Village of Hope

Saturday I visited the Village of Hope orphanage in Gomoa Feta, about 30 minutes from Winnebah. I went by myself because most of the group went to Accra but I wanted to check it out and set up a time for us to return and serve there. So I got my first experience on a troto on my way there which went well as I had some friendly people help me out. ha (A troto is a crowded 15-passenger van that holds anywhere from 15 to 25 people because the motto of a troto is that it can always hold one more. haha) Well I arrived at Village of Hope and it is unbelievable! It really seems to be the real deal...they have 175 kids right now in 8 homes and the ninth is under construction. Each home houses 18-24 kids and they live with parents so its basically just like a family except you have 24 kids instead of 3 or 4. But these parents really do love their kids. There is a boys quarters in the house and a girls quarters. 6 boys stay in one room with 3 sets of bunks and they have a bathroom with 6 sinks and several showers--I didn't go in far enough to tell how many--and the girls side is the same. The way they accept orphans is that if a person in Accra knew of an orphan he or she would turn in paperwork for the Child. Or the parent can fill out paperwork or the church of Christ can submit paperwork because they support it. Then Village of Hope sends a Social Worker to investigate and ensure that its a legitimate claim. Then they take the child if they have room so it sounds like a solid, good system. On campus they have a staffed medical clinic and the dental clinic is under construction but almost finished. They also have an agricultural program to raise food for the kids and teach them to grow their own food, and village of Hope has a feeding program for street kids in Accra. It began feeding 40 street kids once a week and now they feed 80 street kids 4 times a week and give them coupons for free meals at local restaurants they partner with so the kids can eat on other days! Ok back to the orphanage...Each parent has a task on site as well so some teach and the man who showed me around, Emanuel, he manages the onsite store. They also have a school that includes a nursery, primary, and JHS. The school even has a computer lab which is rare in Ghana but so good for the kids to be exposed to. They have a mural on the outside of their school that is beautiful and Americans volunteering there for some time were artists and as a project had the kids paint the mural! Such a sweet project! And the school is so good that they have two boarding houses with a mom and dad where kids live during the school year to attend the school. (This is common in Ghana.) And they have two school busses to pick up kids from the community for school and take them home after school--not common in Ghana. Ok so here is the part of Village of Hope that floored me. These kids take tests to advance to the next level...for example after primary school they take a test to go to JHS and after JHS they take a test to go to secondary school. that is the system throughout Ghana. When these orphans pass the test to leave JHS, the orphanage places them in secondary schools throughout Ghana and provides funding for the kids to attend and board there. Then on vacations they come home to Village of Hope. Then after they pass the test to graduate from Secondary school, Village of Hope assesses their ability and sends the kids with solid academic ability to university, others to polytechnic school, and others to vocational school, and they provide funding to send the kids to these places! Then once they graduate from any of these, they help the kids find jobs and places to live in the town they find employment! Their goal is to make these kids independent so they can in turn help others--WOW!!! What a vision! I love the fact that they don't drop the kids until they are capable of living on their own and providing for themselves! I had a great time talking to several of the parents and hearing their hearts and then getting to share my story of adoption. We really connected well through that, and I asked them if kids were ever adopted from village of Hope. They said it was rare because the kids have such an incredible opportunity there that they want to ensure that the kids will have an even better opportunity if they were adopted, and I really respect that and it shows their love for the kids. I'm calling them tonight and we are going to try to take some people and visit and serve them on Friday. Then we are scheduled to go Saturday morning, February 22 to spend the day there and I'm hoping to return at least one more time after the 22nd one day after school. They are totally donation based, and I actually befriended a man from Switzerland who stayed at Lagoon Lodge the first few weeks we were here and he donated $5,000 to Village of Hope and then after visiting and seeing it himself donated $5,000 more! I know that Isaac, the owner of Lagoon Lodge, also donates there, and when I was there they showed me three homes--the one I visited and two others--that were totally built by Americans. So if you are desiring to send money to me for our community projects, let me give you the opportunity to designate your money to Village of Hope. Personally, I think we will have plenty to accomplish our community goals and if we have any leftover, it will probably go to the orphanage. I am actually going to give most of my money straight to the orphanage because as someone who is adopted, that's where my heart is. I love seeing restoration in action, and Village of Hope gave me a glimpse of that on Saturday and I look forward to joining God in what He is doing there.