In July/August 2011, 12 members of Girlguiding Newcastle visited the orphanage and taught the children and adults at King Jesus Charity Home about nutrition and healthy eating. They also decorated the kitchen which was badly in need of a clean-up. GCT then paid for the construction of an outdoor cooking shelter so that it will no longer be necessary to use the charcoal stoves in the kitchen during bad weather. We also bought 4 new stoves which are fuelled using the waste husks from palm nuts, instead of charcoal, so are much cheaper to run and environmentally friendly. A bonus is that they produce a hotter fire than charcoal so the food cooks quicker.
The Guides also paid for the open gutters running through the orphanage compound to be covered with concrete. This was a joyous event at KJCH as previously almost every day a child would fall into the gutter and hurt his feet or legs. The Guides also cleaned and refreshed the library, putting up colourful posters and providing a table and 4 chairs for the younger children.
Clothes, shoes, school bags and books donated by GCT supporters were shipped to Ghana earlier in the year and are now in use at KJCH. The orphanage now has enough clothes to last a couple of years but is still in need of shoes, school bags and toiletries.
When Jean Edusei visited in July the orphanage was urgently in need of new mattresses. Jean wrote to Latex Foam Ltd, a Ghanaian Company in Kumasi that produces mattresses, and they very kindly donated 20 mattresses plus 2 made to measure cot mattresses and we are very grateful to Latex Foam for their generosity. The total value was approximately £500, so the money we saved on mattresses was spent on food and education for the children.
The orphanage is in the process of buying the house next door for the girls to live in. The girls have already moved in and the house is being paid for in instalments. GCT and the Guides from Newcastle have paid for 4 instalments and hope to be able to raise sufficient funds to complete the purchase of the house – approximately a further £8000.
