Out of AfriKids - May 2010

Out of AfriKids

May 2010

AfriKids is a Child Rights Organisation working to improve life for Ghana’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in a holistic, inclusive and sustainable manner

Blessed with Grace, one of Mamma Laadi’s girls who has become Blessed’s ‘buddy’. Each younger child in the home has an older buddy who cares for them alongside Mama Laadi.

One child at a time...

Blessed, pictured above and below, arrived at Mama Laadi’s in March 2010 after being found by the authorities at an illegal orphanage. He arrived at the Foster Home, after staying in a hospital, extremely malnourished, unable to walk or talk and horribly weak.

Blessed just a couple of weeks after being put into Laadi’s care. Pictured below and above at the Foster Home.

AfriKids (UK) staff visited Ghana in March this year with a team from Deutsche Bank, very soon after Blessed had been brought to Mama Laadi’s. They were extremely saddened by what they saw but knew that within weeks of being cared for by Laadi, Blessed would be a different child.

Below is an extract from the monthly update the AfriKids (UK) team received from AfriKids Ghana, explaining the situation

For those of you that missed it, read Mairead from Deutsche Bank’s blog from last month’s newsletter here.

We collaborated with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) to rescue children from an unregistered orphanage. The children were kept under very bad conditions with no health care and proper feeding rendering some of them malnourished. These children were rescued by the DSW and with our support sent back to their various homes. Two of these children are currently staying at Mama Laadi’s Foster Home and the Next Generation Home. One of them who has been named Blessed is about one year and two months old. At the time of rescue he was very sick and malnourished and had to stay in hospital for a number of days. Mama Laadi has as usual worked some magic and Blessed is now a strong and healthy boy.

Written by Lena Naaso, Head of External Affairs at AfriKids Ghana

All of our child beneficiaries are supported on a ‘one child at a time’ basis, as well as designing large care programmes to change lives for hundreds of children at a time. AfriKids has worked with our partners to establish havens of love and safety where children on the brink can be taken and cared for until a loving home with relatives can be found. All the children in these pictures have been taken out of desperate situations by the police or social welfare and been taken in by Mama Laadi, Felix and JJ at the Next Generation Home, or Joe and Elijah at the Sirigu-Angus Child rights centre over the past year.

Out of AfriKids inside stories Sirigu Concoction Men visit Yumba Special School, Tamale Operation Sirigu, which won the 2007 International Service Award for Protection of children’s rights, has pioneered a new and inclusive approach to tackling harmful traditional practices. It has been working with local concoction men, who were responsible for killing spirit children since 2006 and has formed an association of concoction men against infanticide.

In a bid to completely win the concoction men and get them to fight for the rights of children, Operation Sirigu embarked on an excursion with them on the 17th of March 2010. They visited the Yumba Special School at Wamale, a suburb of Tamale. Yumba is a Dagbani word which means ‘Love Them’. For a special school with a population of 80 students and a staff strength of 10, you can imagine that without love and passion for the children the school would have closed down quickly; it is however in its seventh year of operation.

This visit accorded the concoction men the opportunity to see for themselves children born with deformities (and given the chance to live) in other parts of the country. The trip was a great achievement as lessons were learnt some of which are; the concoction men saw children with the same conditions of children they have killed before (and they were given a chance to live); What the concoction men saw served as a challenge to them and from their testimonies they are ready to give up the practice of infanticide; A bond of trust and commitment has been strengthened between the project and the concoction men.

This extract above came from the AfriKids Ghana monthly update written by Lena Naaso.

A group congregate together at Yumba Special School, Tamale; (left) and Opinions are shared in Tamale (right)

Thank you to Jane Howard, continually supporting AfriKids!

You may have received the AfriKids Family Tree Letter that accompanied last year’s Annual Report; it gave the example of Jane Howard, a long term AfriKids supporter who had helped raise over £60,000 for AfriKids. A year later, Jane continues in her efforts for AfriKids and is signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with her colleagues at CVC Capital Partners in June. Her fundraising for the event included a Pub Quiz in April which raised over £20,000 to be split between AfriKids and Alzheimer’s Society. Everyone at AfriKids would like to say a huge thanks to Jane, and wish all the Trekkers at CVC Capital Partners the very best of luck with their trek.

A special mention for the Grossmann family AfriKids has been supported by the Grossmann family no small challenge and all three had been preparing since Patrick, an orthodontist, and his wife, Paula, for months in advance, including a previous trip to first visited Ghana in 2007. Two years later Patrick Switzerland in order to train with the Swiss Army. revisited Bolgatanga and put his skills to use visiting AfriKids’ projects and advising the children, families and communities we work with on dental care.

Sadly, having missed a checkpoint by just 40 minutes, the team had to pull out of the race. However, this hasn’t deterred them and Ben has said he’s very tempted to give it a go in two years time.

The next generation is now getting involved, with their son, Ben, recently taking part in the epic Patrouille des Glaciers in support of AfriKids and the Army benevolent Fund (ABF) with two friends, Ned Truman and Alex Baker.

On the 23rd April, in spite of the volcanic ash that threatened to delay their departure, Ben, Ned and Alex set off on the hardest Alpine ski race in the world; the biennial Patrouille des Glaciers. The race took place in Switzerland and went from Zermatt to Verbier which is over 53 kilometres in distance with a difference in altitude of over 2,000 metres. This was

The fundraising efforts by the trio have been a fantastic boost for AfriKids and the ABF, raising over £4,000 for each charity. Thank you so much to Ben, Ned and Alex, and all the very best for 2012.

AfriKids staff, family, friends and partners run the first ever Brighton Marathon, raising over ÂŁ9000 for AfriKids

Kerry Ortuzar keeps the speed up , unable to stop for the camera (left), whilst Lissa Wallington, Communications and Events Manager of AfriKids proudly shows off her medal! (far left)

On Sunday 18th April 2010, eight people ran the Brighton Marathon for AfriKids, completing a 26.2 mile run.

Lissa Wallington, Kerry Ortuzar, Jeeger Kakkad, James Viviyan, Olivier Kouao, Michael Gavin, Alex Wilson and Matt Ponting collectively raised over ÂŁ9,000 for AfriKids!

We are extremely grateful for their commitment and drive in undertaking such a big challenge.

Alex Wilson is cheered on by all supporters and spectators (above) and Jeeger Kakkad takes it all in his stride (below)

Brighton Marathon 2010 took place for the first time ever this year and proved to be a successful day and we hope to repeat this again next year. If you would like to find out more about Brighton Marathon 2010 please contact Ama Atteen at amaatteen@afrikids.org Once again, thank you to all of the runners, sponsors and supporters.

James Viviyan enjoys his well deserved rest after the finish line (right) and Olivier Kouao runs with determination and stamina (far right)

Michael Gavin smiles in the sun (above) and Matt Ponting rewards himself with a chocolate milkshake after receiving his medal (below)

You are all invited to...

Rally your friends and come along to AfriKids’ BIGGEST EVER pub quiz!

It’s at a new and exciting venue and we’re expecting it to sell out extremely quickly.

Our Host and Quiz Master for the evening will be the (in) famous BINZAY!

HELP! If you are able to source or donate any prizes for our raffle, we would be truly grateful!