Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: November 2011

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

TAMALE REHABILITATION CENTRE:

Elly Sakwa working with students

SKILLS TRAINING CENTRE FOR PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

Training for the physically disabled has a long history in Tamale - the Training Center for people with physical disabilities was established in Tamale on the 1^st July, 1962, so will celebrate 50 years next year. The centre is operating under the Ghana Ministry of Social Welfare, and it provides skills training for disabled people between 15 to 45 years of age.

The training is basically in rural crafts, which include tailoring, dress-making, shoe-making, leather-work and weaving. The course duration is three years, but it can be extended for trainees who need more time.

The aim of the programme is enable trainees to move into self-employment based on the skilled trade they have learned. The alternative for many disabled people is begging on the street, and according to the manager, the programme has reduced the number of disabled beggars in Tamale.

Lamin Tholley during morning prayer with students

The trainees live a peaceful and communal way of life in the institution, which is residential. They assist each other according to their abilities; as 1 Corinthians says, “You are Christ’s body”. So, for instance, the able-bodied trainee who is a deaf-mute can collect and do things for those who are physically immobilised. These, in their turn, can direct the blind from dangerous situations and can interpret for the deaf-mute when the need arises. The deaf-mutes can do the heaviest work among them because they can see and move freely.

The two of us who go for our Friday ministry to the Training Centre receive so much from this experience. We see the uniqueness of each according to their abilities, and we have realised that disability is not inability. The wonders of God are realized each time the trainees are doing their practical work. When the blind are weaving, one sees God’s possibilities even though we humans may think such things are impossible.

We enjoy our time there every week, teaching and interacting with them. We help them to grow in their spirituality by leading them in morning devotion each Friday. We admire most of all their ability and willingness to learn. They are energized when you teach them new ideas and have a desire to learn more. We thank God for the experience that we have there, since they are helpful in our growth as well as theirs.

What do we want this novitiate to be?

There is a saying that goes something like this: “If we don’t do what we believe in, then we’ll end up believing in what we do”. Without a vision that is authentic and alive to guide our actions, then we can settle for rationalizing the status quo or what is convenient and comfortable.
One of the first things the new team in Tamale did was to spend time beginning to articulate its vision of a novitiate beyond the basics laid down in our Constitutions. Here are some elements of what we came up with:
Novitiate is a journey, a process that involves KNOWING, EXPERIENCING and CHOOSING.
It is an INITIATION into Christian Brother religious life, so a “rite of passage” into a new identity, a time of learning and testing.
Novitiate confronts the novices with the Brother’s vocation as a call to brotherly solidarity and community, not to privilege, status and security.
It involves exploration of the basic values of faith and vocation, and the challenge to embrace these out of personal conviction and free choice.
Novitiate means understanding that a religious vocation makes a claim on the whole of the person and his life, including his inner life, his relationships and his professional activity (ministry). Furthermore, it challenges the novice to see the dynamic inter-relationship of these areas and to learn what their integration means.
Novitiate is a time of DISCERNMENT. The novice learns more deeply who he is, and what this Christian Brother life is. There is a constant back-and-forth movement between these two poles as an answer is sought to the question, “Is this where I am meant to be? Is this the life that will enable me to find my true self in God?”