The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) on Friday held a Pre-Mother’s Day celebration in honour of mothers with disability and mothers of children with special needs.
The Minister for MoGCSP, Mrs. Cynthia Mamle Morrison, said that the focus for the event was to provide support for mothers whose children had cerebral palsy and autism, adding that in the near future, the Ministry will focus on children with disabilities and those who were blind.
The event which was held in Accra provided 200 mothers and children with foodstuffs and money to start up a business.
The celebration was on theme: “Celebrating Motherhood, Maternal Bond and the influence of Local Food Vendors, Disabled Mothers and Mothers with Disabled Children in the country.”
Mrs. Morrison in her welcome speech said the initiative to hold such an event for mothers whose children were suffering from cerebral palsy and autism came to mind at the commemoration of the Disability Day, adding that, seeing lots of mothers whose children were suffering from such conditions moved her.
“When I looked at the condition of the mothers together with their children I was greatly moved because most of these mothers don’t even have a good means of livelihood”, she said.
She said parents of children with cerebral palsy and other disabled conditions found life very difficult, because they couldn’t leave their children alone to attend to other businesses.
“You would have to stay around them all throughout and this limits you from going to hustle to make ends meet.
These mothers are at the mercy of the benevolence of others, otherwise, they can’t survive” she added.
Mrs. Morrison said that proper systems were put in place to support the upbringing of children with disabilities in foreign counties and that her ministry was brainstorming on ways to set up similar systems to cater for such conditions.
“As a minister in charge of the disabled, I am looking at ways to provide the same conditions over here in Ghana for mothers and children facing such predicaments so that at least government can provide financial support to them”, she added.
The Minister assured them that she understood their plight and shared her personal experience to buttress her statement.
“My mother was not born disabled but one day, she fell from a storey building and was stuck to the wheel chair until her demise. My own child also had a hearing problem and recovered at the age of two. I am telling you this to assure you that I know the pain you are going through and I understand your plight”, she said.
She said even though mothers with such children would sometimes feel like abandoning or harming them, she encouraged all such mothers to rather demonstrate love, support and care.
Mrs. Morrison said mothers who had difficulty in catering for their disabled children, could either give them over to Children Homes or they could fall on the Ministry for advice and assistance.
The Minister said the ministry was yet to receive assistance from corporate bodies even though they received some assistance from their development partners, adding that even though this was the first time such an event was being held, it wasn’t going to stop.
She therefore, called on other philanthropists and corporate bodies to come on board with financial support so that at least “in every three months, we can give them something to top up whatever they are already doing”, she added.
