Ghana Orphanage Foundation
Donation protected
There are over a million orphans in Ghana, living rough every day and night. The lucky ones are accommodated by missionaries or government orphanages. When I say lucky, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. Having spent many months, on numerous trips to Ghana volunteering at the handful of established orphanages, I have seen the lack of care, love and medical help children are given. Children and babies alike are dumped outside their doors daily and there is just not enough money to go around. No mosquito nets or medical care is supplied, which is heart breaking to see. I know first-hand the deadly consequences of malaria if not treated within 12 hours as my younger sister Laura caught a life threatening case of malaria on one of our visits. This was the worst experience of our life’s and it’s difficult to write about even now, so I can’t imagine what it’s like for a child who’s scared and helpless.
I’m not likely to forget what I have seen, but I can do something about it. With your help.
There are many reasons for the huge number of orphans in Ghana. The first is simple, there are many poor families in Ghana and many families cannot keep their children. Lack of birth control and education make this vicious circle for orphans.
Secondly is the widespread belief on witchcraft, which is linked to the number of orphans very closely. If a child is born with a disability it is often put down to a curse or evil spirit and children are shunned from their communities because of it. Particularly in those cases where both parents die before the child is an adult (which isn’t rare) and ignorant people make the child responsible for death and punish them with exile.
I remember very vividly the face of a small girl who’s own father had tied her to a tree and set it alight, all because she had a limp, but her father thought it must be the devils work. Somehow she had managed to free herself from the tree and escaped, but with scars all over her face and body.
Currently I have a half completed orphanage in a very rural, deprived area of Kumasi, Ghana. The money we raise will help support the Ghana Orphanage Foundation’s aim to fundraise the running costs of the orphanage and finish building it by September 2015. We will then be able to take orphans from the overcrowded government orphanages to relieve the pressure. Not only will we open our doors to abandoned children, but we plan to actively look for them with our small team of outreach orphanage workers, Ben and Mabel. They will visit extremely rural villages where witchcraft beliefs prevail, in order to offer safety to children and babies who have been exiled from their homes.
Our long term plan is to set the orphanage up as self-funding as we will open it up as a placement for western volunteers who will pay to spend a gap year volunteering at our orphanage, just like I did initially back in 2009!
I’m not likely to forget what I have seen, but I can do something about it. With your help.
There are many reasons for the huge number of orphans in Ghana. The first is simple, there are many poor families in Ghana and many families cannot keep their children. Lack of birth control and education make this vicious circle for orphans.
Secondly is the widespread belief on witchcraft, which is linked to the number of orphans very closely. If a child is born with a disability it is often put down to a curse or evil spirit and children are shunned from their communities because of it. Particularly in those cases where both parents die before the child is an adult (which isn’t rare) and ignorant people make the child responsible for death and punish them with exile.
I remember very vividly the face of a small girl who’s own father had tied her to a tree and set it alight, all because she had a limp, but her father thought it must be the devils work. Somehow she had managed to free herself from the tree and escaped, but with scars all over her face and body.
Currently I have a half completed orphanage in a very rural, deprived area of Kumasi, Ghana. The money we raise will help support the Ghana Orphanage Foundation’s aim to fundraise the running costs of the orphanage and finish building it by September 2015. We will then be able to take orphans from the overcrowded government orphanages to relieve the pressure. Not only will we open our doors to abandoned children, but we plan to actively look for them with our small team of outreach orphanage workers, Ben and Mabel. They will visit extremely rural villages where witchcraft beliefs prevail, in order to offer safety to children and babies who have been exiled from their homes.
Our long term plan is to set the orphanage up as self-funding as we will open it up as a placement for western volunteers who will pay to spend a gap year volunteering at our orphanage, just like I did initially back in 2009!
Organizer
Jemma Rebecca
Organizer