Updates from the Orphanages

Boy. It's been a while. Here's a bit on the news front:

New Life
The kids at New Life are doing well. Currently, Zoe, a former volunteer, has returned and is enjoying her time with the children. We're hoping for more updates on her return!

Sankofa
Sankofa is not doing so well at the moment. David is struggling even to be able to pay the teachers, who have now gone on strike. Several of us are looking into strategies to help with management of the school and orphanage. In good news, David states that enough donations came through to put in a foundation for a permanent school building, and the parents in the village are eager to contribute to the labor. Of course, more funding is needed to finish buying the materials. If you would like to contribute to the building effort, or (more importantly at the moment) to the teacher's fund, please visit www.chworldwide.org.

Lucky Hill
On the adoption front at Lucky Hill, things are going very well! Many children have been able to join their families, including Comfort, a special young lady with heart problems. After successful surgery, she is now recovering in the arms of her family. We wish the best to all the children at Lucky Hill, and pray for those still waiting to join their families! See Lucky Hill's Yahoo group for more information.

Families for Children
Work on the school building and hostel for Families for Children is going slow. The hope is to get the hostel built first. Once completed, it will provide a place for volunteers to stay, as well as any travelers, local or foreign. It will also hopefully provide revenue for the school, as well as vocational training to the older students, making the program sustainable. If you would like to make a contribution to this effort please contact Shallee for information on making a tax-deductible donation.

The Return

The directors are back, and the trip was a great success! All of the legal processes were completed to begin the school, and construction should be starting any day now! The directors were also lucky enough to meet Mr. Kingsley Eshun, who has started an orphanage near the Buduburam Refugee Camp. Luckyhill Children's Home was begun in 2001, and serves around 80 children, plus 300 that come to school! Mr. Kingsley has done amazing work, much of it with his own hands, to provide all that he can for the children there. They are still in need of much support, though they are getting help from several different avenues. We have hopes that we can continue our work with Mr. Kingsley and Luckhill!

And They're Off!

FFCI's directors, Katherine and Blaine, are now in Ghana! After the scare with Blaine's health prior to their January trip, we weren't sure if they'd be able to make it, but they are now in Ghana and starting our school! I can't wait to see it (even partially finished) when we go over this summer.

In addition, I'd like to wish a belated Happy Independence Day to Ghana! March 6th was Ghana's 51st independence day, and to celebrate, the volunteers heading over this summer had a little party. Just a little fried plantain, Fanta, high life music, and a prep for Ghanaian culture, but it was fun!

We also have heard from one of our contacts that we will (most likely) be receiving a donation of 200 children's literacy books! This is very exciting for us-- we are building a school, after all!

I'll post more once the directors return on the developments-- and it's past time for another IAAC post. It's a busy time around here, but I'll get to it!

In the meantime, here's a pic to enjoy, since I haven't posted one in a while!

This is Prince, one of the students from my class at New Life in 05. He came into school from the village halfway through the school year. He spoke no English (though he liberally made up for it by chattering in Fante all through class), and it was a challenge just to get him to trace a line. However, he slowly improved (especially in school manners!) and was a playful, happy student and child. One of his favorite things was to "sew" cardboard pictures with string and hear me try to help him in Fante. "Ha? [Here?]" he would ask, pointing to a little hole in the cardboard. "Oho, ha [No, here]," I would respond, indicating the right hole. He would laugh in delight every time, occasionally calling to his classmates, "Bruni, wotse Fante! [The white lady is speaking Fante!]"

A Possible Partnership in the Works!

Today, the founders of FFCI and I met with Enterprise Mentors, a local microcredit group. I have struggled for months to set up a meeting with them. I feel that helping families develop through training and loans can be a great way to strike at the root of the orphan and needy child problem, and the founders agree. In addition, I made Michael a promise-- one that I feel extends to all the children at New Life and elsewhere-- to help his mother and his family so they can live a fulfilled life. So Michael can keep going to school. So he can eat. So he can live with his mother instead of at the orphanage.

The meeting had taken so long to set up, I had become discouraged and thought there was little interest on the EM side. Imagine my surprise and excitement when they were thrilled at the prospect of working with us in Ghana! Plans for a small office at our school and an exploratory initial program have already been discussed! After our founders return from Ghana (they leave next week!), hopefully the plans will become real. We are all so excited about the help this can bring to our children, their families, and children and families all over Ghana. EM is a well-established microcredit group, and they focus as much on training as they do on loans. We are pleased to be forming a connection with them!

Square Foot Gardening

So I just got back from training on square foot (or meter) gardening, and I just have to say that it is SO COOL!!

First, a giant thank you has to go to Karen Bastow, one of the key people involved with SFG in my area, for being willing to give us free training. She traveled so far out of her way to give of her time and knowledge and we are so grateful!

These gardening techniques are truly incredible. You can create an amazing garden in 20% of the space you would use in a traditional row garden. The use of composted soil gives healthier crops and a higher crop yield. It uses significantly less water than traditional gardens, and takes a fraction of the time to care for, since the method means almost no weeds. We were shown examples of SFG's in Kenya-- some that didn't work, and why, and some that were amazing successes. One small orphanage was able to stop buying vegetables completely, and were hoping to start another garden for food they could sell!

SFG was introduced at New Life last year, but due to various factors, has not done well since. We hope that in our groups this summer we can use new materials to train them, and truly get them involved! We hope to do the same for Sankofa, and for FFCI once we get established. If the people can get the concept and really do it, I am confident that it can help provide for the children. It's not meant to compete with farmers, but to work alongside them and to help bring more food to those who are in need of it. With our two groups going back to back, it hopefully gives us enough time to see how invested they are in the project, and to ensure that it can work. We are very excited! If you have any questions about SFG, check out their website above, or email me.

Fundraising and Sankofa Mbofra Fie Updates

The following is an exerpt from our fundraising letter:

"After several months as a volunteer at New Life International Orphanage, I thought I had seen just about every joy and trial a West African orphanage could bring—until the day a desperate father arrived. He stood in the dark, narrow hallway of the whitewashed building, clutching the hand of his little girl and holding his toddler son in his arms. He spoke only broken English, so the orphans helped translate his message. His wife had just died, leaving him with the two young children. As a fisherman who spent his days on the sea, he could not properly care for his children, and he had no one to leave them with. We were the third orphanage he had come to asking for help.

“Just small time,” he pleaded as he let go of his daughter’s hand to shift his son to the other arm. She came slowly to me, taking my hand and giving me an impish smile. “I come back when they big.”

The director of the orphanage was nowhere to be found, but I already knew we could not take in any more children—we were already overcrowded. And so, as the only adult there to speak with him, I had to let go of the little girl’s hand and say the hardest word I have ever had to say: no. As I watched him gather his children and trudge slowly up the hill to the road with a look of resignation and discouragement in his eyes, I knew I never wanted to say no to a cry for help ever again.”
Shallee McArthur
Volunteer Program Coordinator, Families for Children International

Please donate today! If you can't, but would like to help, please pass around the letter to friends and family. Click the link above and to find the full letter!

Now, updates and pictures from Sankofa! A new bamboo school house has been built-- a larger one to fit all of the classes. Previously, the older classes had to hold class under the trees. We're happy they now have the room they need!

The new school house being built.

Even with the schoolhouse, studying is hard when sharing a book with 8 other children.

Meet Betty Ampong, a student at Sankofa, wearing her uniform.

Issues Affecting African Children #3: Food Shortages in West Africa-- Please Donate!

In a continent still largely fed by subsistence farming, anything can affect the availability of food. This article discusses the consequences of the late start and early end to the rainy season in 2007 is already being felt in West Africa. Rising food prices due to food shortages are beginning. Aid agencies are already being called on to avert hunger crises across the region. Of course, it is the poorest who are hit hardest by such disasters, and who knows when and if aid will come. So many places in the world need aid, and it often doesn't arrive until the pictures of children like scarecrows begin to grace our televisions.

Nana Esi, my host sister, age 4, is on the left. Adjoa, an orphan from New Life, age 3 1/2, is on the right.

This is an issue that strikes me deeply. It is in an area where those I know and love will be affected, which makes it more real to me. I picture my children's faces, many of them already too skinny and affected by malnutrition, if not starvation, and worry what this will do to them. I remember when I took my well-off, well-fed host siblings to the orphanage and discovered with shock how small and thin the orphans really were. For many of them, this started long before they ever came to the orphanage, and they certainly are better fed there than they would be in many other places. But they are my children, the children of my heart if not my womb, and the thought that their little bodies might suffer more than they already have makes me...afraid.

And so, I will do what many of them have already done at such an early age on the streets of Ghana: beg. Please, if you have the means, and maybe even if you feel you don't, please donate by clicking on the Donate button on the right. All donations go directly to the children pictured and talked about here. People often mention that "for the price of a cup of coffee..." I don't much care about the price of a cup of coffee. I care about my children, and I beg for your help to keep them fed and well-- whether it's the price of a cup of coffee, or less, or more.

Nana Esi, right, age 4. Comfort, left, an orphan from New Life, age 8. Such are the effects of malnutrition.

(All donations are made to Families for Children International securely through PayPal, and are tax deductible. )

CLARIFICATIONS

I just wanted to clarify a few things on this post. Donations made will not go to handouts that do little in the long run. FFCI's goals are to help children and the organizations that support them become self-sufficient. Famine, food shortages, and rising prices are not new in Africa, and they will continue. We use our funds for projects such as square foot gardening, chicken raising, and micro-enterprises such as soap making. Some of these have already been started at New Life, and need a little boost. We are planning to implement them at Sankofa and FFCI as well with our summer volunteer groups. These projects help provide food and income to the children and the orphanages, and this news of food shortages and rising prices means a harder year ahead for West Africans. Our plan has always included these projects, and the need has become more urgent. Please help us create a self-sustaining environment for these children!

On the Road Again

I'm happy to report that our founder and president is out of the hospital and doing well! We are very relieved and grateful. If all goes well, he and his wife hope to travel to Ghana in March! Please continue to pray with us that they will be able to go and begin our school!

I will post again soon! For our next Issues Affecting African Children post, I will be discussing microcredit and the phone call I was able to sit in on featuring Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank. We will also soon be hearing from a volunteer who has just returned from Ghana on a trip to help fund and build a new building for New Life International Orphanage! Stay tuned!

Please Pray for us!

So we've had a setback in our plans for this year in Ghana. Families for Children International founders Blaine and Katherine Porter were scheduled to leave for Ghana on Jan. 15th to finally begin the building of our school-- the first step of many. However, on Monday, Blaine began complaining of chest pain. After some tests and x-rays, it was discovered that he had several blood clots in his lungs. He is to be in the hospital all week as they watch him go through a round of blood thinners. He is feeling alright, but both he and his wife are of course worried, and very disappointed that their trip must be postponed. They hope to still be able to get over this year to begin the school. Please pray for Blaine to regain good health!

In better news, a former volunteer at New Life International has returned to Ghana this Christmas to see how progress has gone on the new building she has funded! The building will provide more sleeping, living, and playing space for the children, so they no longer have to share everything-- even beds. Hopefully when she returns, she'll be able to give us an update!

Volunteer at an Orphanage in Ghana, West Africa!

I am very excited to announce that next summer, Families for Children International, who has partnered with New Life International Orphanage in the past, is sending two volunteer groups to Ghana! If you would like to volunteer abroad, volunteer where you are, or donate, please visit http://familiesforchildren.googlepages.com/ and follow the directions on the main page.

Volunteers will be volunteering at Families for Children's new orphanage/school, Sankofa Mbofra Fie Orphanage, and possibly New Life International! Please note that this is not sponsored by NLI, but will hopefully do much to help the children there and at the other orphanages.

This is an incredible opportunity to do what you can to help children in need. Even if you can't volunteer abroad, we will gladly accept any and all offers to help, or donations toward the projects we will be doing while abroad. Until then, I'll leave you with this video of my own host family, as a taste of the experience you could have!

New Life Orphanage, SOR, and FFCI-- Partnering to Help the Orphans of Ghana, West Africa

When I decided to volunteer in Africa over two years ago, I didn't realize that the continent as a whole takes hold of you once you're there. I was a teacher at New Life for the preschoolers, and was there for only a little over four months, but I developed such a deep love for Ghana and for the children I had come to know, I simply couldn't stop helping when I came home. At first, I worked on my own; I had traveled alone, and knew of no one else in my area who could help me. At the orphanage director's request, I began to set up a volunteer program, which I called SOR, a word in the Fante dialect that will be explained in a moment. As luck would have it, I met the wonderful family who runs Families for Children International-- an NPO in my city building an orphanage of their own not far from New Life. I found other volunteers through them who had traveled to New Life for 6 weeks just after I left, and a wonderful partnership has begun.

While SOR is still merely a dream under the umbrella of FFCI, many things have been done to benefit both New Life and FFCI's orphanages. Below, I have listed the missions of the organizations since all three are integral to this blog.

SOR International- Standing for Orphans Rights
No matter where I am, when I look at the sky, I feel at home. It is the one thing that is familiar wherever I am. This, to me is expressed by our motto. In the Central Region dialect of Fante, Nyame te amen beebiara (nee-AH-may tay AH-men BAY-bee-ar-a) roughly translates as “God hears amen wherever we are.” It is my belief that we are all connected together, and that whether we be in Ghana or the United States, there is someone watching over us all. That is why the name of our organization is sor, the Fante word for heavens. We are all united; the same heavens are over us all. We all have the opportunity to strengthen this unity by serving those in need. For this reason, our logo is the Ghanaian Adinkra symbol Sesa Woruban, the star within the sun. It not only symbolizes the heavens, but its meaning is “to transform or change life.” As we change the lives of others, we change ourselves as well.
SOR (Standing for Orphans Rights) is a volunteer-based student group fighting for the rights of orphans in Ghana. We believe every child has rights:
-The right to a home
-The right to a safe, healthy environment
-The right to an education
-And most importantly, a right to be loved
We support the children in Ghana, West Africa through our efforts. If you are interested in helping, whether volunteering here or in Ghana, or just in offering support, please do. These are not just faces in a picture or stories on a page to us; they are children we know and love, and we see those children in the faces of all others. Please help us stand for their rights.
FFCI
FFCI is a Utah based non-profit organization dedicated to the belief that every child in the world has a right to an education, a safe environment, and love. Our mission is to provide loving care in a family setting for orphaned, abandoned, and destitute children in developing countries. We do this by:
• Nurturing the children in a family setting
• Providing education in a modern, well-equipped school
• Teaching life skills and preparing them to be productive members of their society
• Developing within them an appreciation for their heritage
Construction on an orphanage is currently underway in Elmina, near Cape Coast, Ghana. This orphanage will house children in a family setting, and provide schooling to the orphans and their peers in the surrounding community.
New Life International Orphanage
NLI provides shelter, food, education, medical care, and clothes for orphans, needy and abandoned children in the village of Ansapatu, just outside Cape Coast, in Ghana’s Central Region. The organization was established in 1997 and had been responsible for providing care and education for poor children ever since. The severity of the situation of orphans and needy and abandoned children in the rural communities is a result of poor parental control and a low standard of living due to poverty. Our objectives are:
• To increase and intensify the campaign of basic education by sponsoring more orphans and abandoned children and those who are talented and can not afford a basic education.
• To promote the rights and interest of children and to create a favorable environment in which children can realize their full potential. The preservation of children’s interest is in accordance with the UN convention on the rights of children.
• To build an ultra-modern orphanage which will be able to accommodate more children and will also have a school for the children and a vocational training center for adults
NLI currently cares for eighty-seven children. [Note: These numbers frequently change.] Forty-two of these children live in the orphanage while the other forty-five live outside the home with extended family members. They are usually living in extreme poverty and so are not able to take care of the children very well. Some of the children have to live away from the orphanage due to the size of the present orphanage building.

Though we are different organizations, our mission is the same: to bring peace, happiness and fulfillment to the lives of Ghanaian orphans.