Volume 2 Issue 6
Have you ever felt you were in a whirlwind and then suddenly it becomes very still and it feels strange?
That’s about what it is like in Hand-in-Hand right now. Each of our projects is moving and yet in a momentary place of stillness and then rushes of movement. Mama Dinah had unexpected surgery and is recovering. She is out of the hospital, and still not well enough to do follow up with the driller she has chosen to drill the borehole and discuss the contract to be sure it includes every thing that will be needed. She was able to stay with us a while on our twice a month leadership team meeting calls and even had enough internet bandwidth for us to see her smiling face and be reassured she was healing from surgery. We know that we are close to having enough money for this project and don’t really know how close until she has further conversations with the driller. Because the driller expects to drill down over 200 meters, it will not be an inexpensive project. And again because of the depth, the solar powered water pump is costly as well. We still need to confirm that either the drilling contract or the pump contract have a water tower for storing water during non solar times. Once we have final figures we will calculate how much short we are and do a fundraiser for the final amount.
Sister Agnes and her consultant decided to stagger how many eggs they incubated at one time so there is a rotation of ages and hatches. They now have some chicks that are about a month old and some that are a few days old. The real excitement begins now as they grow to the point that in 4 to 6 months they will start laying eggs. In the meantime, the incubator will be hatching new eggs on a rotational basis. She is already marketing chicks to the community and there are some who would want to buy day old chicks and raise them themselves. Of course the majority will be raised right there in the poultry shed until they start laying eggs and then the eggs will be marketed.. This time coming up is an opportunity to work out anything around water, electricity, food and water feeding stations, antibiotics and medicines etc. Sister Agnes continues to raise the pigs as well in a small shed on the convent property. She is delighted to have this additional potential income for sending students with aptitude to secondary school programs.
The first photo shows the recently hatched chicks under the heat lamp feeding and getting water and the second photo shows the month old chicks milling around.
For Mama Charity lack of water right now has affected her ability to have the widows plant crops She has decided not to do the major planting on her land until next year and will be harvesting the crops she planted before the spring rains arrived. She had hoped to be supporting the widows in purchasing seeds to plant peanuts, and soy and then when they are harvested, they pay her back and keep the monies they make on sales to support their children. It’s a very challenging time on many fronts and still there are wonderful blessings also.
Mama Charity is starting a program to enable more children to attend school. Many families cannot afford the low tuition and some children have been abandoned and do not have families. Mama Charity does not want to turn any of the children away from an education so she is developing a sponsorship program in which donors can sponsor a child for a full year of school for 100 euro per child. As part of this program, sponsors receive letters from the children and progress reports. Each donor will have the opportunity to know the name of the child they are sponsoring and to see photos, and Mama Charity will see to it that the sponsor has contact from the child they are helping. Mama Charity will promote a relationship between the child and his/her Godparent and the Godparent will be welcome to come visit as well. She will need at least 50 sponsors for children attending the school in Ghana and another 100 for children in the orphanage. Sponsors are called Godparents to the child.
These are two of the children that will be looking for “Godparent sponsors” for their education starting in September
Mama Charity has updated us last week on Joanna , the two year old abandoned and malnourished, whose photo was in the May Newsletter. She was still in the hospital and she had lost additional weight. We just heard from her as we are going to publish the newsletter that Joanna is now home and doing somewhat better. Mama Charity appreciates all the good thoughts and prayers that come her way .
There has been an outbreak of Measles at the orphanage and the orphanage has been blessed with an angel in the form of a doctor who lives in the Netherlands. Dr Cecile Schat had worked with a medical team in Togo years ago and recently visited Togo and the medical team. One of the team told her about Mama Charity and the orphanage and Dr Schat visited with Mama Charity. Seeing unmet needs, Dr Schat arranged to pay for health screenings and vaccinations for the children. She arranged for the medical team to come and draw blood for lab tests on the children and then to come back and do vaccinations. Dr Schat is working with and directing the medical team from the Netherlands via video and phone visits with them. The blood has been drawn already and sent to the lab and results will be shared shortly and vaccinations given. In the fall Dr Schat plans to return to Togo and will perform well child checkups on the children and each child will have their own medical file. All of this is free of charge to Mama Charity and paid and arranged by Dr Schat.
The medical team came to draw blood on the children to do lab tests.
Ivana Petriskova, one of our leadership team members interviewed Marie Soprovich recently. Lucille Mandin and Ivana met Marie while participating in a Leadership program sponsored by the Global Institute for Evolving Women, simply referred to as GIFEW. GIFEW supports women in stepping into their greatest dreams and making them a reality and Marie did this with Lucille. Lucille was dreaming of creating an NGO to enhance the support for the three African Women and communities she had come to love and to create a program that would live on. Marie and GIFEW supported her to take action and thus Hand-in-Hand with African Women was born. Marie speaks about this process in this interview which we share with you:
On the evening of May 26, 2022 Hand-in-Hand sponsored a Spring Fashion Show at the Caprice Consignment Shop in Edmonton (10630-170 St). The shop carries pristine designer used clothing for very fair prices. The event was to introduce our local Canadian supporters and their friends to this new opportunity and to have some fun together. Three of our friends in the Edmonton area modeled clothes for the attendees. Lucille shared the story of Hand-in-Hand with African Women and Glenda Polak, owner shared how purchases result in Hand-in-Hand getting a percentage of the shop’s income on the sale. The event included a raffle of a painting by one of our Team leaders, Barb Onyschuk, and a whole lot of shopping and laughing. We hope our local Canadian supporters will consider adding Caprice Consignment Shop to their list when looking for a new outfit or when clearing out their closets. This is and opportunity to choose sustainable fashion for the planet and Africa! Our circle widens!
First photo: Lucille, Marie and Cara just before the event starts and Barb just sold “an arms length” of raffle tickets
Marie Soprovich and Cara Pullan “strut their stuff
Lots of joy expressed on faces! Anna- Marie Petruk dazzles as she models her outfit
So we started the month with a whirlwind and then stillness and we finish it in the same way. Lots of activity with moments of stillness to reflect on the blessings each project has as we move forward
Donations are deeply appreciated and being used towards Mama Dina’s project to get water to her community. We will have more information over the next few months on the Godparent program for Mama Charity’s children and of course we are excited to watch the chicks grow into maturity and hear about sales of pigs/piglets with proceeds to go towards children’s education. And if you happen to be passing through or living in the Edmonton area of Canada, be sure to stop at Caprice Consignment Shop at 10630-170 St and tell them you are a friend of Hand-in-Hand!