We had another birthday to celebrate here! Our “little” girl and first child in the home, has turned 9yrs old. After school lessons we had goodie bags with groundnuts/candies/biscuits/juice and a balloon each, we had some balloons around the house (note that balloons are the most coveted toy here), and some signs and ribbons. We all played games together, coloured, made beautiful butterfly crafts out of toilet paper rolls and construction paper (brought from Canada), read stories, and sang songs and dances listening to music. In the evening we had Nigerian soup for dinner and after with singing Happy Birthday, ate cookies brought from Canada and opened her presents. She got beautiful hand made card that Laurel made for us, new hairbands and a lovely set of three “my little ponies” that have hair clips and combs. Not only has she never had any toy before, let alone her own toys, she has never had a birthday celebration. Personally I have commenced to read her Birthday card over to her five times just this morning as she keeps wanting to hear it again and again. It just says it is for her on her birthday and how much we love her and are proud of her to grow and be a wonderful good child and love her family. As you can see, these things are so important, especially to children who have never heard these things, never felt loved or important, and never had anything belong to them, from a toy to even a house to stay in. Well, overall it was a wonderful celebration and day!
I am on the ground in the village after a bit of time away doing networking and promoting for TWCF. The children and staff have been managing remarkably in my absence. We certainly have a strong team and family here that are passionate about pursuing our goals and seeing them come to fruition.
The weather is very hot although it is rainy season, and the humidity slows everything down for us adults. Yet, the children still play, sing, dance and run around with great energy. Every night we are ‘Wowed’ by loud and amazing thunder and lightening shows. Although on a ‘damper’ note our laundry rarely dries and we are all wearing ‘damp’ clothes all the time (yes, that is a cheesy pun).
We are actively pursuing finding a second home as well as on the look out for more potential staff. Also we are in discussion over some land that looks great, so we ask for continued prayer in finding someone(s) here to purchase it on our behalf.
In the last few months we have had several offers of available land for purchase. While we had always hoped to have land donated it seems there are too many strings attached to something being given for “free”. We are happy to now understand that it may be best to purchase land so that the Foundation will outright hold the deed and ownership titles to the land. So with that said, many of the proposed sites are fairly suitable. We have our work cut out for us in weighing pros and cons of each site, while slowly enter negotiations to gain more information.
We are eager to find the right place so we can begin our permanent project site in Abia. It will be so wonderful to have our homes, and other facilities, built just the way we need them. Also, as time has been going and applications coming to the home for children to be placed, we are at capacity for our first home!! We need to have another home donated so we can continue accepting children while we work toward our permanent location.
So again we have a job cut out for us in now raising funds to purchase the land we decide on. Please join us in prayer, and spreading the word!!
Hello Everyone!
Things have been busy as usual in the village home. With our new children trying to adjust and our older ones doing an amazing job of trying to share and be kind, we also have added new staff recently.
We have a wonderful new young man who has been with us since the start of February, his name is Peter. He lives in the home with us and helps with regular routine of the children, house duties, and supporting learning. We also changed our female house mom and are so happy to welcome a lovely young lady named Amaka. She is doing a fabulous job guiding the children in school learning and everyday routine. So Welcome!!!
Hello!!!
We have exciting news…we have just accepted three new children into the home!! They arrived yesterday and are adjusting quite well!
There is Mercy who is around 4.5, Ijay who is about 3, and Emmanuel who is 1. They were in desperate need of bathing and food, and with help from our other children and staff are learning to pace themselves and adjust quite well. They are young enough that they are not too upset about the transition, or rather more excited to be sleeping in a house with a family and having food, after coming off the street begging for food and sleeping outside. It took some serious scrubbing and several buckets of water with Dettol soap to wash away the dirt and grime. We were lucky enough that we had one set of clothes in the house for each size of the new kids! Yay, God is good. So they each have a new set of clothes too.
YAY!!
We finally have our first vehicle. We have waited forever for this day it seems. It has been so exciting and such a relief. Already so many more things are able to be done with access to a vehicle.
We acquired a Nissan Terrano off a British couple who needed to leave the country to their next post. It was previously a diplomatic vehicle and the couple helped process all the necessary paperwork to change it over to a ‘civilian’ vehicle. I traveled up to Abuja and with the support of one of our volunteer staff, Gideon, followed the process for changing ownership of the vehicle. We also did a few little things here and there like, getting our logo put on the door panels and window. Val and I, with a driver, drove the vehicle down from Abuja to the village. it was so exciting to reach the gate and honk the horn. The gates flew open with the kids and all the staff and neighbors over to see it!! There was lots of sitting in it and driving it around the compound. Later that eve Amos seat-belted all the kids and took them out for a drive to the junction. They came back with stories of everyone in towns amazement and excitement for our vehicle.
So already we have been able to take the children to the hospital and lab which is about a hour drive away. We have had them all checked and tested and I am happy to report we have three very healthy children!! We have been able to go to Umuahia to the bank and market, as well as many more little trips!
We say the biggest THANK YOU we can muster to those of you who helped contribute specifically toward the quick purchase of this vehicle!!
Hello Everyone!
I apologize for the long delay in posting. Things have been very busy here with lots of traveling back and forth in the country, events and meetings, poor network, and lack of ability to be on the internet.
We are all doing very well! The children are great and growing. We as of a month ago we started drawing height measurements on the wall and it seems every few weeks they are passing them. They are also putting on weight… might have to start a regular DPA (Daily Physical Activity) session just to make sure they don’t put on too much. :)
There was information a while back that we were preparing for the arrival of four more children from two different cases. I want to update you that it is unlikely we will be receiving those children, do to different circumstances in both their cases. While our program is here to provide security, safety and opportunities for a future for children, we are NOT here to fight for custody of children from the situations they are in. We are working with different groups of people that are all leaders in some respect, to help us on behalf of receiving case information to work through. At this point in time, we do not and will not engage in action that actively fights cases to bring the children to us. We are here as an option for the children who meet our criteria and there must be a WILLING representative, be it a relative, community leader or government worker, who WILLINGLY releases and signs over the child to us.
I want to just let you all as followers of The Wanted Children Foundation know this information, so that you understand how our process works, and why it may seem to you that we have “few” children or not many children coming in all the time. We wait for Gods timing and pray and work very hard on each case and application that is brought before us, and there is a process to be followed to ensure the safety and security of the child in question, our current children in the home, and us as staff and a Foundation.
Take a moment to Google the story of ‘the boy and the starfish” to see how we view our work and our children. We are not basing our success on quantity but on quality; not how many we have and can get, but on how we can make a difference in the ones we have.
Well this has been an exhausting process for sure. After two months of paperwork, meetings, traveling back and forth between the village and capital…I am happy to announce that TWCFN has had a small number (out of the requested amount) of expat quota positions granted. Namely one position which is mine! So after months of tireless work, the first phase was accomplished this week. The second phase was taking those approved papers from Ministry of Interior, over to Immigration and having the new visas processed to allow stay in the country. So again, by the grace of God I am happy to announce, that in a matter of one day with massive support from our Immigration man, I have had my STR working visa approved! All of this removes one major stress of never knowing when I might have to leave. YAY!
While spending time in Abuja working on our papers, I had some interesting meetings and conversations with some individuals regarding OVC’s in FCT. Some time ago TWCF was asked multiple times to move and open our children’s homes in FCT as there was a great need in the middle-belt and more northern regions. Due to the religious conflicts going on it was something that was a possibility at the time. Although we listened with sad hearts to the types of situations that children were facing. Throughout the years we have been continued to be asked and encouraged to re-visit the idea of opening a home in the FCT area so as to meet the high need of placements for OVC. We previously were aware that due to religious conflict, there were many children left without parents, as well as children that were still being killed in villages due to traditional believes and juju magic. In the last few weeks I have been re-informed that these issues are still very much present. As a matter of fact, some of my friends up here are shocked that the practices still occur, especially in FCT, which is the state area that houses the capital of the country. The fact that is there are villages on the outskirts of the capital city that still practice the killing of twins, facial scarring and genital mutilation, sacrifices, black magic, ect. Aside from that, there are still many children that somehow migrate more towards Abuja, having survived journeying from the north were religious battles and slaughtering are still occurring. As I heard a story from a friend’s friend who is a lawyer (who was looking into a case that led her to one of these villages), I was reminded that these are all the same things that were going on a few years ago. I decided that while I was waiting on paperwork, I would start looking into these matters. With Kayode’s help we started contacting someone people in government and eventually had a meeting with the Assistant Director of Child Welfare for FCT. This man is also the one in charge of orphanages, setting them up/monitoring them/closing them down. This man confirmed that the issues I mentioned are still very much present, and the numbers of children that they are dealing with on an ongoing basis are too many to keep up with. Aside from that it would seem that there are many orphanages and motherless babies homes in FCT that get shut down due to improper paperwork, wrong motives, ect. This leads to the few proper homes being filled to over capacity. While we were in this man’s office, four children were brought in by the police having been found on the street, three separate cases. He said the day before a baby was found near a garbage pile, and over the last week four other babies were found. I discussed with the man about the protocol and procedure for setting up and running an orphanage home in FCT, and shared with him our program and how we run. After reviewing our papers, he was very excited for what we do and hoped that we will consider opening a home in FCT. He said there would be no shortage of children to place. I asked “if we open a home tomorrow, how many children could we have”, to which he stated, “you better give us a number of how many you want because we will keep giving them to you, do you want 10, 20, 30, 60, how many?”
Hmmm, need I say more…
As I have been in the village often when there is need for paperwork in Abuja to get done and moved about, our staff Peter has been working tirelessly at making sure things get done. Also a close friend of ours, Kayode, has supported this work as well as helping when I am in Abuja. Kayode is currently planning an initiative with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) of Nigeria that will address Human Security and Healing of Memories in Nigeria and that will kick off next year during the centennial celebrations in the country. This initiative has the support of the President and is being reviewed by him and his staff personally. As Kayode has been a support to TWCF over the past many years (I have known him since we started our work here in Nigeria), I also support him in his work with NOA. I have been asked to help consult on the curriculum and initiative by Kayode and the Director of the NOA. It is something I am honoured to do. The more I hear about this initiative and work on it, the more I see how it ties into how we are raising our children in TWCF. There is so much work to be done on teaching and training people in regards to human security (rights and assurance to basic human needs, safety, shelter, food, employment, respect, ect) and healing from wrongdoings by others. Hopefully by sharing ideas and raising important questions, solutions can be found that will create change and make a difference in this country.
Eg. An example of how there is an effort for change yet a struggle to implement it: I attended a ceremony and unveiling of a new initiative in Nigeria called “Do The Right Thing: Avoid Dirt, Be Clean”. There were dignitaries, politicians, religious leaders and international country ambassadors present. The initiative was introducing garbage cans to be used to reduce waste in the environment and keep our environment clean. While the initiative is a good one and supported, it has not been fully thought out. Not every state will get these garbage cans and push the agenda, let alone every city/town/village in the states that do get them. Also, once the garbage cans are filled, there is no plan yet as to what to do with the garbage in them. So we continue to have mass amounts of waste and garbage cover the streets and pile up on the corners, making the environment smell, becoming breeding grounds for bacteria and disease, aside from looking awful.