Needs

Action to Help the Children


Nutrition:

The children receive a varied diet and take three meals per day. Our main donor assiting us with this is the World Food Program (PAM). They provide the home with rice, oil, soya beans and other products available at the time. The products that the PAM can't distribute (salty fish, smoked fish etc.) are acquired by our own means.

Medical:

A physician of CHU, an organisation which provides pediatric care for children, assures the medical follow-up of the orphanage children for free. However, the orphanage is obliged to buy the medicines prescribed, which can be quite costly.

Educational:

Nearly all our children attend school (20 children out of 21). The youngest go to preschool and the rest attend up to the secondary level. The girls attend a high school for girls. Our efforts are today essentially oriented towards supporting the educational growth of the children by follow-up of school lessons. We ensure that they do their homework, and provide colouring-in pictures, benches, chalks, pencils and paper for drawing, paintbrushes etc. All these materials are acquired due to the efforts of the orphanage staff on the one hand and by grants from different organisations on the other. Those children who have never attended school or have left school at a young age, are involved in learning knitting, sewing, and later on a profession or trade of their interest.

Clothes:

The donated clothes that we receive are inadequate for the needs of the children. Often, they are made to a standard size and don't fit our children.We have to budget for buying shoes, sandals and school uniforms. Fortunately these are not needed every day because they are a huge drain on our financial resources.

Accommodation:

Due to collaboration with the director of Social Affairs, they recently allocated us a place to stay. While we have managed to avoid overcrowding in the bedrooms, we do endeavor to make the children sleep under mosquito nets; the girls in one dormitory and the boys in another.

Monthly Expenses:

Food………………………… .364,420 FCFA
Medical Treatment……….....…55,600 FCFA
Education (schoolfees etc)......115,000 FCFA
Clothing……………………... .160,000 FCFA
Electricity……………………….23,743 FCFA

TOTAL……………………...….718,763 FCFA

The Difficulties Encountered:

The greatest difficulty that we face, is insufficient financial resources. We must carry the load associated with rehabilitating traumatized children. They deserve not only the moral and physical education that they get at school, but referral to a psychologist who is a specialist on the subject of child trauma. They need this just as much as a doctor for physical health.

Our Suggestions:

Our concern to ensure that these children are treated by a psychologist has lead us to appeal to the Director of Social Affairs, to dispatch us a qualified psychologist. The load to look after these children is very heavy and we desperately need this assistance.

Future Plans:

Purchase of land for the construction of a better orphanage to fit the needs of the children.

 
© AMURTEL            Last changed : 6-09-2006