Every year, just before our Easter break, we hold a family picnic at the Jos Wildlife Park. This years’ picnic was especially fun since we had our own bus to carry everyone to the park in. And also we now have wheelchairs so the children who can’t walk could visit the animals.

Here is a picture of the bus loaded with children and the wheelchairs on top.

Everyone enjoyed singing and dancing under the trees in the picnic area.

Nobody was left out this year now that our children are mobile. Here Joseph and Dominion are all smiles.  

Being so close to the animals was a new experience for these children. Will it bite?

Link to Vanguard Article on Open Doors

Our doors are open to rejected children — Prof. Umolu

Written by EBELE ORAKPO

Sunday, 01 June 2008

IN times past, parents of children with disabilities like autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, mental retardation, etc., saw them as a big burden and an embarrassment, and some of them were locked up in their homes with no interaction with the outside world. That is not the case anymore. Nobody bargains for the way or manner he would come into this world. A wise saying goes thus: If life throws lemons at you, then go ahead and make lemonade. This is exactly what is going on at Open Doors Special Education Centre. Situated in the serene Giring environment in the equally serene and beautiful capital city of Jos, on the Plateau, the Centre provides quality educational and vocational training opportunities for Nigerian children and youth with learning handicaps. It offers them the opportunity to develop literacy skills for those who failed to do so in the regular schools. Open Doors Special Education Centre is also dedicated to the expansion and upgrading of the quality of education for children with special educational needs. The Centre was started by Prof. Joanne Umolu, who came to Nigeria in 1965 with her Nigerian husband. She started the Centre after retiring from the University of Jos where she was a lecturer in the Department of Special Education for about 20 years.  Open Doors has three units - Special Education, Reading Clinic, and Vocational Training. Sunday Vanguard sought out Prof. Joanne Umolu, the director of the Centre, and she spoke on what the centre offers and how it impacts society. We also had a chat with two of the volunteers - Debbie Wilkinson and Julia Mcgeown - who shared their experiences. Excerpts: WHO is Prof. Joanne Umolu?     I am originally from America but I am married to a Nigerian and came to Nigeria in 1965. I am an experienced teacher and retired professor of special education, having taught at the University of Jos for 20 years.   What motivated you to start the school and when? Prof Umolu (c), with some of the pupils during the National Special Olympic Games While I was still with the university, many parents used to come to the Department of Special Education seeking help for their children with disabilities. So when I left the University of Jos in September 1999, I decided to establish a Special Education Centre to cater for such families. We call the centre, Open Doors Special Education Centre, because our doors are open to children who are otherwise excluded from school. What kind of people do you admit and is there age limit? The Special Education Unit at Open Doors is for individuals with developmental disabilities such as mental retardation, autism and cerebral palsy. There are close to 100 students in this Unit, ranging from two years to mid-30s. Some of the children being taught to string beads. We prefer to enrol the very young children so we can give them a good start in life. We also have a Reading Clinic Unit where children and adults who have failed to learn to read and write can come by appointment. Our average monthly enrolment in this unit is 25 students. We have been very successful in bringing students who have been failing in school up to the standard where they can return successfully to their regular primary or secondary school. What’s the curriculum like? The curriculum in the Special Education Unit is geared toward realising the potential of each individual. This may involve speech therapy, physiotherapy and vocational training, depending on the needs and ability of each individual. Some of our students learn to read and write and do some practical arithmetic. However, our aim is not to prepare them for secondary school. Rather, our focus is always on leading as independent and useful life as possible. In the Reading Clinic Unit, we use a literature-based approach which is particularly effective in helping individuals overcome reading failure. After a few months, students who could barely read or write are able to enjoy books and write their own stories.    How do you fund the Centre? Is there a sort of school fees? Although the parents contribute to the running costs, we are completely dependent on the donations from kind-hearted individuals for all other expenses. Right now, we are seeking funds to build additional classrooms so we can admit children on our waiting list as well as funds to further develop our vocational training activities. How do you recruit the staff and students? Our teaching staff are all professionals in the field of special education, most of whom have graduated from the Department of Special Education, University of Jos.   How is the Centre impacting the lives of these children and the society at large? The Centre has provided “open doors” for learning and opportunity for individuals who have been excluded from formal education and, in many cases, rejected by society. The students thrive in the positive environment provided by Open Doors, and the more able individuals eventually become productive members of society.        Meet the volunteers: Julia: My name is Julia Mcgeown. I am 29 years old and from Bolton, England. I am a speech and language therapist with five years experience of working in special needs and regular schools in the UK and New Zealand. I am working with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) which is an international organisation matching up volunteers with particular skills to places in the developing world that need those skills. Open Doors applied to VSO for a speech therapist and so, I was offered a place, along with offers from other countries such as Kenya and Uganda.  Debbie: I am Debbie Wilkinson. I come from a town near London in England. I have finished high school and I’m going to study music in September at Cardiff University. I decided to take a year out of studying to work in Nigeria. I have come to Nigeria through an organisation called Mission Africa. I told them what sort of work I wanted to do and they arranged for me to work at Open Doors.   Motivation to come to Nigeria in spite of all the negative things being said about the country: Julia: I had heard that Nigeria had its problems like any other country, but that it was important to avoid certain regions, for example, Port Harcourt. I also heard that Jos was a pleasant highland place with a cooler climate and beautiful countryside, so I wanted to see for myself. I wanted to come to Africa to see a different perspective on life and to share my skills with people who may not otherwise have the opportunity. I knew that, in Nigeria, there is no speech therapy course, so the other teachers may not be able to learn those skills by simply attending a course here.   Debbie:  I have had a dream to come to Africa for long time to work with children.  I decided that it was a God-given dream and that He would protect me.    A typical day in the Centre:  Julia: It’s hectic but fun. As the children are only in school between 8 a.m. and 1.30 p.m.,  it is important to make the most of the time available, so I don’t give myself many breaks!  I carry out speech therapy activities with small groups of children alongside my counterpart who will take over when I leave. I also join in with classroom activities in the lowest levels for at least an hour a day and help them with small group activities. This also gives me an opportunity to train teachers in the classroom setting. It’s very important to have your wits about you when you are in the classroom as many of the children have low attention levels, and can suddenly run up and try to throw something, bite someone or break something if you don’t watch out! But if they are kept entertained and have plenty of variety in activities then this happens less often. In the last session of the school day, I work with some of the older students trying to improve their production of certain speech sounds or I help out with the younger children in the physiotherapy room combining exercises with speech therapy activities. Debbie: I get to school at about 8.00am. All the children start the day with devotions where they sing and pray together.  I work with level one. After devotions, they play with educational toys or do pretend play (for example playing with dolls, pretending to cook and wearing costumes).  We then have circle time where we sing songs and rhymes and they often play instruments. After this, they go into groups either to do speech activities or an activity like painting, playing with water or sand or rolling balls.  Then they eat their snack and we take them to physio where they can play and run and there are a lot of toys and a ball pool.  They end the day with devotions. Some achievements with the children so far:  Julia: I have developed their speech and language skills, and some children have started to talk since I have been there. I think I have also developed some children’s confidence in their own abilities. I have tried to introduce other activities such as a ball pool and a sensory room which the children enjoy participating in. This builds their language skills and also gives them new experiences. Debbie: A lot of the children are starting to interact more.  They have started to talk more and will play with other children and take an interest in looking at books with teachers Major constraints: Julia: Not enough time to concentrate on each child, and not enough staff to carry out true one-to-one activities throughout the day with some of the children. There is often no power supply from PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) which can hamper planned activities such as computer work or listening to language tapes. (We can’t turn on the generator all the time). I have not found the language barrier to be too much of a problem as the children are used to hearing English .  Debbie: The main constraint would be the lack of teachers and helpers. Most of the children I work with need one-to-one attention which isn’t possible a lot of the time. Nigeria and Nigerians:  Julia: They are open, friendly people who love to chat and find out about visitors to their country. Nigeria is such a diverse country, it’s hard to answer this question. It has many beautiful areas and has potential to really develop international tourism. However, some of the roads can be bad and the numerous road blocks can hamper progress around the country! Debbie: I have found Nigerians very welcoming and friendly and also so thankful for what they have. I have been really blessed by the people I work with and have learnt a lot from them.

We had never heard of the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association (it is based in a town called Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada) but now we will never forget them. About 15 of their members, along with their counsellors, spent four days at Open Doors working alongside Open Doors masons, carpenters and vocational students on two badly needed projects. They raised the funds for their trip to Nigeria and for projects in the communities, and Open Doors was one of the grateful beneficiaries. Here is a picture of the team along with some Open Doors students and staff. You can’t beat their enthusiasm.

They could really work hard too. Here they are moving cement blocks to the vocational workshop for partitioning. We are proud to point out that Open Doors vocational students moulded these blocks themselves.

Part of the team also helped us build an extension to our walkway so our children in wheelchairs can move around more easily. It is the middle of dry season now so the ground is very hard and they were seriously challenged when they started digging.

After four days the work was almost finished. Here is our new kitchen area in the vocational workshop.

And here is the block wall that will create a separate room for our carpentry work.

We all said goodbye to Rachael, our volunteer from Ontario, at a Send Forth on the 12^th of December. The party started with a staff – student football match and then continued with songs, a drama, and farewell gifts to Rachael. Rachael had been with us since September and filled Open Doors with joy and fun.

Here she is with the football boys who especially loved her because she never missed playing football with them during  break.

Here are our “Wheel Chair Kids” during the Send Forth. They are all smiles since they loved all the special attention Rachael always gave them.

Here they are during a wheelchair race. That’s Rachael along with other teachers at the take off.  

Open Doors had a very grand Christmas Party on the 17^th of December.  Our new drama and music group “House of Wonder” enthusiastically displayed their talents with a Nativity play and musical performances. Here our new band plays Silent Nigh and the House of Wonder choir sings Christmas Carols.

Father Christmas came all the way to Open Doors to bring presents to all Open Doors children and even their brothers and sisters who attended the party.

The party ended with lots and lots of delicious food lovingly provided by Open Doors families.