Build a future for children in a conflict zone

Dear Friends,

It’s been close to one year and we can say that the journey they started eleven months ago when they entered into GlobalGiving has brought results, including a fully functioning fishpond that will have its first yield this March. 500 fish! If properly sold it’s basically their budget for half a year. In these eleven months the orphanage has completely changed its face and its issues: feeding, clean water, hygiene and health are all properly addressed; now we are talking about full sustainability and bringing up a school/vocational training center for the orphans and the community.

In fact, this relationship is not one sided, there are some things we have seen in Mah Di’s that we have learned and we are now advising other orphanages to copy as best practices. The way they keep clear records of donations and sources of revenue, the way they diversify their revenues among different sources, most of them good business ideas, the way they built a relationship with the community around them. This December the store room was full of bags of rice and other items given by individual benefactors, like you they care about the orphanage and they provide what they can. One day we were even surprised by the bike driver carrying us there, he did not only know the orphanage, he was a donor himself!

Since our last report, you, we and they have:

• Started construction of the poultry, the first payment was done and the pillars and the floor are being built up as you read these words. With such a structure the orphanage will be able to raise bigger, healthier chicken and continue growing. They will provide the resources to be adding chicken, but they can hardly come by the kind of capital for building such structure, that is why we are stepping in. We have uploaded a separate microproject in order to build a fully functional poultry, so far we can only provide for half of the desired size. If we exceed the goal we will also provide the chicks and feed. You can support them following this link, initial donations (no matter how small) are great because they help give visibility to the project, this microproject will last 60 more days before it is retired by globalgiving. https://www.globalgiving.org/microprojects/poultry-farm-for-mah-dis-orphanage/

• Built a small piggery to better rear pigs, the old one was a very old structure that crumbled when a young male got too excited.
• Provided sportswear for the orphans, a friend of the organization provided the clothes and these will make the cost of schooling less of a burden for the orphanage.
• Admitted 4 children from the community to the nursery school, who are paying their fees on installments, this project is already turning into a business!
Added a new baby to the family! He was brought to the orphanage by the Ministry of Social Affairs due to a family story we cannot disclose, he is now number 41.

We hope you are pleased and we want to close with some stories of our boys and girls, as told by Mah Diane.

“Bridgette (8) loves book. She loves to read, she scatters the whole library at any chance. She loves book, but you give her housework…. Anyway she is very good, she is 7 and teaches the children in the nursery from time to time, she teaches numbers, letters and songs she remembers from nursery herself. It was her initiative to start teaching. She says she wants to become a teacher when she grows up. I did not say anything but I love to see her teaching and I always give her some small sweet after class. But don’t give her housework she will run away… she has some small stubbornness in her.”

“Emanuel (21) is hard working, youths get to the age of adolescence and start getting ideas of their own, they don’t have time for you anymore, but he continues growing and getting more and more responsibilities. He is managing the fishpond, in fact we want to do more fishponds now, he has learned from the technicians how to build it and care for it and we think we can expand at half price. He will be the one building the poultry, leading the rest of boys. He gets construction jobs during school breaks and employs the other older orphans, and he always brings something for the house. He does not look like a teenager. Any problem; he is the one gathering all the other orphans to discuss. And he does not know how to keep secrets, if something is wrong I just go to him and he simply tells me, he just can’t lie or hide anything, it’s not in his nature. –Mom, better I tell you and we see what we can do-”

“Monica (4)… she gets up very early and wakes me up. Then she spends all day petting other children, she is always following everyone and beating, hugging, petting and always laughing”

We thank you for changing their lives and promise to continue reporting on their progress

P.D: Remember you can follow us on facebook www.facebook.com/reachoutcameroon and you can support the new microproject. Share it among friends and consider a small donation! https://www.globalgiving.org/microprojects/poultry-farm-for-mah-dis-orphanage

P.D2: As the picture says... talk to the children of Mah Di's! If you want to share a message of encouragement for the children write to us on facebook or directly by mail at marc@reachoutcameroon.org