Alberts Corner

PCC moving on to Christmas
(23rd December 2011)

Only a few more days to go and then all over the world people will celebrate the Christmas. And of course it’s also like that in our Community.

Each year again the tension is gradually increasing when Christmas comes closer. The first time the word Christmas is heard might be in October and almost by chance, but soon afterwards we can hear it more often. In November the rehearsals for the Christmas Play will begin and our caregivers will start a real PCC Christmas Choir. From that moment on it all becomes serious: Christmas is coming!
Joe Emma, our care coordinator, elaborates on the special PCC programme for the period around Christmas and New Year. For all those who never experienced this (we are probably talking about a few billion people!), I will try to give here a short summary of the very comprehensive programme. Anyway, for the real sensation you really have to come once for a visit with Christmas!
The last days before Christmas the whole compound is cleaned extra well. After that the Christmas decorations can be placed, especially palm leaves together with some beautiful red flowers. This takes over the role of Christmas trees. The CD with Christmas songs is back again, so the well-known Christmas songs can be heard over the compound the whole day. The weeks after Christmas you can’t get these melodies out of your mind any more! It is very busy and everyone knows: Christmas is in the air! Some goats are grazing beside the kitchen and all children know very well why the goats are there (only for a few more days) ......
The official start of the Christmas programme of PCC will be at Christmas Eve with a performance of the Frafra dancers with their singers and musicians. It is very energetic music and singing from Northern-Ghana and nobody will be able to watch this and stay sitting down quietly.
In the morning of Christmas day there is a special church service in the rock church and that evening the long expected coming of Father Christmas is there, with some nice presents for everyone! What a tension and what a happiness!

Of course the highlight of all celebrations is the amazing Christmas play of the children at Boxing Day. In appropriate attire and together with the caregivers and some volunteers, the children will show the unique story of Christmas to everyone who wants to listen, for there is Good News for all on the earth: Jesus is born!
Here the tension increases as well: who will play the role of Jesus this year? Tettey seems to be a good candidate, but is this small boy able to deal with the pressure? Or will John Papa get this role again, using all his experience? The Jesus role seems to fit him very well! Only a couple of days and then we will know!
After these first days the Christmas celebration in PCC is not over yet, not at all! Almost every day a music group or a choir from Nkoranza town will come to play and sing for all in the Community. Sometimes a choir might be a bit (or very) late and another music group might even forget the appointment entirely, but the usual huge understanding for these kind of things matches very well with the Christmas: you know, this is Ghana ....!

And after another pleasant day, filled with all kind of sports and game activities, it is about time for the New Year celebration. New year’s eve in PCC is traditionally a festive evening with a lot of music (but should I write this down, in fact it’s so obvious and goes without saying!) and a big, special fire (Bonfire) at the rock. No, not in the rock church, but at the rock, it is another rock near the winter residence of Ineke & Bob.
After the Bonfire many people in Nkoranza (and all over Ghana) will go to church, to say thanks and glory to God for all blessings they received during the past year. Whilst singing and thanking many will move into the new year and music can still be heard for many hours during New Year’s Eve night. Things could be worse, isn’t it?

Christmas was there already a week ago, but at PCC still one party will come: the New Year’s party at 1st January. Once again everyone will enjoy the dancing and music, a special song of the PCC Choir, the several, moving performances of the children and of course they also are happy with the mineral drinks, the nice biscuits and the festive evening meal.
Then (did I hear someone saying: at last?) all festivities are over!
The next day all Christmas decorations are removed and the days after that are well defined in the programme with the words: rest, rest, rest!

What a very special programme, isn’t it? You can already make a reservation for next year in advance, for sure all children will then try their best to make the celebration of Christmas even more striking then in 2011 (if only possible).
In this last column of 2011 we like to close with a special Ghanaian Christmas wish on behalf of everyone at PCC for all the faithful and loyal readers of Alberts Corner (thanks for doing so!) and for all our dear supporters, friends and relations:
Afenhyiapa! May God bless you all.

Our senior, Mr Robert
(13th of December 2011)

A very special person, that’s what everybody will find out when he or she meets Mr Robert. Soon Mr Robert will have lived in Hand in Hand for 15 years! Surely you might call this very special for someone who came to our Community in 1997 in the expectation that he would live there for one year at the most due to his illness ALS.

Mr Assi Robert was born in 1950 and he is 61 years old now. His family suffer from a serious hereditary disease causing progressive paralyses, a disease that has unfortunately also struck Mr Robert through the course of the years.
In the past he worked as a catechist (= a lay curate) for the Roman Catholic Church of Sampa, he was bound to the parish of the Rev Priest Pieter Bootsma, well known to many of us. From his 31st onwards Mr Robert increasingly suffered from paralyses. When he was about 45, people feared for his death and he came to PCC for the last stage (as people thought) of his life.
His coming to PCC points back to the early days of the Community, when people were admitted here for more and different reasons than the group of abandoned, mentally limited children we presently focus on. At first also chronically and terminally ill people were admitted to the Hand in Hand Community.

Mr Robert has a unique position within Hand in Hand. He is one of the permanent residents, but without a mental handicap, at the same time he is regarded as someone who, in a special way, belongs to the circle of caregivers. One of his special functions is leading in prayer in the Community and also during the Sunday services in the rock church. As a consequence of his age and life experience he is regularly asked for advice or regarded as a confidant by many.

Mr Robert sits in his wheelchair from early dawn till late in the evening, mostly near his house and he draws the attention of many in an inconspicuous way. Sooner or later everybody drops by for a word and in that way conversations develop. He knows everything about PCC and he is like a (grand) father to most of the children.
He listens to the radio a lot and he is always on top of news about Ghana or anywhere else in the world. He is an important source of information, also with respect to the results of Ghanaian and British soccer games! Besides, he punctiliously writes down the history of Hand in Hand in his exercise books. For those guests who would like to know on which weekday they were born, he will look at the perpetual calendar. In e.g. Europe this might be an insignificant fact, this, however, is very important in Ghana! Fortunately, Mr Robert will bring relief!

Mr Robert’s voice is not very loud and not all children understand that they will have to be quiet during prayer. But Mr Robert is not disconcerted in anyway by this and remains undisturbed, although he is smart enough to adjust the length of his prayers to the situation.
Although many of his muscles do not have much strength anymore, he is still able to write well and many of the official documents of Hand in Hand, written on the occasion of for instance baptisms, celebrations and farewell parties, have been written by him. This suits his role as a senior resident, as an old and wise man.

Each morning we shake hands, together with a group of children, during the morning walk and then we also briefly discuss the news of the day.
Dinner is always taken at Janet’s and most of the time they elaborately discuss the state of the world affairs, those in Nkoranza and in PCC during their meal. To Janet Mr Robert is a kind of cashier, he helps her to register the kitchen expenses and this is of course a very responsible task.

What is striking to us in our contacts with Mr Robert, is his positive attitude to life. Seemingly, he accepts his fate: the paralyses and the fact that he has to sit in a wheelchair, completely and quietly. He remains quite cheerful under this.
That is why he totally fits in Hand in Hand, in spite of his different position. It is not limitations, which are the central issue here, but those things one can still do oneself. And Mr Robert is still able to do many things, this is shown by him each and every day. And that is why we say: ”Thank you for everything, Mr Robert!”

Street images of Ghana
(3rd of December 2011)

Every ten days you can read a new story about a child of PCC or about a special happening in the Community. Of course there is much more to be told about the Hand in Hand community, so make sure you will visit Albert’s Corner regularly!
Those who travel to our Community will soon notice that life in the streets of Ghana shows many remarkable scenes and it seemed like a good idea to me to look into this matter more closely.
The question is of course: where does one begin and where does one end, because there seems to be an endless stream of notable and unique events taking place in the streets. Much more than in Europe or in the USA life in Ghana is lived exactly there. Home is a place to sleep or to keep your possessions, but life is experienced outside in one’s own compound, on the porch or just in the streets: the place to be for e.g. fabulous refrigerators (photo 1).

It is obvious that we can see an increasing amount of traffic in Ghana and of course things tend to go wrong, maybe even more often here than in other countries. This results, regrettably, in a large number of victims, but also in remarkable car wrecks. Have a look at, for instance, picture 2 and 3.
Cars are not only regarded as means of transport, but also as very useful vehicles to give utterance to your faith and this opportunity is grabbed by a lot of cabdrivers and truckers, but even by bikers (see e.g. photo 4 and 5).
Neither car nor driver should be given way, no: God first!

When we are en route we see the very creative names given to many shops and stalls (see photo 6 and 7 and this week’s photo on the Homepage). Whether it is a hairdresser’s or a hardware shop, a beauty parlour or a general store, many owners use their shop names as a way of giving utterance to their personal faith.
What to think of a Jesus Beauty Shop or an advertisement for Coca Cola in which not Coke is the keyword but the owner’s faith: Jesus is Lord! Cheers!
Whether the barber of the barbershop is very good at his job, of course you will not know beforehand and all those sharp scissors and dangerous razorblades are pretty scary. However, if you do not entirely trust your barber, you will be delivered by your faith, so do visit the In God we trust Haircut!

Travelling along the Ghanaian roads we suddenly noticed a billboard (photo 8), that must have been made especially for Jeannette and myself regarding our frequent flights between Ghana and the Netherlands: Today Accra, tomorrow Amsterdam. We totally recognise that feeling!

The last picture in this column about images of Ghanaian street life is a very special one, it is a photograph taken of someone who lived in the neighbourhood of Nkoranza and who died a little while ago. Opanin Abraham Kodom must have been the oldest human being alive at the time of his death, because according to the poster he was 140 years old (photo 9)!! Whether a small miscalculation has been made while figuring out his age is not clear, but it is not improbable. We will never know, but we do know that life in the streets of Ghana is always surprising, intriguing and certainly lively.
You need not be bored on your way to PCC and when you have arrived in our Community there is no reason to be bored at all. Have a good journey along the roads of Ghana, on your way to PCC!

Strong and silent
(23rd November 2011)

Each group and every community has persons who easily attract attention, persons who are often seen in the foreground and who almost automatically grab your attention. Of course in all groups and communities there are also persons whom you hardly notice, persons who prefer to stay in the background and are easily overlooked as a result.
Of course this is not different in Hand in Hand, we can predict very well which children will be noticed rather quick by new visitors (what about: Michael, Kojo Patrick, Stephen, M’Afia, John Papa??) and which children often will receive only little attention, even after a longer period. From that last group I would like to place someone now into the spotlights, our strong and silent Zachariah.
Born in 1984, he is now 27 years old and he hails from Nkwabeng, a village close to Nkoranza, where he lived with his old grandmother. Unfortunately he was then seriously neglected. In 2002, he came to Hand in Hand to join our sheltered workshop. However, soon afterwards his grandmother decided to disappear completely and so Zachariah became a permanent PCC resident. He is doing a lot of work in our Community, in the sheltered workshop as well as in the kitchen and moreover he cares for our donkeys.

Zachariah has an intellectual disability and doesn’t speak at all, though from time to time he produces some gentle humming sound. He loves to dry-wash his hands and when doing so, he often will smile and melt your heart. His smile is also frequently seen, when you shake his hand or when you otherwise give him a positive feeling.
Zachariah has a very special relation with our 4 donkeys, he is the one looking after them very well and cleaning their stable. He walks around every evening, often for hours and sometimes even running, to round them up and bring them to their shed.
He has learned very well how to approach a donkey without getting a strong kick of their hind legs. Zach often grips one of the donkeys resolutely at the ears, then that donkey surely follows him and if he is lucky the other donkeys automatically will follow the first one .
Every morning Zachariah puts one of the donkeys before the donkey-cart to make a tour with about 10 of our smaller kids, who like to jolt and enjoy sitting in the boot of the cart. And no-one jumps from the cart while riding, not even Kojo Joseph!
In the kitchen Zachariah is a very appreciated aid of Janet, he is very strong and you frequently can see him carrying firewood or doing the heavy stirring in the big cooking pot (see the picture), assisting with washing up (and in PCC this is not a small job, with 100 eaters!) or helping with peeling of the food etc. etc. He does not speak, but when Janet calls Zachariah, he comes immediately!
He can stand still in front of you for quite some time and then continuously stare at you. Then you really would like to know what he is thinking of at such a moment. Zachariah has the kind a look, of which people in Holland sometimes say: he will always look at you with those faithful dog eyes. He observes and reflects and unfortunately says nothing, but his eyes will talk and say enough.
At the recent official opening of the new kitchen we decided to give Zachariah a leading part and he enjoyed it very much. With a beautiful shirt and wonderful tie he was one of those, who were cutting the tape of the new kitchen! Everyone granted him this honour and he was loudly welcomed in his neat clothing (certainly not his daily outfit!) when he appeared on the scene!
Zachariah, a strong man, who fortunately is always very sweet to the other residents, also to the little ones (see the nice picture of Zach with Kojo Joseph, taken some time ago). An inconspicuous and silent strong man in our Community, who enjoys living with people and animals, who loves his food and his quiet, conveniently arranged life in Hand in Hand, where he lives in one of the houses for semi-independent living, together with his mate Simon.

The hymn of praise of Zachariah will never be heard from his lips, but his daily irradiance is a song of praise on his life in Hand in Hand.
Thanks, Zachariah, for all your commitment and we hope you can continue to enjoy your beautiful and quiet life in Hand in Hand, your Home.

Extraordinary hairstyles in PCC
(13th of November 2011)

People worry about their hair or their hairstyles all over the world. Sometimes they are troubled about the colour of their hair, they often worry about its length or the right cut, regularly it is all about too thin or too thick hair and of course we are often disturbed about (too) straight or (too) curly hair, also.
What is striking is that in e.g. Europe a lot of people have straight hair and they will do anything - one way or another, to curl their hair (if need be only for a short while). In Africa all people have beautiful frizzy hair and indeed, women over here will do anything to get straight hair (if only for a short while). Miraculous, isn’t it? So is the grass really always greener on the other side, as they say in Dutch? Put differently: is your natural born hair always less attractive than other people’s natural hair? Is there anyone who is able to explain this oddity to me?

Thinking of Ghana and Hand in Hand probably nearly everyone would imagine happy children with beautiful frizzy Afro’s. Great sight, isn’t it? And think of all those young and beautiful caregivers who have such wonderful, firm and proud African hair.
But ……….. is this for real?!
Let’s have a good look around the PCC compound and what do we see? Look over there, nearly all of our female caregivers are walking around with extravagant hair-do’s. The latest fashion for women in Ghana are hair-do’s which stand out because of their colourful extensions. All women look really fabulous although their hairstyles are all very different!

We are continuing our tour to look for all those beautiful hair-do’s of our children. Hair-do’s?? Which hair-do’s?? It is a great pity, but we do not see any great hair-do’s at all! Bald heads is what we solely see!
Indeed completely bald, because for the children of PCC a clean-shaven head is normal. According to local insiders a bald head is cooler and less prone to itching. Besides, a bald head can be cleaned more easily than a full-grown Afro, which is sometimes liable to contain food, sand or faeces.
So the children’s heads are “cut” on a regular basis. No scissors are involved here, the simplest way of cropping a head closely is by fixing a razor knife to a comb. This is a very accurate way, all hair will disappear in no time.
Somewhat more luxurious is being cut by a pair of hairdresser’s clippers, as is caregiver Ema Donkor’s speciality. The whole place will be humming for hours on end when he is working his clippers and the result will always be the same: a clean-shaven head! Most children take place in the hairdresser’s chair without a shrink, others do not see the use of it, like Lazarus and Peace and they often need some persuasion …!

When Dede finally does have some cute little curls on her head, it does not take long before she will walk around bald headed again. No one is an exception to the rule, young or old, girl or boy, at the end of hairdressing day all children will be as bald as billiard balls, which is a Dutch saying.
Maybe in this way all children will be clean and healthy, but I think that it looks a little bald and bare. But okay, I am suffering from baldheadedness myself, that is probably why I would like to see some more hair in PCC ….!
M’afia has got off scot-free this time in one way or another and she proudly shows us the short hairs on her head, just like Catharina Bosman does, the dear little daughter of Joe Ema, our care co-ordinator.

Fortunately, we meet more extraordinary hair-do’s in PCC. Have a look at a few volunteers with their very notable hairstyles in this photograph. And last but not least we can see some children here with, yes indeed, a pink or yellow hair-do: it is party time today!
Hand in Hand: surprising as ever and this is also the case for our hairstyles!

Enjoying the swimming pool
(2nd of November 2011)

Have you ever felt depressed? These things happen, you know. But not to worry! Fortunately, a very good therapy, which you will find proof against all depressions, is now available to you!
What does this wonder therapy consist of? Well, it is very simple: sit on the edge of the swimming pool of Hand in Hand for a whole hour at four o’clock in the afternoon and watch all children, who enjoy the swimming pool to the full between four and five. Your depression will be gone in a jiffy!
Watch e.g. Joshua, who enjoys himself endlessly by doing somersaults just above the water level and then plunge into the water. Watch Aaron and Paa Yaw who enjoy finding their way in the more shallow parts of the big pool by crawling on their hands and feet. A bit further down you will see Yaa Yaa’s quiet smile, she moves up and down the pool’s edges, going under and coming up again with a big smile on her face.

Around 1996 Ineke Bosman got the brilliant idea of constructing a swimming pool for the children of PCC, at that time a total of about 15 to 20 children. Some people probably wondered whether this was really necessary: constructing a pool for the children of Hand in Hand, because a swimming pool was and still is a great luxury in Ghana!
It proved to be a terrific idea! Each and every day, seven days a week and 365 days a year the swimming pool is to our residents the highlight of the day (except for the meals of course …. )!
Look, there is Kofi Asare, our Music Master, he is training his body by making beautiful dance moves in the pool. Today Bright, Ayuba and Daniel join him, each in their own rhythmical way. They are having great fun!

About two years ago a shallow pool was constructed next to the big pool to enable vulnerable children like Lisa, Theresa, Wumpini and Alice to paddle quietly in shallow water. Today Theresa has climbed out of this pool and she is enjoying the sun. It is good to notice that Emmanuelle has bid her farewells to the shallow pool a long time ago. She is brave enough to just sit beside the side of the big pool or to even float in the pool among the other, running and splashing children. Also little Tettey is in his element in the pool as can be seen from his face. Joyce behaves like Tettey’s caring mother and looks after him lovingly.

In the centre of the pool two jets of water stream down from brick laid pots. These jets are very attractive to some children. Look at Aisha who allows the water to pitter-patter on her head or have a look at Ntiamoah, who becomes very quiet under these jets of water. Kwame Addai is battling the stream, he tries to hit the water jets and he enjoys his moments of success. To others, for instance to M’Afia, Dede, John Papa and Jerry Ema floating, playing and tossing and turning together in the pool is a great pleasure.
The pool water is great for Shalomina especially, because she is able to move much better in water than on land. That is why she is darting from the left hand side to the right hand side of the swimming pool.

The water is changed every few days, which is necessary because some children’s basic body functions are stimulated by water …..( however, I think this is not typical for Hand in Hand!) and also the sand from their feet slowly muddies the water. When the swimming pool is being emptied, there is no greater pleasure for John Papa than to feel the water squirting against his head and body, now and then his surprised head will pop up from the stream and then he will shake off all drops of water just to dive into the jets of water again.

We have not mentioned Koo Ema yet, who is quietly smiling, sitting in his own spot in the swimming pool. Or Peace, who is waving happily to the onlookers sitting on the bench. And look at the grin of delight on the faces of Pakor or Agagi or Yaw Hillal or Yaw Balloon or …… or …….!!

Do you already feel less depressed? Because of so much pure pleasure, so many beautiful, laughing and joyful kids the sun must start shining more brightly and dark clouds must disappear at least a little behind the horizon?! Tomorrow at four o’clock a shot of pool pleasure again.
Thank God for pool time! Amen.

What a change!
(23rd of October 2011)

In a community like ours obviously many things are very important, for instance the way in which the residents, the caregivers, the volunteers and the guests go about with each other daily. This is also the case for the quality of the living and workspaces, bedrooms, day programme, surroundings, the atmosphere and so forth.
And because we are all just people, we think the functioning of the kitchen is very important as people do all over the world, we at PCC are not different in that matter. The day programme may differ, but mealtimes are almost holy. At the well-known times everybody assembles around the dinner tables waiting for the meals to come from the kitchen, which is always exciting although highly predictable!

You can’t miss the kitchen when you enter the Hand in Hand premises, you will walk right into it. The simple PCC kitchen has been extended in the course of the years, but in essence it remained the same basic kitchen for many years. It was no more than a space with a roof and a simple fence of chicken wire to keep gatecrashers out. The kitchen equipment was very simple: no kitchen sink, no worktops, tables or storage room. All work in preparation of the meals was done sitting on stools or on the ground, there was smoke from the firewood everywhere. Once 20 to 30 meals per day were prepared here, nowadays this is done for more than 100 people! The time for a considerable change had come!

old kitchen	new kitchen	Janet cheers for her new kingdom

After having turned the matter over in our minds for a long time the Board decided a few months ago to carry out alterations to the kitchen. Fortunately, we got financial support from SKIP and Herbahortus, so renovations to the kitchen could start in August by Baffo.
We had already heard about the new kitchen from Ineke in September and we were very curious about what it would look like. To be honest, it is not really a renovation, but a completely new kitchen! There is little left of what reminds of the old kitchen. Baffo’s style of building is rather spatial, as can be noticed from this new kitchen. It looks spacious, modern and neat, there are worktops and tables in the kitchen and there is room for cooking gas and charcoal. The area for cooking on firewood is situated next to this, so there is no longer a continuous haze of smoke in the kitchen!

The exterior is really impressive and it looked like an invitation to a certain artistic expression. Luckily this was realised this week - just before the official opening, by the hand of Miriam Kerkhof from Accra, who brightened up the Education Centre earlier this year! While she was painting the murals, the children wanted to pick the painted food off the wall and eat it, to everyone’s delight!

What is striking is that really everybody here is terribly proud of our new kitchen, some say there is no finer kitchen in the whole of Ghana!
So this was a good reason to celebrate the grand opening with many festivities: much music and dancing, short speeches and powerful prayers to ask for God’s blessing for the work which is done in the kitchen. This is how a building in Ghana should be opened!
Besides Janet and Jeannette Zacharias was a great help with cutting the ribbon and exactly because of that reason – and to the great admiration and cheering of many present - he was adorned with the most beautiful tie of Nkoranza and surroundings! He took pride in his important task during the opening and rightly so, because he manages huge amounts of work in the kitchen, he is a great help to Janet. Just take a look at his proud eyes!
Whomever will visit us from this day on, will blink his or her eyes and think: didn’t this kitchen look completely different?!? However soon there will be admiration for this fine new building at PCC.

old kitchen	new kitchen	inside the new kitchen

No food, no glory! And this building certainly is glorious! Thanks to the new kitchen we hope to provide all residents with good and savoury food even more and we hope for the blessing of all kitchen work that has to be done daily to offer 100 people three meals per day.
Everybody in Hand in Hand is happy, proud and thankful for this new kitchen! Take a look at the photographs in this column and see for yourself: what a great change, what a grand improvement!

Kojo Charm Patrick
(13th October 2011)

Those who visit Hand in Hand will undoubtedly also meet Kojo Patrick, one of the clearly present small boys. He does not have his special nickname Charm for nothing.
Kojo is approximately eight years old and he has experienced life in the same way like so many of our children. As a small child he was found roaming a neighbourhood in Accra where no one seemed to know him. From the beginning of 2008 he has lived with us and he appears to feel very much at home in PCC.
Kojo is suffering from lightly limited mental capacities and he has a lame left hand. He does not speak but he does call out, he cannot eat without aid, but on the whole he does well. From day one at PCC Patrick has cared for him and they got on well together. That is the reason why Kojo was named Kojo Patrick. In August this year Patrick left PCC after having been a caregiver for more than four years. Kojo is (temporarily?) living with the much-experienced Joyce. We are looking for a good replacement for Patrick at the moment. Kojo Patrick will keep his double name although caregiver Patrick has left PCC, as did Emma Jerry when Jerry left the premises. This is a kind of homage to the important first caregivers of these children.

Kojo Patrick approaches new visitors without timidity and when you look at his pictures you will understand why he was soon nicknamed Charm. He is not only impressive because his arch smile makes your heart melt, but especially because of his very charming way of dealing with others. Sometimes he can hit you out of the blue, probably to draw your attention, but just when you want to make clear to him that this behaviour is really not done, he approaches you with arms outstretched and a big naughty smile on his face. As if this is not enough he will softly kiss you on your hand or cheek. He does honour to his name of endearment!
He is not picky and choosy in showing his affections and his charm, he goes from one person to another with his terrific smile and outstretched arms. He nearly always seems to be in good spirits, as if he was born under a lucky star!

He has a favourite game, which is suddenly crawling between your legs, mostly after having approached you enthusiastically to greet you. He can laugh very loudly when you impede his crawling and when he gets stuck between your legs. These are expressions of his boundless energy, he also enjoys joining all kinds of games and sports.

This summer Kojo attended Summer School, an activity organized by SKIP volunteers from England. With respect to order and discipline, progress still has to be made, however, with respect to pleasure and enthusiasm Summer School has been a great success! And that is what it is all about, isn’t it?

Kojo Patrick has not developed yet a good sense for mine and thine, he likes appropriating things he thinks beautiful, savoury or interesting. A bite of your food, a sip of your drink, a toy he likes, Kojo Patrick wants it all and when you are looking in a different direction, quick as a flash he will hit and run with much-desired goods.
He looks for company with a welcoming lap, his need for tenderness is obvious and fortunately he finds tenderness in the company of other children, caregivers and with many guests of Hand in Hand.
We are lucky to have Kojo Patrick in PCC, a wonderful boy, who is able to enjoy life in the Community to the full.

About the residents of PCC + a question to our readers!
(3rd October 2011)

When we speak of the permanent residents of Hand in Hand, we often talk about our “children” for our convenience. Nearly all permanent residents came to Hand in Hand as children once, but of course children age each year, as is happening likewise anywhere else in the world.
We know that all our residents have limited intellectual capacities, with the exception of two (i.e. Stephen and Emmanuelle), so their intellectual age is and will remain for ever very young! A well-known Biblical phrase is that “we all should become like children” and considered as such our children do very well of course!

We do realise gradually that the group of intellectually disabled children has grown into a group of intellectually disabled children and young adults.
It is an interesting and good thing to look into the age structure of all 62 permanent residents, which shows that about half of them is between 10 and 20 years of age. Twenty children are younger than 10 years old and more than ten residents are over 20, so they are young adults now.

The age structure of all 62 residents is as follows:

The age division of the 16 workshop participants is quite simple, according to our estimation they are all between 20 and 30 years of age.

Clearly: most children’s ages have just been estimated at the point of their arrival at PCC. We simply do not know the exact age of abandoned children.

Are men more vulnerable and therefore disabled sooner?
A notable fact in Hand and Hand is, that of all permanent residents of PCC no fewer than 2/3rd are men and only 1/3rd is woman. This is a considerable difference! We do not know what caused this difference, however we did try to find an explanation for it.
After having given the subject a great deal of thought, we have come with a few possible explanations and we would like you, our readers, to shed your light on this subject too. Possibly you will know the answer or even better come up with a logical explanation??

Why are there more male residents in PCC?

Explanation 1:
Men are more vulnerable in general and therefore they will suffer sooner from an intellectual disability than women do!
This is a thought Mr Baffo put forth as a good explanation for this striking difference (and possibly many women would accept this as a very reasonable and recognisable explanation …..??)

Explanation 2:
In Ghanaian society women are very important in “the extended family system” and therefore intellectually disabled men are sooner abandoned than intellectually disabled women??!
(We did not find any evidence for this hypothesis, however this might be the case ….)

Explanation 3:
It is just a coincidence!
(Somewhere else in Ghana the proportion of intellectual disabled men to intellectual disabled women could be quite the opposite.)

Explanation 4:
Most residents came to PCC during Ineke Bosman’s period here. It is possible that Ineke Bosman had a weaker spot for vulnerable men than for vulnerable women and that she would sooner accept a vulnerable boy or man as a new resident?!
(I must plead against this notion because during my direction six new residents have come to live at PCC of whom five are men!!)

Unfortunately, we do not know the right answer, that is why we call in the aid of all readers of this column. Reactions can be put in the Guestbook of this website, so everybody will be able to enjoy the important insights of our readers.
We are very interested in reading your wise and much appreciated reactions and we would like to thank you for these in advance!

Ayuba
(24th September 2011)

Soon Ayuba will be living in Hand in Hand for exactly ten years, which is a considerable amount of time, about half of his life. He was probably born in 1991, but we don’t know for sure.
In any case, he came to us from Osu Children’s Home in Accra in 2001, he was already brought there by his father (!?) in 1996 together with his brother.

Ayuba is suffering from Down syndrome besides epilepsy, notwithstanding he is in good health. During those ten years in PCC he has developed from a cute little boy into a big, companionable and sympathetic young man. He fits into the classic idea of a child suffering from Down syndrome, he is a positive human being with a good sense of humour, with much need for attention and he responses well to positive stimuli (NB: while writing I am wondering: doesn’t this count for nearly all human beings ….!?).

Ayuba is a much-respected resident of PCC, he nearly always goes about with the other children and young adults in a pleasant way. On Saturday mornings he grabs his chance, then he is allowed to play the drums during the morning programme and drumming is his favourite pastime. In a rather monotonous rhythm he is drumming and singing for hours on end until finally the whole group has gathered around him.

Mabel has born a special spot in her heart for Ayuba for years and she shows this regularly. Sometimes Ayuba affirms this feeling in his reaction towards her, however on the other hand he - just as easily - says “No” to her and then he will call out with a mild smile on his face that M’Afia or one of his caregivers is his wife. He is a true Prince Charming.

Ayuba has become considerably big and strong, a little too big to be honest, (too) often he will finish other people’s bowls and eat his fill with their savoury leftovers and this shows in his tummy, better put: belly! But he knows. Now and then he will pull up his shirt and he will caress his belly with a big smile on his face, calling out to me that he doesn’t eat too much, surely …..!?!
He likes walking around with a small piece of wood, this is his mobile phone and he enjoys you standing next to him with your phone in your hand and pretending to have a serious conversation with him.

Nearly every day Ayuba asks me to give him something, sometimes he asks for a radio, sometimes sunglasses, but most of the time it is a Bible. Any large book will do for that purpose, he walks around with it and reads from it in a reverend-like voice, whether keeping the book upside-down or not. Unfortunately, he sometimes loses the book and of course he will come round with the same request: ”I need a Bible!”.
In PCC church he enjoys saying a prayer and he does so with verve like a real evangelist, as is shown in the photo in this column.

During parties Ayuba dances in his particular way, light-footed and parading on the spot like some sort of majorette. Wild dancing doesn’t suit Ayuba, his dance emits some sort of quiet. When he is angry (luckily this doesn’t happen very often), he makes this known to everybody in a noisy way, but he knows how to keep his anger within bounds. Very soon his anger will be gone, though!

His so-called brother in PCC is Bright, together they are a handsome couple, although they are good at bickering too until mother Janet ends it all. Ayuba helps Janet in the kitchen on a regular basis, he also sweeps the street in front of the restaurant every day.

Last year, when Jeannette and I were visiting Osu Children’s Home, we were introduced – much to our surprise - to Ayuba’s one and only brother (!) who has been living in this home for 15 years! He is a person of normal intelligence, even more than that because he appears to be studying at the university of Accra. We have cordially invited him to visit his brother some time.

During the day Ayuba works at the sheltered workshop, he likes that place very much because of the fun that is made together with the caregivers and the other young adults.
Besides Ayuba enjoys the personal touch in the Special Attention Programme provided by our volunteers, as is shown on the PCC information DVD of 2010.

Ayuba, he has been enjoying life in PCC for ten years now and we enjoy him being there. May this be the case for a long time to come!

Aisha
(14th September 2011)

For more than one year she is already living with us and really, Aisha is a beautiful child to see! We really can’t imagine that parents could ever feel like abandoning her, but that’s exactly what happened to her in 2010. Aisha has been found while roaming about the Accra streets and nobody knew who she was or where she came from. After that she has spent 3 months in Osu Children’s Home before coming to Hand in Hand in August 2010.
Aisha is a elegant child with a mild intellectual disability and very sweet, innocent face. Whatever clothes she is wearing, it al looks cute, she is a real young lady, who we guess to be around 10 years of age now.

At first she was not talking at all, she did not want to be involved with others and was quite retired. She also had a rather sad expression in her eyes, but we are so happy that since then she showed a very positive development, into a happy girl, full of life. Just observe the difference between picture 1, taken just before her arrival at Hand in Hand, and the other, recent pictures with this column!

By now we are happy being able to enjoy the sound of her voice, she talks in short, but clear small sentences. For example she can say to you “Hello, how are you?” in a very pleasant and sweet way. However, it seems the reply is not of great interest to her, for a few minute later she might ask the same question once again, but it sounds very jaunty. When you ask her the same question, she will reply: “I am fine”! We are very glad knowing that she really feels at home here, especially when we see her laughing and on and off hear her singing softly. Her smile is gorgeous and very softening.

She has a tendency of going her own way and doesn’t always react to an invitation to join in walking etc. She will decide for herself what she wants to do, sometimes you will suddenly feel her hand grabbing yours and then she will walk with you like that for some time, or even with her arm around your body, but after some time suddenly she will quit again to go and do something else, e.g. swinging, for obviously that is one of her favourite activities.
And her thumb is very comforting, she can suck her thumb very sweet as being a big baby.

Her table manners were very striking after arrival at PCC, most often she was sitting or even laying on top of the table and she preferred eating alone, without other children next to her. Nowadays this has changed, she sits at the table like others and has joined a small “eating together group” with Baffo. They are three children who for various reasons are not eating in the middle of the major group, but have their own corner during meals, with “daddy” Baffo. Baffo is very proud about this new responsibility.

At day time Aisha goes to the Shalom Special Schoola and this summer she participated in the PCC Summer School. The first days she was frequently running away, for she doesn’t like to be caught in a fixed pattern. However, after a few days she noticed how much fun the Summer School was and since then she became enthusiastic and enjoyed it a lot.

It’s wonderful to experience that children can enjoy life in our Community so much, knowing from their often difficult and sad past histories and it’s so beautiful to witness their enjoying in their posture, their fun and laughing.
Aisha, she is a special child, beautiful and happy and we are very glad that she is living with us!

M’Afia Harriet, a future First Lady
(4th September 2011)

Only 14 years old M’Afia Harriet seems well on her way of becoming First Lady of our Community. Most older girls and young adult women of our Community (like Abena, Yaa Yaa, Afia and Joyce) do not have the inclination to stand in the spotlights, however M’Afia clearly does so. Without timidity and in a confident manner she e.g. approaches new guests and visitors and starts an animated conversation with them.

M’Afia has been a resident of Hand in Hand since 2009, before that she lived in the Osu Children’s Home in Accra for a few years. A man, who said he did not know who she was, had brought her there, saying she had been living in the streets of Accra - however young she was.
The fact that she had been used to living in the streets was quite obvious from the start. She had been taught to stick up for herself, she was on her guard constantly and she showed the specific behaviour of a young “lady of the streets”, used to getting anything she could lay her hands on.
We are very happy and proud that nowadays she barely shows this former behaviour and that she is developing into a very sociable young lady. An unusual hair-do, a special cord around her neck or a homemade bracelet on her arm, singing well-known songs together, jauntily wearing a beautiful dress: it is all very M’Afia. Sometimes she also wears Esther’s (her caregiver) shoes and when she does, she will walk around the compound proudly and perkily, like a real lady!

M’Afia suffers from a mild mental handicap and also epileptic fits especially at night. Sometimes you get the feeling that it would be possible for her to attend a regular primary school, but when teaching her some simple lessons you notice her limitations.
Besides some limitations M’Afia has many talents, she likes making music and she is a good dancer. For instance she imitates the titillating dances performed by ladies of Northern-Ghanaian tribes who sometimes come to our Community to sing and dance. M’Afia shows leadership qualities and she is very caring. She regularly busies herself with a group of younger children in a very sympathetic way. Those children happily join her, because where M’Afia is “that’s where the action is”.
She has a happy and open face, a breezy laugh and she is very communicative, she speaks a little English and she speaks Twi well. No wonder she draws the attention of many guests!
At the end of 2010 she was baptized in our open-air church. It was wonderful to watch her undergoing the service from beginning until the end in a quiet and attentive way, obviously impressed by the special ceremony of which she was in the centre of attention!

From looking good as girl M’Afia is gradually turning into a beautiful teenager. Of course this is also noticed by the older boys and young men of the Community, this is only natural. Obviously we try to coach and protect her in this matter, however this is not easily done, because she is pretty independent and she knows what she wants and what she doesn’t.

She attends Shalom Special School that is next to PCC and she has enjoyed Summer School, which was co-ordinated by some English volunteers, last July very much. Undoubtedly she will be at work in the sheltered workshop in a few years and she will also show her skills and social talents there. Already she helps out in the kitchen or she does some light work elsewhere as becomes fitting for a Community!

Once an aggressive street girl, nowadays a very pleasant and social member of our Community, we are very happy with M’Afia’s development since her coming to Hand in Hand and we sincerely hope that she will go on developing. Being a girl of many talents, it is only a matter of time before she will be called “First Lady” of the Community!

SKIP on a visit at Hand in Hand
(15th August 2011)

Last year the English organisation SKIP (= Student for Kids International Projects) approached us with the proposal to organise a SKIP project at Hand in Hand during the 2011 summer. Since then we have been reflecting on such a project and have made the necessary preparations. Finally the decision was taken, 13 English medical students would come for 5 weeks to Hand in Hand, first of all to work as volunteers with the children and apart from that also to teach our caregivers.
It promised to become an exciting period for them and for all of us. How would things go?

Early July the whole group arrived in Nkoranza and had their first acquaintance with our Community, especially with the children. Our children, from their side, were initially a bit surprised by this large group of new volunteers, but nowadays they are so used to new volunteers and new guests coming that rather soon lively contacts started to develop.

All SKIP volunteers got their own day programme, in the workshop or at the Autistic Table, in the newly started Summer school with two groups of children or in the Special Attention programme. Moreover they assisted the children who needed help 3 x daily while eating. Doing so for 5 weeks created some real beautiful relations between some pairs. It can’t even be stated easily which pair was most beautiful. Was it P & P (= Paa Yaw and Paul) or possibly Chiara and Kwame Ayim, perhaps Ciaran and Kwame Addai or after all Ellie with Wumpini, who can decide? The happiness could be seen from the various faces!

The new Summer school had a great start. Especially the group with a bit older children, like Daniel, M’Afia, Mabel, Ahmed, Moses and Dede, was a big success, first of all as a result of the commitment and devotion of the SKIP volunteers, but certainly also due to the beautiful class room in the Education Centre and also thanks to the many new and useful appliances for learning and playing. Teaching the younger group, with (a.o.) Michael, Kwame Addai, Kwaku Chairman and Jerry Ema, asked for quite some steersmanship from the SKIP people, these very active boys appealed to the maximum from their educational talents and flexibility! Anyhow, the Summer school will certainly have a follow-up in future, as a matter of fact this might be during other seasons as well!
The Autistic Table was more active than ever before. Lazarus, Yaa Yaa, Mariella and Yaw Hillal have not been walking so much for a long time with volunteers as they did now and clearly with much pleasure.
Every day again you could meet the various volunteers in their beautiful SKIP shirts all over the PCC compound, for example whilst active with the Special Attention programme, busy with some children games or sitting at the pool side. As all SKIP volunteers were active at different places at the same time, the feeling of having a rather large group of volunteers disappeared rapidly.

Special elements of this SKIP visit were the daily Lectures for Caregivers on specific subjects, such as the Down syndrome, epilepsy and general hygiene. It proved to be very interactive lessons and at the end the knowledge quiz between two groups of caregivers was every day again exciting. However, even more exciting were the lively discussions on all kind of taboos and prejudices existing in the Ghanaian society, among others about superstition on spiritual diseases and also about the fear for contagion (e.g. from children with Down syndrome and epilepsy). It was very instructive for the caregivers and undoubtedly also for SKIP!

Of course we could not do without it: during the past weeks we had as much as 2 times a day of sports and games. Essential elements were the football matches between teams of “England” and “PCC Ghana”, with the women as well as the men. Nobody can explain it or even just understand how it could happen, but the English women won their match 2 times after penalty’s!?! Incredible, perhaps even against the flow of the match, but it happened! After the men’s matches we were happy that the score was better, the first match PCC did win, the 2e time the score was equal and also then (unfortunately…) the English won on penalty’s!? So there should be a lot of practising on penalty’s in the period to come!
Both days we also enjoyed a lot all children games, games like sack walking races, running, throwing balls at tins or in a bucket (well done, Dela!) and of course also a football game of the little children. All players were wearing the same white shirt, some changed spontaneously the playing direction during the game, but by all means the joy was great!

At the send off party the English showed once more through a splendid song with dancing and playing the drums what 5 weeks PCC had meant for them. Undoubtedly the pictures with the children will be cherished for a long time and the whole PCC Community will have warm and happy memories after this first SKIP visit to Hand in Hand. Everyone agrees that it was a big success and therefore we say wholeheartedly: thanks a lot SKIP, see you next year!

A great Day Out
(3rd August 2011)

Already for some days there a special tension is in the air. Almost all Hand in Hand residents have heard the news and are talking about it every day again, each in his or her own way. Our coordinator for volunteers in Holland, Carlijn Willems, is on a visit, just like last year and the year before and she has made it a habit to collect some funds at home and uses it to treat all residents as well as caregivers and volunteers to a Day Out to the Kintampo Waterfalls.
For most of our children waiting for 3 or 4 more days is beyond their understanding and so every day again they come with the same question: will we go to Kintampo today?? When talking about it, their faces are shining! Jeannette and I have never been on such a trip, but we have heard all kind of nice stories and are very curious.

Finally at Thursday morning the great moment is there. As much as 5 small busses are entering the compound where they get great cheers. Immediately the children move to their favourite place in one of the busses. Dela for example has found a seat just behind the driver, for driving a car once is his big dream! It takes a while before all are seated, as we are with about 115 persons, but already before leaving PCC the drumming and singing starts enthusiastically. The drums and other musical instruments, in fact everything that can produce sound, is taken along, it’s one big party. When driving through the streets of Nkoranza and all other villages on the road, everyone is looking up and waving to this very special, noisy and celebrating parade. Definitely not something they will get to see everyday.

When going, the drivers choose the shortest, but definitely not the easiest route (“to safe petrol”). In this way a distance of 64 km., mainly a rough sandy road, took us almost 2 ½ hours driving!! However, it didn’t reduce the fun, the journey itself is already a great experience, there is no end to the number of songs we heard while driving. And in every village all children and many adults are waving happily to us.

After a short negotiation about the entrance fee we finally are allowed to enter the grounds of the Waterfalls and then the long and for many children rather difficult descent starts, as much as 152 steps (!) down to the lower side of the Kintampo Waterfalls. The wheelchairs and walking racks remained at home, quite some children need to be carried down (and later that day also up again!), but e.g. Kojo Evans is sliding down step by step by himself! For him this is an Olympic marathon and later that day he goes the same way up, as a real champion. A very big (and heavy) pot with the food for 115 persons + many mineral bottles etc. also came with us and have to be carried down as well. Immediately after arrival Janet and some other caregivers start to prepare a bowl with food (Jollof rice with some chicken or fish). That is part of the programme on this day full of festivities.
In the meantime the children are very much focused, watching all water that is coming down and splashing so noisy and powerful continuously. Agagi is breathless while watching, at the same time the bigger boys and some caregivers dare to go right under the waterfalls, slithering enjoying all the water coming down or making a slide on the rocks, with the help of all water falling down.
Other visitors of the Waterfalls are very interested in the waterfalls, but also in this very special and large group of people with all kind of disabilities. In this country, where many disabled persons are often hidden and neglected (or even worse!), all together our residents form a very unique group of people and the amazement about this can be seen on the faces of many persons passing by!
A few hours later we make a start with the long journey back home, first of all taking the 152 steps, this time going up (!) and then again the ride with the bus. We are happy the drivers are taking a bit longer, but much better road (which proves to be even half an hour shorter!).
Moses and Jerry Ema are sitting very quietly in one of the front seats on the way back as on the way coming, looking breathlessly to that unknown world outside the bus, very different from the PCC Community they know so well.

And then we return to Nkorana and PCC, where most of us are leaving the busses a bit shaky. What a great day it was, not only because of the waterfalls, but most of all due to various days looking forward to this special day, the exciting trip going and coming, the happy music, the delicious food and may be most of all because today everything was just different than normal!
That night, thanks to Carlijn and her sponsors, all are dreaming about hours of life-music in the busses and about all water falling down impressively and continuously.
The next morning the questions are coming very quick: when are we going to Kintampo again?? The shining smile on the faces says it all. What a great Day Out it was!!

Help, 2 snakes!
(20th July 2011)

A quiet Wednesday morning in July, it seems. Everyone at PCC is busy with all kind of activities, until suddenly Dominic discovers a snake, a few meters above the ground, lying on a branch of one of the bamboo bushes in the centre of PCC, close to our house. It doesn’t take very long before almost all are gathering there to come and see the snake with their own eyes. They are watching it from an appropriate distance, with a mixture of fear and curiosity. A few moments later Juliana I is taking a closer look at it and then she screams, as she has discovered a second snake, just above the first one! According to local experts it is rather rare that 2 different snakes are in one tree at the same time.
The snakes can make their way via the bamboo branches easily to the big tree in the centre of PCC, where countless weavers are very busy at the moment building their nests ingeniously. The more beautiful the male weaver can build his nest, the bigger the chance that a female weaver will be impressed and would like to get offspring from that male. The many young birds in the tree obviously are very attractive food for the snakes.
The fear for snakes here in Ghana is deep inside, they have all learned from childhood on, and not wrongly, that a bite of a.o. the black Cobra, the green Mamba of the grey-white poisonous Viper might kill you!
The male caregivers all run for their catapults and for some large sticks, while all female caregivers go search for some stones and pieces of bricks to throw, though we can very soon observe that in practice it’s not so easy to hit a snake in that way………

It seems the snakes have the feeling to be safe, for initially they don’t mind at all the noise just below them. Only when a stick comes very close to their spot they decide to slide away and up to another branch and it looks as if both of them are able to escape, despite a rain of stones and many attempts to hit them with a catapult or a large stick. After this some caregivers decide to cut a branch of a tree when the snake moved there (even more than one branch) and actually soon after that the Cobra falls down, together with the branch. All sticks immediately hit the snake firmly and fast on its head. Big celebration, one snake is killed, but that evening and night some people sleep less comfortable, for where has the other snake gone…….?
The next day, same time as yesterday. This time it’s Joyce, who spots the grey-white Viper, surprisingly almost at the same spot as the previous day. Once again a lot of commotion, but this time one decides to act smarter. A crooked nail is fixed at the end of a large stick and whilst cheering loudly (but the cheering is mixed with the sound of fear) they succeed in pulling down the snake and very fast and without mercy all the sticks hit the head of the snake. In the body of the snake a swelling can be seen, most probably caused by a little bird swallowed by the snake some time earlier.

Two big snakes in just 2 days, what a score! Triumphantly they show the snakes to everyone while carrying them around and that night all will sleep well. Or would there be a third snake……..?
Jeannette and I are now looking a bit differently to the beautiful bamboo branches just above our inner courtyard…....!

Charity, our wonderful hostess
(8th July 2011)

Is there any reader of this column who doesn’t know our wonderful hostess Charity? She is working with us already for more than 8 years now and while working, she saw an great number of mainly European visitors and volunteers passing by. And all of them became very familiar with her beautiful smile, her captivating friendliness, her great helpfulness and her wonderful cooking and besides that many enjoyed her special qualities as a singer as well!
Charity Asabea Donkor, as her full name is, first completed Secondary school and a short computer course before joining her father in his drugstore in her hometown Nkwabeng for some time. Through her friend Sophia, by then a caregiver, she heard about Hand in Hand, and after some time, in May 2003, she finally got the responsibility for the Communication Centre (being a fixed telephone line where she had to go and call a person when there was a call, plus one computer and on and off internet) as well as for the shop (where by then mainly some clothes were sold). Soon after that she also became the one in charge of the restaurant and the guesthouses (by then 6) and all together that was a heavy job, initially doing all on her own, including cleaning of the guesthouses and washing the bed sheets. The first phase of the sheltered workshop was also realised in the restaurant.

From 2006 on some major changes were seen. The mobile phone became also in Ghana very popular and the Communication Centre disappeared, In town PCC started the Araba Internet Café and a big new sheltered workshop was realised elsewhere on the PCC compound.
In addition to all other jobs Charity became a caregiver as well in 2006, for M’Adwoa, for who she has been caring since her arrival in Nkoranza with special dedication.
The number of guesthouses and guests increased more and more and the same happened to the number of children in the Community. In the restaurant Charity got an assistant, the first one being Mercy and since 2010 it is Josephine.

During the first period preparing food for guests from Europe was quite exciting for Charity, as there is a major difference between Ghanaian and European food. Step by step (writing this down goes much faster than things actually went in reality, once in a while there were some tears of frustration and feeling of incapability!) Charity managed to become familiar with the favourite dishes of visitors (including pancakes and French toast!) and she also learned very well how to deal with the many, sometimes even demanding guests.
With her great charm she was able to solve almost every problem that came up quick and smoothly.

A very special quality of Charity is her singing. As a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church she loves to speak and sing about her belief and her trust in Jesus. Without any fear she will sing solo in church and regularly she will also sing some beautiful Ghanaian gospels for guests of Hand in Hand in a appealing way. In 2010 Martin (remember, the moviemaker of the beautiful PCC information DVD) recorded some wonderful songs of Charity and produced a special DVD for her, a great gift that made her very proud!

Charity is a real family person, her mother and grandmother will come to visit her here once in a while. As a true family person she really feels at home in our Community. Working at PCC has been very inspiring to her, she has learned here some important lessons for life and her friends frequently say to her that she often behaves “like a white lady”.
For many guests Charity is a very important and recognisable positive face from Hand in Hand, through that she nowadays has got friends and acquaintances over the whole world and many guests like to return to PCC. Charity obviously knows how to deal with the various national characters of our guests, she is able to recognise German, English, Belgian of Dutch guests very well, looking to their way of communicating and presenting.

During her 8 years Charity has witnessed many changes in PCC and she also saw many new children coming. But according to her one thing has remained the same over the years: the Spirit of PCC! She considers this to be a gift of God, the Grace of God and she invites everyone to come and experience this very special Spirit of the Peace of Christ Community once yourself. You are invited!
Those who will respond to this invitation can be assured of a very cordial reception and a wonderful care by this wonderful hostess. We are proud of her already for years. Would it be a coincidence that such a special hostess of our Community carries a name that suits wonderfully well with all that PCC stand for?
PCC is a very special Charity an the special hostess Charity is very much a genuine part of PCC!!

The beautiful smile of Kwame Addai
(27th June 2011)

Kwame Addai is living with us already for 2½ years and still he is one of the youngest residents of Hand in Hand. He came to PCC very young, may be 2 or 3 years old, who knows? He was transferred from Osu Children’s Home in Accra and from the very first moment on he was the pet of the Community and soon also of many visitors. Not only because he was (and is) just a nice little boy, but in particular because of him showing his charming smile without any hesitation to everyone. Ineke Bosman described it at that time like this: “Why anybody on earth would abandon a boy with an angelic smile like that is beyond our understanding”!
Abandoned he was, but Kwame Addai has forgotten about that since long, as he gets a lot of attention in Hand in Hand every day again and he really enjoys. May be sometimes it’s even too much, for our little Kwame Addai doesn’t like it when he doesn’t get it his way, he then will look glum and if that doesn’t work he will cry out heartbreakingly.

Kwame has intellectual disabilities and he can’t speak, so you have to understand from his gestures and his facial expression what he wants or what is going on. But don’t worry, he knows for long how he can express this well, through simple gestures of his hands and with a longing glance or with a beautiful smile he will make things very clear to you. Example:
when he is moving his hand horizontally to left and right with a sort of pushing gesture, then he would like to have a small little car, one of his passions! Unfortunately he is not very good in keeping good possession of it, so there is a big chance he will be back at you very soon, when he got that little car from your. For he will definitely not forget you were the one giving him such a beautiful toy!

It’s not only playing that Kwame enjoys, he also like to investigate every object that he meets conscientiously, from bottom to top and from left to right, he will push and pull a little, he will touch and try to get to the bottom of it, it’s beautiful watching this young researcher.
Last year Kwame was baptised in the church of the Community, nowadays he leads the prayers on and off silently over there. But we are convinced that this prayer will be heard in heaven.

Kwame’s muscles are rather weak, so he stumbles easily. He has a very characteristic posture with his knees a little bit bended, his buttocks backwards and the upper part of his body a bit forward. Luckily enough his motory system has well developed, as a result of all physiotherapeutic exercises worked out for him in 2009 by the Movendi people, exercises which are still practised with him every morning.

The posture of Kwame while eating is also very striking, he holds his head backwards, like little birds do when fed, with his mouth open and upwards, to enable the food to slip inside his mouth nicely. Paul Agyapong, the workshop coordinator, is assisting him often when he is eating, also for Paul Kwame is a very special child. After eating you can easily detect from his shirt what kind of food he got, for Kwame is slobbering a little, but for him it doesn’t matter.

For about one year Kwame Addai has a new passion: dancing during a PCC party. At first he was “dancing” solo in a inimitable way, jumping, laying down, running, falling, standing and shaking, well aware that he has attracted everyone’s attention. Part of his dance can be seen on the Hand in Hand DVD that all sponsors received from us last year. Nowadays at party’s he will dance together with Kwame Ayim, another boy with a weak motory system and with a beautiful smile. A splendid couple! PCC party’s do have many highlights, but Kwame & Kwame is definitely one of these.

When playing Kwame Addai proves to have a rather good memory, we can notice that for instance when he plays Memory. Apart from that he enjoys running against other children en even when he looses (which happens very often) he will reward all spectators with a beautiful laugh! Like almost all children, Kwame likes to play with balls and balloons, he was and is a enthusiastic player during junior football matches. And of course he enjoys the one hour pool time every afternoon, a great pleasure for him!

Kwame Addai is a lovely child, it is true a child with some disabilities, but most of all he is a very beautiful youngster. It’s a pity that his parents and family can not enjoy him any more after abandoning him and it’s wonderful we in Hand in Hand can! And it’s great that he is able to enjoy life in Hand in Hand so much already for some years now, every day again and he is rewarding all of us for that daily with his beautiful smile!

Moses
(17th of June 2011)

In 2003 a policeman found a baby in a plastic bag in the streets of Bawku in Northern Ghana. This baby was prematurely born and appeared to suffer from brain damage, probably this had been the reason why he had been put into this plastic bag. He was called Moses and spent a whole year in Bawku Hospital before he was transferred to a public orphanage in Tamale.
From there he was transferred again a year later in 2005 to Hand in Hand, so he has been living here now for almost 6 years.

When he came to PCC he was a small toddler (see his pictures of 2006 and 2007) and he could not walk, just shuffle. He was able to cry very loudly and he did so regularly from the start! Fortunately, Hand in Hand proved to be just the right place for him, within months he learnt to walk properly in spite of his limitations and slowly but steadily he felt better at home. In the mean time the small toddler has turned into a lively and happy 8-year-old boy. The difference with the photo’s taken in 2006 and 2007 speaks volumes!

Moses, Nov. 2006	Moses, March 2007	Moses, Jan. 2011

Moses hardly speaks, but he is able to make crystal clear what he wants by gesticulation and producing different sounds and of course by his playful mimicry. His right side shows symptoms of paralysis, e.g. he can barely use his right hand, however, his left hand more so! With his left hand he is able to point out important things to him or to drum rhythmically, he can even slap a person with it if he finds it necessary!
His best friend, or should I say brother, is Jerry Ema with whom he has lived together in Caregiver Jerry’s house for years. Nowadays he is living at Caregiver Diana’s house together with Regina and Lisa. Although they are not living together in one house, Jerry Ema still is Moses’ special companion!

Moses belongs to a considerably notable group of young boys in our Community, with a.o.Jerry Ema, KwabenaTewiah, Michael, Stephen, Kojo Patrick and others. These are boys who can play around intensively with each other, preferably with a small ball or something. Of course when things tend to go wrong, there is discord amongst them and we can hear Moses - just like before - crying out loud, especially when he thinks injustice has come to him.
These boys are all - apart and together - able to draw the attention of visitors, they take care that it is obvious to everybody that they live here and as such, that they want sufficient attention: they take your hand, jump onto your lap and they simply ask for your Coke, your sunglasses, a balloon, a toy car or something else attractive. For venturesome boys like Moses a lot of things are very tempting.

Moses seems to enjoy his life in Hand to Hand, most of the time he seems to radiate happiness, sometimes he is a little naughty. He attends Shalom Special School near PCC in the morning and during the afternoon he joins the games, the colouring and LEGO building. Of course he prefers playing with toy cars or anything resembling this.
Without using any words he effortlessly uses you to do difficult jobs for him, like putting on his shoes. He simply sticks them up in front of you and puts on his sad face. You just cannot resist such a face!
Moses’ physical exercise for the right side of his body is still very useful, for instance he trains his muscles by kicking a ball regularly and still more skilfully. A football game with the other younger boys of PCC is a fantastic treat for him!

How wonderful it is to watch children like Moses develop from pathetic little creatures into lively and happy human beings. We hope to be able to help him develop even further in the coming years. It will not be for want of his energy, his happiness and his enjoyment of life.
Moses, a lively boy in a wonderful Community! Life must be as wonderful for him as it was for the biblical Moses in Egypt. His bad start in life in an ark of bulrushes in the river Nile turned into the good life at Pharaoh’s court and after that period a much greater future still awaited him.
We hope to help our Moses find his way through life. Some time ago his start was very difficult, his present life is very pleasant and hopefully he will enjoy a wonderful future in our Community for many years!

Good Structure
(7th June 2011)

Today I would like to disclose one of the secrets of PCC ….. good structure!
A column about structure, you would not think that would be very interesting, but structure is very important to PCC.
The children and young adults of PCC have completely different backgrounds, as far as we know anything about their backgrounds at all. However, how different or unknown their backgrounds may be, “neglect” and “abandonment” are key themes. Whereas children without the right or with the wrong attention will not learn to develop socially themselves, this can hardly be expected of children with mental limitations.
In the course of the years a great amount of attention has been given to a good structure in our Community, one that especially offers peace and quiet and clarity. PCC’s structure is well-considered and not coercive, it offers the desired rest and clarity, which are just those things to hang on to, if necessary. Our visitors do not know much about PCC’s background but it is immediately obvious to everybody that a clear and well-structured programme is offered to all residents all day through.
It is an important aspect of the “Spirit” of PCC.

What does this programme more or less look like?
Well, each morning most of the residents wake up between half past 5 and 6 o’clock. For the older boys it is time for raking up dirt and fallen leaves and sweeping the ground afterwards at different spots in the compound. Each boy has his allocated spot to keep clean.
Most others wash and dress for the new day. At exactly 7 o’clock each day the whistle blows, this is the sign for nearly everybody to start their daily walk. For some it means an hour of physiotherapy and for the older boys half an hour of soccer and afterwards a bath to wash off their early physical exertion.
At 8 o’clock everybody joins for breakfast and there is no need to urge anybody on to sit at his or her own place at one of the breakfast tables, all bellies are rumbling.

After breakfast has been eaten, the day programme starts. The programme differs for separate groups, but everybody knows exactly what to do.
About ten children join the Music Group, these are the children with a lot of limitations. A few caregivers play cheerful and happy music or they sing some well-known songs to them.
Another and large group of our children goes to the Shalom Special School in the morning. In their school uniforms they proudly walk the short distance from our gate to the next, that of the Shalom Special School.
Nearly all young adults go to the sheltered workshop in the morning and during the first part of the afternoon. Except for the fact that they thread necklaces and weave cloth, they have a lot of fun together.
Next to the sheltered workroom Nana Yaw’s Paradise is situated, this is the room where about ten autistic youngsters spend their morning in peace and quiet with each half-hour a different, fixed part of a predictable programme and this is what autists like!

At different places in the compound there are groups of smaller children, i.e. Daycare 1 or Daycare 2. Also these groups have their own fixed programmes, those children know exactly what they will be doing and they enjoy this very much.

Meanwhile various children receive extra attention via the Special Attention Programme, our volunteers work with those children individually for half-an-hour, they do so in a way which suits each child. The volunteers are able to give their love and care, use their talents, creativity and energy in the Special Attention Programme, in this way they are able to be someone special for every child. They are deeply touched when they have been working with particular children for some months. For many of them it is difficult having to leave and say goodbye!

The morning programme takes till about half past 12, then it is time for a good lunch and until 3 o’clock a siesta is taken, then all young children sleep together in one room. A wonderful sight!

The programme for the afternoon starts at 3 o’clock, each weekday everybody joins in one activity. Activities vary each day, e.g. colouring together, playing in the playground, doing games, building with Lego bricks etc. Like all children our children enjoy these activities to the full!
At 4 o’clock the highlight of the day: one hour of free play in the swimming pool. What a delight!
Dinner is served at 5 o’clock, which is concluded with a song plus drumming by Kofi Asare. After Mr Robert’s final prayer everybody is sprawling in front of the television to watch some programme or a movie for a while.
At 8 o’clock everybody prepares for the night and after 9 o’clock PCC is plunged into peace and quiet, everybody is dreaming of a beautiful day, again, thanks to the typical and structured day programme of Hand in Hand.
Long live lovely programmes and …… long live good structure!!

Afia
(27th of May 2011)

In my last column I have written about Bright, one of the best-known and outgoing residents of Hand in Hand. Today I will tell you about somebody who is quite the opposite of Bright: Afia.
She has been living in Hand in Hand for almost eleven years. She came here after a yearlong stay at a psychiatric clinic in Accra. Nothing further is known about Afia, neither the reason why she was admitted into this clinic nor for how long she has stayed there. Certainly, this stay hasn’t been one of Afia’s best periods in life.
She stayed in this hospital together with a.o. Abena who came to Hand in Hand in 2001 just a year later than Afia.
Afia is about 25 years of age now and very autistic. She doesn’t speak at all, she is very stiff in the limbs and she walks very cautiously. That is why she doesn’t stand out among the often much livelier children of Hand in Hand. For a few years she lived together with Boadu and Mariella, both autistic as well, at caregiver Perpetua’s house, but since January 2011 she has been living at caregiver Hannah’s. Because of this change Afia is living together with her old friend Abena again. This, however, isn’t cause for much exuberance with both. Obviously, this behaviour doesn’t suit them very much. The change does seem to do her good, although this is hard to judge with someone like Afia.

During the daytime Afia spends most mornings at Nana Yaw’s Paradise together with about ten other, older autistic children. Nana Yaw’s Paradise is near the sheltered workshop. These children have their own programme of music, ballgames, creative art and physical exercise etc. This is not the easiest work done in our Community and we admire those caregivers who do this work each and every day very much.

There are a few things in Afia’s life which are very important to her, these are e.g. food and music. Because she doesn’t speak we have to read her (limited) facial expression to know how she feels.
When Afia doesn’t feel well, she might show this by not (or barely) eating. It is most difficult then to make her even take a little bite. About a year ago we were much worried about her, because she lost a lot of weight and her health was impaired. Fortunately, Afia started eating again after a period of much love and attention shown to her by her caregivers. She has even gained some weight. Afia’s favourite food is fufu, which is not a surprise, because many residents of Hand in Hand share this partiality.

Her facial expression is limited, unfortunately, but to the good observer it is obvious when she is in a good mood or when she is enjoying herself. And she is when she is listening to music. When Afia is in a good mood during parties or when Kofi Asare is performing his music she can enjoy it intensely, standing almost motionless, swaying her hips a little to the rhythm of the music with a soft smile on her face. When this is happening we know that she is doing fine.

However, Afia can be really angry, sometimes for some unknown reason. Most of the time this happens when Afia feels she has to do something she absolutely does not want to do and in her anger she might slap or push somebody! Often her anger suddenly changes into sorrow and it almost hurts to see her grieving face. It is difficult to reach out to her then and uplift her mood. Fortunately, there are some people like Joyce and Joe Ema, who can reach Afia with their caressing strokes and who can calm her down in that way.

However difficult life is for autistic children, it seems that the Community is a good place to live for most of them. This is – and it makes us very happy - what we hear from experts on autism from England and The Netherlands, like Sue, Elizabeth and Corinne. We are grateful for their valuable and much appreciated advice. We also admire their dedication to the care of autistic children and we are grateful for their love for PCC.
It is also inspiring us to continue working at an appropriate environment for children like Afia. Afia will not ever propagate this, but when she is showing her incidental soft smile it will be a huge reward to us.

A Bright boy
(16th May 2011)

I’m sure I will please many readers by giving this time some extra attention to Bright, a well-known resident of Hand in Hand.
For Bright happens to be for many years already a waiter in our restaurant and through this work he has made a lot of friends with the PCC visitors. Often he has been the first resident of PCC who they met, when he opened the gate of the Community with a big smile, welcoming the visitors with a broad gesture!
In fact Bright is an exception on the rule that we only accept a child in Hand in Hand, when there are really no relatives who can take care of that child. We mainly function as a last resort for those children, who don’t have any perspective except for Hand in Hand. But Bright still has both his parents.
Bright is now 18 years, comes from Nkoranza. He has the syndrome of Down and his parents are proud of their son. We are very happy that such an attitude can also be noticed in Ghana!

Everyone in Nkoranza knows Bright, be it the business man, the pastor, the MP (= the member of parliament) or whoever. Without any fear Bright always steps up to everyone to start a conversation, frequently with the short, but very clear sentence: “I like you”!! He will say this very firm and with a ravishing smile.
Initially in 2007 Bright came as a new worker to our sheltered workshop, after first visiting the Shalom Special School (next to PCC). He stayed in the PCC workshop only during daytime, every evening he would walk back to his house in the village. But when going home he easily could hang about somewhere for quite some time, especially where many people were gathering, for example at a funeral or in a bar.
In the workshop he was not very successful with the concentrated work to make necklaces etc, Bright is much too playful and lively for that kind of precise work. For this reason he was transferred after some time to the restaurant, to assist there and may be even to be trained and become a waiter. That worked out quite well, as Bright proved to love this type of work and especially making contacts with all guests. For that he is also loved by many guests. However, normally this work will go on into the evening hours and for that reason Bright needed to stay and sleep here and in this way he almost automatically created a nice, permanent place for himself at PCC!

What makes the work in the restaurant for Bright so pleasant, of course, is not only serving the food, but especially clearing away the plates, which are frequently not entirely empty. He does not start with taking the empty plates, he preferably will take the plates with left-over and then eat this food himself with taste. If he is serving guests with someone else, e.g. with Ayuba or Daniel, then the left-over food is honestly divided and after that both of them will sit down and really enjoy. However, those guests who have eaten all their food, will sometimes get a blaming glance. The food might be very nice, but of course eating all is not what you are supposed to do ….! Fortunately Charity frequently keeps some food in the kitchen, so when you look to the belly of Bright, it proves he is doing very well….!

Bright can soften almost everyone through his spontaneity and his happy face, his cordiality and his firm hugging, a hug from Bright might take all your breath! However, sometimes he is disturbed, being angry or dissatisfied and then he can look very surly, but fortunately that never lasts long.
Nowadays Bright has understood very well that decisions on important matters are frequently taken during a meeting. Therefore from time to time he will ask me for a meeting, especially when he wants to arrange something for himself. It’s always a short and pleasant meeting, he will argue in glowing terms and even tell me with whom I should look into his case as well. And don’t make the mistake to forget about it, because the next day he certainly will come back to you!

If you would like to say something to Bright, whereas he rather prefers at that moment to speak himself, then it will sound hard and unrelentingly: “Stop” or “Stop, enough”!
It will be clear, with Bright you never have a dull moment, also not when he is now a bit older. In this phase of his life e.g. he discovers his sexuality and we try to steer this into good channels. We are happy that he remains always well accessible, however that is not the same as always listening very well ......!
Because Bright knows Nkoranza very well, he is very keen on driving with us when we are going to town by car, e.g. for buying good or going to the internet café. As proud as a peacock sits he will sit in front of the car, waving and calling to all fellows and they are many, because Bright has a lot of friends, in Hand in Hand, in town and over the world!
So we are very happy with our Bright boy and his Bright ideas!

Joe Ema
(5th May 2011)

Some time ago I told you about Baffo, the big Arranger of our Community, today I like to direct all spotlights to Emmanuel Daasebre, our care coordinator, better known as Joe Ema or Ema 1. He works with us for about 12 years, at first as one of the caregivers, now he is one of the two Ghanaian Board members of Hand in Hand (the other one is Baffo)!
Ema is of great importance to the Community, especially for the supervision on the good care, given by the caregivers, as well as for the discipline and the atmosphere.
When coming here in 1999, Ema was a quiet, even rather silent and very modest young Ghanaian. He was very impressed by the fact that Ineke Bosman, someone from Europe, committed herself so much to abandoned children with intellectual disabilities in his country Ghana and for that reason he decided to dedicate himself to these children.
And that’s what he did and still does already for years now, always in an outstanding way. Ema did not get any special training for this, in fact such kind of training is not available in Ghana, but he is a highly gifted man. He has the ability to think and feel fully from a child’s point of view and when doing so he also knows how to take best possible actions. Without doubt he is structured by caring for the children in our Community for years, it seems as if he knows all of them thoroughly. In one glance he will see if they are doing well or not and through his great experience he has a lot of possible interventions or actions at his disposal to make a child feel better.

Especially small matters will catch his attention. An typical advice of Ema could be: go and take this child separate and try to sing softly some songs for and with him or her, try to give this child a feeling of love and immediacy by touching the child through gentle caressing head or arm, go and take this child out of the group to eat separately and see if it will eat all its food and not just cry or watch the other children continuously.
Ema has a perfect feeling for the best matches between caregivers and children, he has a sharp eye for the good and lesser qualities of each caregiver and faultlessly he will know which caregiver will be best for each child of Hand in Hand

Ema is very much involved with the good functioning of the day programme for all children, e.g. in the Daycare, the Special Attention or in Nana Yaw’s Paradise, the area for autistic children. He pays special attention to the good interaction of caregivers and volunteers with the children, to the present or absent enthusiasm and also to the timely coming and starting. That might sound rather normal to Europeans, but you have to understand that this kind of supervision is very attentive in Ghana. Ema however is a very special person, when meeting him you will notice his warm commitment, you will see his kind and supervising glance over all that is happening in the Community and even when he is not there, he will use his cell phone to stay in touch with the care in PCC. Truly a care coordinator!

Recently his wife came from Techiman to live with him on the PCC compound, together with their daughter and that is a reassuring feeling! Their child is a lovely girl of about 3 years with the sweet-sounding name: “Catharina Bosman”! This also shows how much he identifies himself with the Community. Ema is not only active at PCC, but also works as theatre assistant in Nkoranza hospital, so we can easily conclude that he has two jobs. He is a very occupied person, but is always there when it’s necessary!
Ema will speak at party’s and meetings regularly without any hesitation, though he speaks softly, but he prefers to speak, together with others, by making music. He is a true member of the Kofi Asare music group and loves to play enthusiastically on the drums. He then will shine and enjoy, as we on our turn enjoy him and his great dedication to PCC every day again. Joe Ema is a huge support for everyone and we are very grateful for his great love for and commitment to the children of Hand in Hand.

If you might visit our Community once, please don’t forget to greet Ema cordially and praise him for the good and important work he is doing with lots of love. Ema is still young, only 34, but a great man and of enormous importance for PCC.
So we hope he will remain to be for years to come our support and shield for the good care in Hand in Hand. May God continue to bless his work for the children of PCC.

Tettey no more “child of the hospital”
(25th April 2011)

Is this really true, a child that was kept in a hospital cot for almost 5 years after his birth without any medical reason? Yes, these kind of undesirable situations are still existing.
In August 2010 a Dutch volunteer, Thea, approached us after working for one month in a hospital in Ghana. There she had met a child and interested herself in his behalf. By then Kwame Tettey was 4 and now he is almost 5 years old. Tettey was born in that Hospital in the Eastern Region with some disabilities, both intellectual and physical. Unfortunately the mother soon took a French leave and apparently the father is not able to care for this child. Apart from his disabilities Tettey is not ill, though he has a rather serious scoliosis (= oblique position of the back) and there are doubts about his eyesight. The religious sisters of the Hospital, most of them almost 80 years old (!), have been taking care of him for some years, keeping him in a small cot in the kitchen of Children’s ward, where they are feeding the child and that’s it. No one is playing with him, no one takes the child outside (even not the father!) and in no way his development is stimulated. This is not good for any child and certainly not for a child with an intellectual disability. So therefore Tettey is showing a serious backlog in development.

On request of the volunteer Tettey came out of the hospital cot to visit our Community during a weekend in October 2010, guided by his father. This father works as a labourer in that Hospital, in fact the nuns just sent him out and told him to visit our Community with his son. Tettey doesn’t talk, but he can imitate some sounds, he is too weak to stand up and eats only mashed food. He has a very special facial expression, sometimes he might even look up to you with a roguish gaze and he has a peculiar way of pulling his cheeks, then his eyes almost seem to fall out of his face.

The father has just one simple question for us when coming: if only we could see to it that Tettey would learn how to walk soon and could go to school, then all will be well and the father will then be able to take care of his own child……! We have taken quite some time to explain the actual situation of Tettey to the father and giving him a true perspective of the future of his son.
It doesn’t take long for us to conclude that Tettey will need a lot of attention, care and support, so we write to the Hospital that they should exercise actively and frequently with Tettey, they should take him outside more often and that he should get more varied food. We also inform them that we would like to see Tettey back after 6 months, that is April 2011.

And so it happens, after 6 months we get another phone call, this time from German volunteer Cathy, who is now working in the same Hospital and with some other volunteers she has taken a pity on Tettey, like Thea did. Ultimately she travels to PCC on 1st April this year, together with Tettey and the father.
During that day we start to observe the situation and the development of Tettey, but of course 1st April is not a good day for important decisions….!
So that’s what we do the next day, when it’s clear to us that the nuns are leaving the Hospital finally very soon and that the father is (and will stay to be) really incompetent to give any parental care.
So we decide that Tettey can stay and live with us and when we inform the father about our decision, volunteer Cathy burst out into tears of happiness, she identified herself so much with the fate of Tettey.
That evening we introduce Tettey to the whole Community and in the same minute a heavy rainfall pours down, for sake of convenience we take that as a Blessing from Heaven and as a token for the good future of Tettey in Hand in Hand.
We will try our best to make him stronger, after almost 5 years the weight of this child is less than 10 kg! May be one day we will see him walking here on his own. Emma, our care coordinator, is very confident and the whole PCC Community presses Tettey to the heart. He soften everyone’s heart, that is for sure!
The next morning Tettey goes to church, probably for the first time in his life, in this case the PCC church and there he enjoys the happy music, all the attention of other children and many caregivers and he loves the warm sun on his head! For now Christiana is his caregiver and her mother’s instinct is flourishing when caring for Tettey.

As long as children with an intellectual and physical disability are neglected even in a hospital in such a way as happened to Tettey, then Ghana still has a long way to go concerning good care for the disabled!
Tettey is finally “freed” from the hospital after 5 years and we say to him: Akwaaba, very welcome in your new family, in your first Home. May you become very happy in this Community!

Opening Education Centre PCC!
(12th April 2011)

Friday 8th April finally the occasion was there: we could celebrate the official and festive opening of the new Education Centre with a holiday full of special activities. And it proved to be a wonderful day!
Last year October the G 8 group from Groningen, Holland, came to PCC to start the construction of this Education Centre and since they left all 4 constructions have been completed. We bought quite some nice new furniture and, even more important, we also obtained a lot of educational materials, interactive games etc.

What exactly is this Education Centre?
In this new centre we like to give extra attention to the specific and individual development of all children, using fitting educational tools for special education. We also try to stimulate even more the mutual cooperation and the good development of the children with interactive game, with simple (picture)books for reading and writing and with other tools. Last but not least we are also offering special education by using computer supported language- and calculating games.
We have received some great support from many resources for realising the centre and for equipping and obtaining the necessary tools. Apart from G 8 we like to mention the foundation Sport & Spel from Maasland, the foundation Madamfo from Holland, Mrs. Sue Hatton and Elizabeth Atfield from England, Kylee Abrahamson from Canada and when writing all these names I probably have forgotten some other persons and organisations.
Attention for education and individual development is not a new activity in PCC, but this centre is an important expansion of what we were already able to offer the children in this field and so we are very happy with this new centre. Thanks a lot to all donors!

In the morning Rev. Benneh inaugurated and consecrated the 4 new buildings in a typical RC way with holy water (I don't think the Protestants have a similar ritual for this), after he first asked God for His Blessings on this new centre. When all were cheering the 4 ribbons were cut one by one and so from now on PCC will enjoy having a splendid Education Centre!
Of course there was no need for the children to study the whole day very hard, in the programme was quite some time reserved for all kind of festive activities.

Among others there was a football match of the younger children and as the caregivers were stimulating and cheering their children at almost every contact with the ball, it all became a great spectacle! Paa Yaw, Agagi and Kwame Ayim were great goalkeepers, Bernice proved to be the best striker. The morning ended with an exciting and very lively hour of games between the children of Daycare 1 and Daycare 2, whilst Kofi Asare and his musical group were producing some good, stimulating music at the background (although, when I say background, I have to admit that one could hear the music quite well….)!

In the afternoon all children and Caregivers were introduced to and had lots of fun with the new materials and educational tools of the Education Centre. They did so in various small groups around the 6 new tables in the wonderful decorated Art Class (thanks, Miriam!) and in the familiar old Disco.
Everyone was very active e.g. by playing domino or by drawing or colouring, with building towers from blocks or playing with cars, when listening to reading to the children or puzzling together etc., even the colouring the path with side lane chalk was there.
When young most caregivers, like almost all children in Ghana, were probably hardly ever introduced to so many educational tools and interactive games and they visibly enjoyed all this as much as the PCC children enjoyed all the activities in the groups.

After so many efforts under the hot tropical sun a cool bath in the pool is really a great pleasure! We never saw so many people at the same time in the PCC pool, even Kojo Evans, Joyce, Charity, Janet and also Jeannette and I were present and we all enjoyed.
This day of celebrations would not have been a real celebration, if there would not have been a PCC party at the end and so it happened. This time the party was situated in front of the Education Centre and like always it was a typical PCC party, with lots of music and dancing and great contributions of the children. This time especially Bright impressed everyone with his excited dancing!

Exhausted, but satisfied everyone went to sleep in time after this day of celebrations and probably all were still dreaming for a long time about towers of building blocks tumbling or a Fan Icecream, about beautiful books for colouring or a delicious cool soft drink.
We are looking back on another wonderful and successful day in the already great history of PCC. We hope to see many more days like this in the future!

Difficult decisions
(2nd April 2011)

"Please, this disabled child has no parents any more and we can't care for it, so may be PCC can care for this child"?

Nowadays PCC – Hand in Hand is gradually better known in Ghana. This is good as it means that more attention is given to the need of good care for disabled children in the Ghanaian society, which is really not a luxury.
However, this also means that more often parents are approaching us with their disabled child, asking us for help, preferably by taking over the care for that child completely.

PCC however is mainly for disabled children, who are completely abandoned and were once left behind somewhere on the street, on a market, a beach or in a forest. So when parents show up at our gate with their disabled child, we observe the child quite well and try to advise the parents as good as possible about the best way to care for their child. At the same time we have to explain to them that we can't take over the care for their child. In this country almost everybody is a member of a church, so we underline that God has given this special child in their care. We know this task is not always easy and therefore we praise them a lot for their dedication. We also say that what we are offering children at PCC is the same as they are already giving to their own child: much love and care, no ignorance but rather positive attention and, depending on the disability, exercising regularly. At the end we also inform them that when the child is a bit older it might be a good candidate for working in our sheltered workshop.
Most parents do understand our reaction, they accept it and are glad with the appreciation they have received from us for the way they care for their child. Some even become more inspired when seeing what is done to disabled children in our Community.

On the other side frequently some people will come and present a child to us, telling all kind of moving stories, e.g. that the mother died and the father disappeared or died as well, that they have cared for the child for some time, but that the task is too heavy for them to bear. Unfortunately we can not believe everyone just on their word. Some people are informing others that when presenting a child to PCC, they by all means should tell us that the parents of the child have died or disappeared, otherwise surely we will not accept the child. So people are telling all kind of special and sad stories and how can we know the truth?

This leads to difficult discussions. Of course we do understand the need of parents or family members, but PCC would be overcrowded when we would take over the care for all disabled children from everyone. Soon there would be no place for those disabled children, who have nobody to care for them and are abandoned.
Therefore we emphasize very much the own responsibility of parents and family members for their children.

Last week two men came to our Community with the small boy Edmond. They said his mother died soon after his birth and the father also had died after a car-accident. They also told us that the parents were strangers to them, just labourers in their village and no one knew who they were!?? But…… the child resembles one of the men introducing Emond to us very much. After a long talk he admits that he actually is a family member, being the brother of the deceased father, but only recently they discovered that Eddy was a "witch" and they believe the boy has caused a serious car-accident through witchcraft. Nobody in the village is willing to have contact with this slightly disabled child of about 8 years any more.

We had some difficult discussions, also in the Board. There is family available and they are able to cater for him, so in fact we prefer no to accept the child for PCC. But what will happen to the child in that case? Baffo and Emma fear for his life, they are convinced that there will be no place where the child can go and live safely! Final decision: Edmond will stay with us for some time and a delegation from PCC will go to the village to examine carefully all facts and backgrounds and speak with the family, the pastor and the Chief. To be continued.

A junior-mother comes with the very spastic, 5 year old Mary and she says that the real mother has died. Could we help and may be admit the child in our Community? We decided to observe mother and child for one day and we noticed that this woman is caring very well for the child, we could not offer so much extra. The serious disability is there and will not disappear any more. We try to explain this to her, we give advices about various exercises she could do at home and we promise to help her to get a handy buggy for Mary. Grateful the lady and Mary go back home to their village, about 6 hours from our place!

We wish every child could live in a warm and tender home, like PCC. But our possibilities are limited, there is only one PCC in the whole of Ghana. So regularly we have to take difficult decisions, like this week with Edmond and Mary. We pray for wisdom.
The phone rings again to announce the coming to PCC of the disabled 5 year old Tettey, who was observed here for one weekend 6 months ago. But more about this another time……!

New resident in PCC: Edmond	examining Mary	A happy Edmond in PCC)

Back home!
(22nd March 2011)

We are back in Ghana again after staying in Holland for 2 months, back in Hand in Hand and it is great to see and meet all the children again. We are also proud to notice that here in PCC all seems to go well. Last Friday when entering the compound we were welcomed immediately by a large group of children and caregivers, for us that was wonderful and heart-warming. Obviously the news that Albert and Jeannette had arrived was spreading quickly, in no time the majority of the children came to the entrance to give us a very, very warm welcome, e.g. Pakor and Kwame Evans, Ahmed and Jerry Ema, M'Afia Harriet and Dede, Daniël and Kwaku, John Papa and Joyce and many others. Even Shalomina came walking fast behind her rollator (she was even doing some steps on her own!!), shouting "Hello, hello" all the time. What a welcome!

After a few quiet days in the weekend the new week started this Monday. We have the intention of doing all kind of things on this first day, but around 12 noon rather suddenly a big rainstorm is rising, heavier than many people here have experienced in years. Though we are now in the middle of the tropics, even real big icy hailstones are coming down!!
For hours we endure heavy downpour, together with serious blasts of wind and all activities come to a complete standstill. Everyone is looking for a place to hide and when found, there is not much more to do than just patiently waiting for the rain to stop. Caregiver Samuel uses the opportunity to pick up some of the bats that came down during the downpour and later on this will give him (and several others) a nice roasted delicacy!

Big branches and even complete trees are breaking under this violence of nature. One big trunk falls on the roof of the house of Mr. Ameyaw, Ntiamoah and Koo Ema, which house was constructed by the G 8 in 2008. More than half of the roofing sheets are damaged. In many other houses the water is entering everywhere, through smaller and bigger holes, some parasols used for the dining tables gave out and also the power breaks down rather soon. Later we found out why: the adjacent hospital compound has been hit by the storm even more than our compound, e.g. the roof of the hospital chapel was completely blown off, also the roof of some of the staff quarters and some trees falling down have caused serious damage to the electricity cable network at various places, so this means it will take some time before we will have supply of electricity again.

Inevitable this afternoon our thoughts are carried to Japan for some time. After 2 hour of this violence of nature the rainstorm stops and we can start cleaning. We are then trying to imagine how much worse the people in Japan were recently hit by the tsunami.

There are big branches and many, many leaves all over the compound of Hand in Hand. So immediately the afternoon programme is changed into a big operation "cleaning of the compound" and everyone contributes, even the smallest children are picking up the small branches and leaves and carry them away in a box or in a wheelbarrow. It's great to see, the whole Community is bursting from energy! The cooling down after this heavy rain is very pleasant, though the humidity has now risen till above 95 %!!

We are happy that the electricity network of Hand in Hand has weathered this storm and so we are able to switch on our generator early in the morning and at evening times for some hours, to have some power supply and for pumping up sufficient water in particular.

The next morning, after another strong rain, it appears that a big fallen tree is blocking the road to PCC for all cars, so all strong men from Hand in Hand start working hard with their axes and cutlasses to free the road and….to harvest some nice firewood at the same time!
Not far from there I met Rev. Fr. Benneh, the hospital chaplain, completely upset by the serious damage to his chapel. He shows me the serious effect of the storm to the church, which was his pride until yesterday. But at the same time he informs me that the church services will continue, though at a different venue, a spacious area of the OPD. To know how to improvise, that is a real strength of the Ghanaians and in fact they have to do so in a world, that seems much more difficult to "control'' than the western world.

So we are back home again in our 2nd home, with all the beautiful children and hardworking people here at PCC, great to notice that they are doing well. We are also back in a world where the supply of water and energy can not be taken for granted so easily. We experience once again that the people in Africa have to live with the powers of nature far more than we do. We are Back Home!

Baffo, our man from Libya
(10th March 2011)

At present the whole world is almost breathlessly very much on top of the developments in Libya and so we are. In the sideline of the news about heavy internal fighting in Libya we regularly hear stories about the very difficult position of black Africans in this North-African Arab country. And then, almost automatically, in my mind the name of Samuel Baffo pops up. He is our Project and Building director and stayed for 3 years in this country, when looking for a bright future.
So this seems to be a perfect moment to give some well deserved extra attention to Samuel Baffo.

Samuel Baffo was the driver of the Nkoranza hospital and for many years he was driving Ineke Bosman, until at a certain day in 1989 he suddenly had disappeared. As was found out soon, he had gone for Libya and for him that meant, like for many other fortune seeking Ghanaians, a perilous crossing of the desert. Especially the end of that long, long journey proved to be very harsh and dangerous, when walking for days (nights) through the desert. Eventually he reached Libya, however many people do not survive such extreme travelling through the desert. By then for some time already Baffo was regretting his intention travelling to Libya, but there was no way back any more!
Definitely Libya is not a pleasant country for black Africans, they are discriminated heavily and unfortunately, as illegal workers, also frequently exploited. But the money in Libya is still tempting, up till today.

Baffo lived in Benghazi, it's the name of a place in east Libya which we hear at present almost daily. After 2 years of endurance, working hard and making money he wanted to return to Ghana, but when going to the airport he was robbed of all his money and goods. Then he had no other choice but to remain in Libya for another year to make some money again. Via Ghana and the Czech Republic he finally stayed for 2 years in Germany, where he, as an economic refugee, could not pass the asylum procedure. He was finally sent back to Ghana in 1994, but by then he had saved sufficient money to have his own house in Nkoranza and run a second-hand bus!
In 1996, he encountered Ineke Bosman in Nkoranza again and since then Baffo has been linked more and more to Hand in Hand.
In her book "To be a man is not easy" (this is a very profound truth!) Ineke Bosman noted down beautifully and truly the story of Baffo's journey to and stay in Libya plus the stories of other traffickers from Ghana to Libya.

For many years now Baffo is a very important worker for PCC. For more than 10 years he is a member of the Board of Hand in Hand, in particular he is in charge with the control of projects, which are generating some local income for the Community, such as the guesthouses and the Internet café.
But his tasks include much more. He has an important function in the financial monitoring, he is responsible for maintenance and renovation and supervises the construction of new buildings on the PCC compound. On behalf of PCC he maintains contacts with various authorities and he drives the Community car for all kinds of official trips to Techiman, Accra or Kumasi. In fact, Baffo is the big and indispensable Arranger of Hand in Hand.
And privately he is running a hotel and a small shop in Nkoranza, in short a real centipede!
Baffo has learned in his life that from time to time one should be able to say "No", he has a lot of prestige and authority and is respected everywhere. His dedication and experience are great and makes him very, very important for Hand in Hand.

In 2010, we have discovered yet an extra quality of Baffo. For years Baffo was hardly involved in the care for the children, he mainly ensured that others could offer this care very well.
After the retirement of Ineke we have discussed at length within the new Board the various responsibilities that we, as Board members, are sharing together for all aspects of the Community.
And see what happened: Baffo nowadays walks around nearly every day with some of the children and in particular with Michael he has developed a very special link, it's wonderful to observe. And obviously Baffo enjoys it, in this way he is even more involved in what really matters at PCC, caring very well for the children!

Samuel Baffo, our man from Libya and our big Arranger. We are glad that he, in earlier days, returned safely from Libya. We hope that we can benefit more for years to come from his great merits for Hand in Hand.
Baffo, you are doing a great job! Thanks a lot.

The Caregivers
(26 February 2011)

In information about the Hand in Hand Community we regularly mention "The Caregivers" and for that reason it seems to me to be a good idea to place this important group of people in the spotlights today. Of course without sufficient good carers we wouldn't be able to provide good care at PCC.
Unfortunately there is just no training facility in Ghana where young people might learn how to care for children with physical or intellectual disabilities. This definitely says something about how (un)important the Ghanaian society considers good care for children with a handicap.
Hand in Hand started very small and in the beginning only a few volunteers were active, who gladly assisted to provide continuous care for the children in the Community. Since then the Hand in Hand Community became much bigger, but we are very happy that the idea of a kind of voluntary dedication of Caregivers caring for the children of PCC has always remained. It is one of the big secrets behind the success of Hand in Hand.

The present 24 Ghanaian Caregivers formally still work as volunteers and they devote themselves voluntarily for not less than 7 x 24 hours per week (!!) for all necessary care, required in the Community and for some children in particular. They are acting as father or mother for 2 or 3 children and with these children they do live in one of the houses on the compound. They will receive free boarding and lodging at PCC as well as a reasonable allowance. Of course they don't consider this allowance as unimportant, but those who would consider coming only for that reason to PCC won't keep long, as we can see in practice. Here at PCC a huge appeal is made on their passion and compassion as well as on their enthusiasm and devotion and only young people, who have their heart at the right place, will make it for a longer period.

Roughly two groups can be distinguished among the Caregivers, namely a smaller group, with some women who are not so young any more and a larger group of youngsters, who just completed secondary school, young men and women looking for a job and moving on to their future.
Let's start with the first group, the group of the women, who often have been married earlier and then got some children of their own, but who are now widowed or divorced, such as Joyce, Janet, Perpetua, Christiana and Juliana 2. In the Ghanaian society (and as a matter of fact frequently also in other countries) life is not easy for a single woman with children. For this reason they often leave their own children with their mothers or a sister to go and try to find some work, among others to pay for the education and training of their children. This might be unimaginable in the eyes of many people coming from Europe or North-America, but it's the hard and daily practice in Ghana. Some of them are working here already for quite some years, such as Janet and Joyce, respectively 13 years 9 years. Together this first group of Caregivers forms a kind of backbone of PCC, an important group of hardworking, somewhat older and very experienced women, who are ready and happy to assist and advice the younger Caregivers.

The second group, those that completed secondary school recently, is largest. Ghana has many young people and fortunately also a relative good educational system. As a result, many young people leave school with a nice diploma and of course that in itself is very good. Unfortunately soon afterwards they will find out that getting a good job in Ghana is not so easy. For them PCC in general is a place to do something useful and for saving money at the same time, for example to further their education and they are doing so by caring very well for our children for some years. You should try to imagine yourself, what it means for young people when they, as a PCC Caregiver, are more or less stepping outside the society for a couple of years. They can't go for their sports or choirs every evening or just stand and chat with their friends at a favourite spot for young people. No small thing!

Luckily enough the Caregivers together are a very nice group at PCC, they have a lot of fun, are sharing their joys and sorrows together and also the workload from time to time, to enable each of them to go in turns to church or to family and friends in the village.
Without any hesitation we can state that working at PCC is a tough job, certainly for untrained and inexperienced young people. Not all children are calling for smiles at the faces of Caregivers all the time, some children really demand a lot from their attention and endurance. And nevertheless they succeed together in creating a very positive atmosphere, in good interaction with the children. By having a good time and making nice music they surely contribute a lot to the unique Hand in hand Community atmosphere. This could never be achieved if carers would come to work at PCC in shifts 3 x per day, if they would be on duty for 8 hours and then another group of carers would come in.

In this way Caregivers are an essential part of the philosophy behind Hand in Hand and they really make a great contribution, every day again. For that reason I would like to place them in the spotlights this time and to make them a huge compliment for their great and very important work for and with our children.
I therefore now call upon all readers to give a big round of applause for the caregivers and to yell: "You are doing a great job, we admire you"!! They in Ghana will then certainly know it and smile, it's in the air!

My name is Mabel Bosman
(16th February 2011)

Sometimes it takes a while before you notice certain things until suddenly you finally signalize it: something, that happened already so many times before, but apparently you never really noticed.
When going through all kinds of photographs of the children from Hand in Hand, I was looking for some beautiful pictures of Mabel and suddenly I noticed: we hardly have photo's with only Mabel. On almost all pictures she is seen together with someone else and suddenly I realised: this is exactly how Mabel is, always interacting with other children. Mabel is never alone, always she can be seen walking or playing with other children.

Mabel is a very nice girl of about 18 years with the syndrome of Down.
From time to time our caregivers are telling in all honesty that caring for children with multiple disabilities (= intellectual and physical) is a heavy task for them most of the time, so sometimes they sigh: if another child would come to join us in Hand in Hand, would it be possible that this could be a child with only the syndrome of Down .....?! That type of care is not so heavy and, also important, they find it easier to make contact with these children. For the good balance in the Community as a whole it is indeed very important that not only autistic children or children with complex disabilities are living here, but also some lively and extrovert children. Frequently this is how children with the syndrome of Down are, children like Bright, Ayuba, Dede and Mabel!

Mabel is living in PCC since 2006. Fortunately when she was young her mother took care of her very well and only few children from Hand in Hand can say the same. Her father died a long time ago and for years her mother worked as a cook in the Shalom Special school. This school was once founded by Hand in Hand and is situated just beside our compound. Unfortunately Mabel's mother died in 2006 and by then there were no other family members, who would or could take care of Mabel, so she came to live at PCC from that time on and she feels very much at home here. She is cared for very well by our caregiver Esther for some years now and together with M'Afia Harriet and Wumpini they are living as a small and happy family.

If you meet Mabel you will notice that she has a couple of standard expressions, which she likes to use. The first thing she will tell you when meeting her is her name: My name is Mabel, Mabel Bosman!
After that she will frequently inform you about the fact that she is Mabel and he is Ayuba (and then she will point out to him with a large gesture)! Apparently she has a soft spot in her heart for Ayuba, but we have the impression that this is not really a mutual feeling. Ayuba's heart is apparently very large, there is space for a lot of friends and girlfriends .....! But Mabel is not easily daunted about this, she still speaks with a radiant smile about Ayuba and on one of the photographs of this column you can admire the two of them, nicely together.
During daytime Mabel still visits the Shalom Special school and moreover she receives, just like several other children, some special, computer supported education. In practice she proves to be less rapid in learning new conceptions and skills, for her learning on a PC mainly means a nice coloured screen with nice sounds and beautiful pictures.
In the Community Mabel is always very active in a social way, it is her basis attitude in life. When eating, playing games, in the swimming pool or when giving some extra care and attention to the little ones of PCC, Mabel really cares for people.

Tip: if you would come on a visit to Hand in Hand once and would like to know the correct names of all the children, you better walk with Mabel for an hour. She will tell you all the time very accurately and emphatically about who is who. This will help you to learn the names of all children rapidly and in this way Mabel also assisted Jeannette and me in the summer of 2009 very well!

It can't be a coincident, that Mabel can be seen on the cover of the splendid new brochure with all kind of information about the Hand in Hand Community (NB: this brochure also can be downloaded, via Info in the Menu, then go to Brochure). Of course Mabel is not seen standing alone there, but together with someone else, in this case it is a splendid photograph of Mabel with Yaw Johnson (see: the photo of the week on the Homepage).
Mabel Bosman, a fine and social youngster, who is never walking on her won, she will always try to find someone else for walking together, literally she is always walking Hand in Hand!

Mabel and her computerclass	Mabel with Ayuba!

Our Music Master Kofi Asare
(6 februari 2011)

What an extraordinary man Kofi Asare is! Always cheerful, he is of great importance to our Community, as is apparent from his nickname: The Music Master!
Kofi is about 30 years old and he has been living in our Community for almost 14 (!) years. He arrived here in 1997 from Osu Children's Home in Accra and we know nothing about his personal history. Kofi suffers from a congenital disease of the nervous system, the Friedreich's ataxia, a disability to coordinate muscles. This disease is slowly but steadily progressing, causing irregular and clumsy movements of limbs and torso, resulting in a disturbance in his walking and a difficulty in maintaining his equilibrium. Besides, Kofi is mildly mentally disabled and visually handicapped.
These afflictions seem quite enough to depress a human being considerably, however, they do not depress Kofi in the least. He is a happy person and he enjoys his life to the full. He likes making jokes and he likes laughing heartily at them himself.
It is great that someone who is suffering from such neurological disorders can make such fantastic music. Kofi Asare is a master on the drums, as will be known by regular readers of this column, but he has many more talents, for instance he has a wonderful ear for music. When he hears a melody which is unknown to him, he is able to reproduce it on his (simple) keyboard in no time. Kofi has great rhythm and a beautiful low voice that is why he is able not only to play rhythmically on his drums, but also to sing loudly to this music in his own specific way. The number of his songs seems almost endless, making everybody wonder where on earth he has learnt them all!

Without doubt Kofi would have been a fine and musical reverend minister if he had not had his afflictions. When Mr. Robert was ill and not able to lead the daily prayer after dinner, Kofi took over and did so without effort and with verve. During the church services in PCC Kofi often leads in prayer most enthusiastically, his prayers being half-sermons, which would be quite suitable for an evangelic congregation. Kofi would pray for all kinds of subjects. Of course he would pray for the sick, as he would for wins for the Ghana Black Stars, fortunately, he would also pray for the PCC's management's blessing. It takes our breath away!

Ineke Bosman has taught Kofi that exercising is of great importance to him and he has remembered this lesson well. Each morning he walks the paths of Hand in Hand in his distinctive way and once in a while he exercises in the pool in the afternoon. It is easier for him to move around in the water, besides he enjoys being in the pool very much, just like he enjoys almost everything in his life.

Kofi lives semi-independently nowadays, he lives in a small cottage on the edge of the PCC site. Kofi is able to look after himself for the most important part: he showers and uses the toilet himself, he even does his own laundry. During the day he works at the sheltered workshop and there he always contributes to the good atmosphere. However, his real work starts when everybody else is having lunch! Who will be drumming for half an hour on end? Exactly, Kofi Asare will!

Highlights for Kofi are the musical performances by the Kofi Asare Music Group during PCC celebrations and church services and the accompanying of the PCC Christmas Choir and the Youth Choir during baptizing ceremonies. Best of all: Kofi Asare's performance as Koko the Clown at the start of many PCC celebrations. He is really looking forward to these occasions and you might see him - dressed-up - sitting back inside and waiting patiently for an hour before coming out and receiving the crowd's enthusiastic welcome. Everybody knows that when Koko appears it will be the start of another festive and musical celebration and all children love this. Imagine Kofi wobbling along in his brightly coloured wig, in his clown shoes, white grease-paint on his face and with a big cushion on his buttocks! Everybody will follow Koko, he is the one and only leader of the pack. Although some will envy his drums a little (e.g. Kame Agage will), Music Master Kofi Asare's unassailable authority on parties and music is inevitable. His contribution to the good atmosphere of the Hand in Hand Community and to the Spirit of PCC is huge and we are thankful that Kofi Asare lives with us. Hoping that we will be able to enjoy the special talents of Music Master Kofi Asare for many more years to come. Amen!

Stephen
(27th January 2011)

This time I like to tell a bit more about Stephen, a nice little chap of about 6 years, who lives with us for almost 3 years. Of course each child in Hand in Hand is a little bit different than the others, but that applies in particular to Stephen. However, the story about the first part of his life is very similar to the stories of so many of our children.
Stephen is born around 2004, with two clubfeet and it's likely that for this reason he was neglected from early childhood on. In 2006 he was found at a street in a village to the west from Kumasi, he was starved, dehydrated and had several infections. After an admission in a regional hospital he was transferred to the state orphanage in Kumasi but, just like in Kojo Joseph's case, - unfortunately – also that Home proved not to be the right place for Stephen. The caretakers over there didn't play with him, gave him hardly any attention and even seemed to be somehow frightened for this small little boy with his physical handicaps. Besides clubfeet he had developed some contractures around his knees and hips too. Through crawling he was trying to find his way in the orphanage and his development of speech remained behind, until after some time a few volunteers took him up. Eventually one of those volunteers asked if perhaps Stephen could be accepted in Hand in Hand and so it happened, in May 2008. By then you could see the marks of his unpleasant life until that day in Stephen's facial expression, he was clearly depressed, cried easily and often showed aggrieved behaviour.

We are happy that since then a lot has improved in Stephen's life. Already in 2008, on the advice of the specialists of the Orthopedic training Centre in Nsawam, he was operated on both feet and knees in Duayaw Nkwanta and afterwards he had a long-term rehabilitation in Nsawam.
He returned to PCC by the end of 2008 and - what a change! - he was able to walk, though only when using crutches and orthopaedic shoes plus callipers down from his knees. In the beginning he didn't like it at all, these callipers and crutches, for he was able to move on through crawling much quicker and easier. It was indeed very special to watch Stephen when going on all fours, like a little monkey, very fast! By now he understands very well how important it is for him to practise walking a lot, during the last vacation period around Christmas he walked with me nearly every day during the morning walking hour, supported by the crutches and talking all the time.

Stephen in 2008	Stephen in 2011	Crawling is still very easy!

When he came to us in 2008, one of the big questions was if may be his IQ would be normal? We are now happy to know that this indeed is the case. As from August 2009 he visits, together with Emmanuella, a popular private primary school in Nkoranza, with the slightly pretentious name "Nation Builders International School". He speaks Twi and English quite well and last year he has gone up to the next class of this school, this in contrast to Emmanuella, because she was not able to write well ....... (it seems like a sick joke, we really have to talk with the headmaster about this!!). Anyhow, we are very proud that 2 children of Hand in Hand are going to the ordinary primary school!
Stephen even gets house work nowadays, but this is easily forgotten with all the nice games and the very attractive swimming pool in the afternoon. Point of attention!
His laugh is infectious and it's also very special that he keeps a close eye on children depositing "shit" in the pool. He will then shout loudly "shit, shit", to warn everyone!

After two major disappointments in the early years of his life, at last Stephen has found a very loving home, where people care for him well, where he gets the necessary medical treatment and can grow up in happiness. In fact that is what each child is entitled to!
In his behaviour you can still meet the signs of his early childhood, for example when one of the other children (to his opinion) troubles or disturbs him. He then cries easily and shows immediately an aggrieved face. But just as easy he might use one of his crutches to give someone a strong crack. He will make it, for sure!
It will be a special challenge for Hand in Hand to guide Stephen to a independent role in the Ghanaian society and on this point he is quite different from almost all other children in the Community.
Stephen grows up in Hand in Hand as a child with normal intelligence and some physical handicaps, amidst many children with intellectual restrictions. Perhaps this might not be the ideal situation for a child with normal intelligence, though fortunately he receives a lot of extra attention from guests, volunteers and caregivers. He likes to sit at everyone's lap and proves to be a very pleasant and entertaining little chap.
If only we could show him, in his current condition and situation, just once to his biological parents .......
Anyway, he has now got a large and strong family, a family that always stands around him and will never let him down!

A small wild boy
(17th January 2011)

One of the children at Hand in Hand, who in comparison to most others needs a lot of care and attention and even sometimes makes some caregivers a bit desperate is Kojo Joseph.
As far as we know the story about the first years of his life, that story is very sad, in fact like so many stories of other children here at PCC.
Kojo was found in the bush on 14th August 2006 by local farmers. They phoned the police because they thought they had found a dead body of a small boy. But when the police arrived they saw that he was still alive! Starved and covered with open wounds on his entire body, he was brought to "King Jesus Charity Home" in Kumasi (the 2nd city of Ghana). At that time he was like a wild animal, he didn't like physical contact and he was very withdrawn in his own world. Unfortunately, probably due to his handicap and his difficult character, he was also not taken good care of by the carers in the Home in Kumasi. So most often he would just sit in a corner, until a Danish volunteer finally took care of him. Later she approached Hand in Hand and asked if there would be an opportunity to accept him in our Community and finally he came to PCC in May 2007. By then they estimated him to be around 4 years of age, which means that he is now about 7 or 8 years old.

After arrival in Hand in Hand, he created quite some difficulties for our caregivers. Suddenly he can start crying in a heartrending way, beat his own head with both hands or start to bite in his own arm or the caregivers one, after which he will run away fast. To control Kojo's biting a little bit, he is carrying a rubber ring on a cord around his neck for some time now. He will use this ring for biting whenever he feels the urge for biting and luckily enough this seems to work. Kojo Joseph is hyperactive and is able to run around over the compound for hours, he always goes his own way. Obviously for this reason they gave him the nickname Kojo Runaway!
After almost 4 years in Hand in Hand he continues to live mainly in his own world, he doesn't talk and hardly makes contact with other children or adults. However, when he feels good a beautiful and soft smile might appear, almost to the surprise of everyone. At such a moment suddenly the sun is able to shine through his wild nature.

Kojo has the annoying habit of putting whatever he might come across into his mouth. OK, when it's food it's not that bad, but when he meets a chalk or something like that, he will also eat it. And it even becomes worse when he relieves himself at a certain moment, for after some time you will suddenly meet him with faeces in and around his mouth and this doesn't make him very popular with those he have to clean this…………..
Without any doubt he must have suffered from hunger in the first years of his life, you can still observe this in his behaviour around dinnertime. Long before the food is ready, he will walk to the kitchen and stare for a long time through the screening of the kitchen how the food is prepared. Often he will start screaming or crying when he feels it takes too long before his dinner is served. And even if it is served, this is no guarantee for some rest, even then he might suddenly and for no reason start to scream or beat his head and run away. We are very happy that he has now got a new caregiver since 2010, Juliana 2, who is a bit older and rather phlegmatic and who doesn't care about his moods, she is all the time able to calm him down again. Since she came the heartrending crying has really reduced a lot.
Apart form running away, Kojo also likes playing with water a lot, when you happen to see someone jumping or running in the pool just on his own, most likely it's Kojo Joseph. With all his clothes wet (if he wears clothes at all), he might run to you and it seems as if he feels pleasure when he can give you a strong hug with his wet clothes or his wet body, making sure you also become very wet. At such moments he will show a naughty smile as if saying: yes, I was successful again in making someone wet and dirty. And there he starts running again: Kojo Runaway.
On and off we are a bit successful in directing his huge quantity of energy, e.g. by getting his hands and making him jump up and down for some time. And when he is sitting in the donkey car, which is used every morning for a ride with all the smaller kids, he is surprisingly quiet!
The movements of his head are very typical, he will shake his head to and fro in a kind of circular rhythm, it's just part of him. Always his glance seems to pass yours, you can hardly make eye contact with him.
Kojo Joseph, he came as a small and wild boy and still it is difficult to tame him. We are progressing only slowly with this in Hand in Hand. Luckily enough there is plenty of space for him at PCC for running around, when he feels like doing so.
Hopefully he can be happy in this way here in Hand in Hand, our Kojo Runaway, for a very long time to come.

Happy New Year
(7th January 2011)

In fact the period around Christmas and New Year's Eve is a chain of special activities and events for the Community. Normally we have a very strict daily schedule and throughout the year this gives clearness and structure, but around Christmas all is different. Every day there is a certain eagerly awaiting in the air, what will happen on this day? Surely more is to be expected, apart from the visit of Father Christmas and the Christmas Play.
On 27th December there is a PCC party with the Kofi Asare music group and on the 28th December there is a major football match between two teams, each made up of our children and caregivers, being Day-care 1 and Day-care 2. The match starts with two times the very dedicated singing of the Ghanaian national anthem and then an empowering yell from both teams is heard. After that we can witness a splendid spectacle. Both sides are trying to stir up their own team with music, all supporters are dancing continuously and the enthusiasm is great. The match more or less goes like a football match will small children: almost all player will go wherever the ball is. A disputed decision of the referee in the last minute creates quite some tumult, but luckily enough the scene finally becomes quiet again in the pool, where all players and spectators enjoy a well deserved cooling down.
Even more beautiful on the next day is another match between Day-care 1 and Day-care 2, this time with small contests like sack racing, running, carrying eggs on a spoon, tug-of-war and other games. It is really great to see that both winners and losers of the various contests are cheered and lifted up by their team mates, the motto is: everybody is a winner!
One would say: enough emotions for one day, but it isn't like that. For that evening, like in July, the hospital chaplain Rev. Father Benneh, comes to the Community for a special baptismal church service. Like last time not less than 6 children from our Community will be baptised, so in all 12 this year! So if you might read in some publication that the RC Church is growing very fast in Africa, please keep in mind that our ecumenical Community contributred substantially to this growth!

This time Dede, Shalomina, Aisha, Daniel, Kwaku Jacob and Kwame Ayim are baptised. A few years ago father Albert and mother and Jeannette could not even have dreamed that the number of children, registered on their names, would increase so rapidly and so enormous…..!
The ceremony was as beautiful as in July and it was very impressive to participate. It is striking to see that most of our children one or the other way seem to realise that this is a very solemn church service, they are much more quiet that at other time occasions and are staring their eyes out, for instance watching the impressive shape of Father Benneh and also the rituals of the baptism.
First of all Father Benneh gives an interesting sermon, about the cooperation between the hands, the feet and the stomach and for days people will still talk about this sermon! Then the great and solemn moment is finally there, the anointment of those to be baptised and after that the baptism itself, with all the appealing symbols that are normally used in Ghana, including the lightning of the baptismal candles. After this there is also Holy Communion, with all RC church members present as well as with the 6 baptised children. During the service slowly but surely the time for twilight is there and it creates a very special atmosphere in our open-air church. Everybody is very impressed after the simple, but appealing ceremony, especially our nicely dressed baptised children!

On Thursday 30th December the Dagaba choir comes to PCC for a concert, with music, singing and dances from a tribe in the North of Ghana and different from the Frafra's who were with us on the 24th. They also gave us a fine evening with great music.
While writing this column and reading the above part of this column once again, it seems as if life here consists of party's only. Well, definitely this Community is rather often a happy Community, but at the same time we do experience the usual worries of our Community, e.g. children with epileptic fits, children with fever or loss of appetite, children who seem to be depressed or sometimes rather aggressive. Of course these things do occur frequently in our Community with 75 children, but we are happy this is not a predominant phenomena, the Spirit of PCC always wins!

And so it is during the Bonfire on New Years Eve. It's great to see how a simple fire with just some firewood proves to be sufficient to give everyone lots of joy for hours. This evening we also look back to the year passed, a year in which we had to say farewell to Innocencia, but we were also happy to welcome 4 new residents. There are many reasons to be grateful for the good life in our Community and we expressed our gratitude for that by the end of 2010. The same happens in many Ghanaian churches, all filled up with people who are all counting the blessings they received during the year 2010 and they like to express their gratitude to God for all this.
With a nice New Year Party on 1st January we bring our special and very festive Christmas programme to an end. We like to thank everyone, who supported our Community during the past year, we are very happy with the number of supporters. Without this great support Hand in Hand could not even exist!
On behalf of all children we thank you very much for your support and sympathy! We wish all friends of our Community a wonderful and Happy New Year!

Alberts corner 2010