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NEWS / WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
ACADEMICS
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Christopher Tuu, a graduate student from Ghana, plays a musical instrument from his home country at the KU World Expo in April. Tuu, who is blind taught at a school for blind children for nearly 10 years before coming to the University to pursue a master's degree in special education.
KU student strives to help others
Ghanan scholar works toward degree
BY LUYAN WANG
lwang@kansan.com
Christopher Tuu had a dream. He wanted to leave his village in Ghana and come to America. He wanted to study at a university and earn a master's degree in special education. Tuu then wanted to return home and teach children in his country.
But a few years ago, Tuu's dream seemed impossible.
"I really want to study abroad," Tuu said. "The problem is that I do not have money."
Studying in the United States was too expensive for Tuu. He did not have enough money to support himself abroad. In Ghana, only a few people have the chance to study in America.
But money was not Tui's only complication. He is also blind.
Tuu contracted the measles at age five. He survived the disease, which is often fatal, but lost his sight.
When Tuu was young, he often heard people around him talking about America, but he said he didn't believe America existed. For him, America was a utopia that couldnt be real.
"Many people died because of measles disease," Tuu said. "But I am still alive."
After he finished his bachelor's degree in social studies at a university in Ghana, Tuu developed a passion for teaching, and he wanted to help people, especially children who were like him. He taught social studies in a school for the blind for almost 10 years, but never gave up his dream of coming to America.
"People said America was beautiful." Tuu said. "And everywhere was amazing."
In 2007, Tuu applied for a Ford Scholarship. After waiting nearly a year, he finally received word that he had been chosen as one of the Ford Foundation Fellows. Tuu would be going to the University of Kansas.
But coming to the U.S was not as easy as Tuu thought. He spent a year in Ghana preparing for his trip.
learning about American cultures and custom, and most importantly, how to type on a computer.
It was still an up-hill battle after arriving at the University in 2009. He needed mobility training and had to familiarize himself with KU on Wheels get around campus.
Because Tuu lived in Stauffer Place apartments on campus, the nearest bus stop for him to come to campus was in front of McCollum Residence Hall. From there, he took the Campus Express to school.
Mark Craig, a special education teacher, taught Tuu to use a cane to walk from his apartment to the bus stop. Craig said it was challenging, but Tuu mastered it. Craig has trained hundreds of blind people and he said Tuu was one of the most successful students.
Tuu said he loved the people here and everyone was friendly to him. His professors do everything they can to help him succeed, but Tuu did have difficulties with his studies. Because of his blindness, he relies heavily on a software called Gows, which reads the text of course documents to him. Because he couldn't always find someone to help him enter the course documents into his computer, he had trouble finishing his reading assignments on time.
Mary Morningstar, Tuu's adviser and special education professor, said she had learned a lot about services for people with disabilities in Ghana from Tuu.
Tuu said he loved studying and hoped people in Ghana were encouraged after hearing his story. He said if a blind person could go to college in America, nobody had the excuse to fail in school.
Because of this, Tuu wants to return to his home country and make a difference for people there with disabilities.
"People who have disabilities in Ghana could not get the same service as in America," Morningstar said.
"I want to go back home and help more people in Ghana," he said.