and develop, they will become more accepting and understanding of others with disabilities.
Through meeting others and discussing Autism, we hope to meet parents and members of the community who want to get involved with our projects. We will begin holding monthly parent support groups. Parents can come along with their children, we will have a range of sensory toys for the children to explore and learn from. Then parents and invited guests (for example, professionals from the psychiatry department) will discuss and explore ideas of ways that they can work together to help their children learn and develop in ways suited for their individual needs.

We are at the very initial stages of this project. If there is anything you would like to do to support Kawku Frimpong and our mission to create a safe place where these children can be treated in the way that every child deserves or if you have any advice you may be able to offer, please email us at helpingpaul@hotmail.co.uk

We are also looking for funding to kickstart this project with registration and future Autism Awareness campaigns. You can donate here and proceeds will go directly towards aiding the development of the Autism centre and education in Kumasi!

Myself and Frimpong started chatting regularly about Autism and options for children with autism in Kumasi. As expected, we realised the opportunities for children with autism were non-existent, and even more concerning that the knowledge of Autism is also non-existent. So we decided that we wanted to take action to change this situation.

We worked quickly to create a name and logo of new project and a plan to establish Kumasi Centre of Autism Research and Education (CARE).

We decided that our first step of action in Ghana would be educating people on what ‘Autism’ is. Frimpong began talking about Autism whenever he had the opportunity. On Saturday 28th May, we held our first ever Autism Awareness Campaign in Kumasi. It was only small, but a massive step forward for the development in Autism Awareness.

We have formed links with the psychiatry department at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and had a child psychologist come to our awareness campaign to do a speech. We want to work with the department to help parents better understand the needs of their children and eventually provide a school where these children can get the specialised support that they need.

Donate now to help kickstart Kumasi Centre of Autism Research and Education.

Our plan is to register as a NGO in Ghana and raise awareness of Autism and Disabilities!

Oscar - the young boy who has inspired Kumasi Centre of Autism Research & Education