“Praise we the wise and brave and strong,

Who graced their generation;

Who helped the right, and fought the wrong,

And made our folk a nation” – W.G. Tarrant (MHB 896)

In a country where awareness of special needs remains limited, a handful of individuals have chosen to step up, creating awareness, chipping away at ignorance and stigma, and walking alongside people with special needs as they grow into the fullness of who they are.

Emmanuel Ntow Nyarko is one of those people. He is the founder and director of ENNY Foundation in Ghana. This is his story:

“I come from the hilly town of Larteh in Ghana’s Eastern Region. I was born on September 25th, over forty years ago now. I’m the third of four children. We moved around quite a bit as a family, so my primary education happened across different towns and regions, eventually wrapping up at Tema Methodist Preparatory School. I wrote my BECE at Oninku Junior Secondary School in Tema, then attended St. Martin’s Senior Secondary School in Adoagyiri, Nsawam. From there, I went on to Atebubu Teacher Training College. After graduating, I taught in schools in Berekuso, Aburi, and Accra before pursuing further studies at the University of Cape Coast, where I earned my Diploma and Bachelor of Education.

After teaching in a few schools, a new chapter began for me at the Mary Mother of Good Counsel School in Accra. It was there I developed a system to support students who needed extra attention in class. I volunteered to help them, and others who needed to catch up with their peers. It was also during this time that the daughter of a close friend was diagnosed with autism, and I knew I wanted to help. I started reading everything I could find on the subject, and when the opportunity came, I took it. I enrolled at the Autism Training Center of America. I could only go when school vacated. My first level, the foundation course, was in December 2013.

The training was built around the Son Rise Program- a program that teaches techniques for supporting children on the Autism Spectrum through play. The first level is your starting point; the second and third levels build on technique and offer guidance for moving forward as a support therapist; and the final advanced course, called “Maximum Impact,” fully prepares and equips you to support children on the Autism Spectrum.

Each time I returned from training, I went back to teaching and volunteered on weekends. The structure of the school environment didn’t allow much room for the Son Rise technique during the week, so the weekends became mine to put what I’d learned into practice.

Before leaving for the third level course in 2014, I resigned. I spent time there and returned in 2015 after completing the full module. My final trip to the US was focused on understanding special needs within mainstream inclusive schools. I visited and spent time at the Morning Star School in Florida, learning how their inclusive education system worked. When I came back, I still had parents reaching out regularly, looking for support for their children with special needs.

I heeded those calls. I volunteered in schools and special needs centres, attended workshops and training sessions organised for Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Physiotherapists and worked alongside some of them to keep learning, building on what the Son Rise Program had already given me.

When the work grew beyond what I could handle alone, I brought in young men and women who were willing and passionate enough to join me. We had no office in the beginning. We literally sat under trees on the University of Ghana, Legon campus to review our work after each session, while I drove around with my therapy resources packed in my car.

It took close to five years, I think. Eventually, I knew it was time to formalise things. I began the registration process in 2018 and registered ENNY Foundation as an NGO because the cost of these services is genuinely high, and most families simply couldn’t afford them. I named it ENNY- Emmanuel Ntow NYarko. My name. By the time registration was complete, the team had already grown.

From 2013 to now, I’ve developed and managed home programmes using the Son Rise approach for individual families dealing with ASD and other conditions. Most of the families I’ve worked with are based in Accra, with a few in Akosombo, Cape Coast, and Kumasi. Internationally, I’ve personally visited and worked with a family in the UK. My team and I have also worked in Nigeria and Liberia, and families have travelled to Ghana to take part in our intensive three-to-six-months intervention programme. Through this work, quite a number of schools across the country have come to believe that including the child with special needs is not just possible, it’s worth it. I also worked as a consultant to Al Rayan International School’s Personalized Department. Where we showed and they continue to show, again and again, that every child has potential when given an equal opportunity.

I have no regrets. None. I am fulfilled, truly fulfilled. Hearing a child say their first words after months or even years of work, watching a parent’s face when they hear their child’s voice for the first time, that never gets old. I still get calls from parents of children I worked with years ago, and it always makes me smile when they say, “I was thinking about how my child became who they are today, and you were the first person who came to mind.”

That is the joy of what I do. I would do it all over again without a second thought. Absolutely, completely NO REGRETS. 200% no regrets.