Build a future for children in a conflict zone

Happy to report a new school room has been built thanks to your support, this month we bring you the report of Martina Mlynská, one of our newest volunteers.

On Saturday 24^th September I was part of the team that visited Mah Di’s orphanage in Kumba to conduct a follow-up meeting.

We spent almost 5 hours talking to the children and the management of the orphanage and observing the progress they are doing with their Income Generating Activities and the school they are building. We also talked to Mah, the founder of the orphanage about the best practices that  other orphanages we are working with can implement in order to become better.

This report is aimed to summarize our experience and what we’ve learnt there.

The story of Mah

We got to talk to Mah, the founder of the orphanage about the story of how she founded the establishment. She told us that even though she has only one child, which is today 26 years old, she always had a lot of children in her house. The children of the neighborhood were coming and going and she never said no to and always took care of them.

One day she decided to buy a land to build a house for herself “God had different plans”.  As she built it, she realized that she might as well turn it into the orphanage. Mah is now regretting that she did not think of it before, because she would have had built it differently.

Nonetheless, she understood her love for children as her calling and that’s why even in her retirement she is dedicated to taking care of these children. Mah says that she believe that the fact that she gives so much of herself to them contributes to her good health that a lot of people in her age can only envy her. She looks very strong and every days wakes up at 5 a.m. to start the day with the children.

Impressions

Mah believes that her 40 children are her gift from God and she treats them as such. When we arrived, the kids ran towards us and hugged us. They grabbed us by the hands, took us inside and brought food to eat.

All of the children had some activities: some of them were working on building the school, some were helping in the kitchen, and some went to get water.

I observed that children were very good and loving towards each other and after talking to Mah I believe that it is because of the way she treats them. Her guiding principle for bringing them up is love. She considers them a gift and treats them with love and when children are treated that way, they themselves follow with the same behavior.

Best practices

What did we bring home to help other orphanages? There were many details, but probably one of the most significant ones, leadership is taught at a very tender age:  Each child has a younger brother and/or an elder brother assigned, and knows their responsibilities towards them. Kids are organized by age groups and they held meetings by themselves, they elect their leaders, discuss any problem of the orphanage and schedule the way chores are organized, to meet only every few months with Mah. This could be one of the secrets behind their great confidence and assertiveness.

Thank you so much for supporting this house, your children will not let you down!