Autism in Ethopia

A mother in Ethopia had noticed her child was having learning problems. Her son JoJo was four years older than her other son and was struggling to keep up with the younger brother. She soon decided to take her son to the UK and have him tested for intellectual disability. She had two choices, move to America to get her child help with his autism, or to do something about it in Ethopia. She chose to open a specialist school called Joy Center. This school specialized in helping children with Autism. By the time JoJo was eight when his mother began teaching him how to speak. He did not say his first sentence, "I love you, Mama" until he was 16 years old.

In the article it mentioned that a lot of children in Africa are misdiagnosed and are said to be possessed or suffering from witchcraft. Yenus, the mother of JoJo, school now has shown Ethopia's government and other's what autism is. The government now recognizes Autism and other disabilities. The school has about 80 children attending.

This article interested me because I work with people who had disabilities. I have found that autism is extremely hard to deal with and takes a special kind of person to be able to face these difficulties. Autism is most commonly found in boys and said if you don't talk by the age of four you will most likely not be verbal for the rest of your life.  I was not suprised to see that the mother had to travel all the way to the UK to get testing done. It is very sad the child had to be 8 by the time they found out his diagnosis. I am glad to see he still has learned to talk even though his skills developed so late.

This is a picture of JoJo and his mother

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/15/africa/zemi-yenus-autism-ethiopia/index.html

Moorhouse, Lauren, and Bea Wangondu. "For Years, Silence. And Then 'love You, Mama' - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.