The orphanage in Kasoa...

This is a post I have been working on for awhile. I have thought about what I wanted to say and how much I want to include of my experience on this day. It was a day that will forever be in my memory. When you see me going about my life and if I seem like the same person I was before going to Africa, know that I am not the same. More than anything else on my 28 days in Africa, when I think of poverty, when I think of orphans, this day remains...

Kasoa is about 45 minutes from Eban House with the possibility of it being a few hours based on traffic. Before going to Kasoa, I saw pictures and I knew what to expect. I heard about the one pot of food for all the kids to share, the lack of electricity, classrooms with no supplies, bedrooms with missing mattresses, and the filth due to not having staff or supplies to clean the place. I asked around to try to see what was needed the most at this orphanage. While food was a need that they always have, I wanted to do more. Educational materials were suggested which peaked my interest right away with my background in education and my great uncle's desire to help educate the youth in Ghana.

I set out that morning with Muna, who runs the Eban House and Daniel the AAI driver. I wanted to buy work books and school supplies. In Ghana, nothing is as easy as going to one store to get the needed items. One store had workbooks so we got a few hundred dollars in workbooks but they did not have school supplies so off we ent to a second store. They had some supplies but I really wanted to get hand held chalkboards or whiteboards like they have at Eban House. We were told they had those boards at the market so we headed that way. The market is an area where there are several streets of merchants. Picture the craziest swapmeet you have ever been too and just multiply everything by a lot. So after getting into the market and to the area where we were told the boards were- no boards.

So now we needed to get the rice so we went and picked up a big bag along with some cooking oil and headed towards Kasoa. Our last stop was to get as much water as we could fit in our large passenger van. We do that last and close to Kasoa because we really weigh the van down with the water as Muna is gifted at filling the van and found room that I did not know existed to put more water!

So we arrive at Kasoa and several children come out to help unload the donation. While they were happy to see school books and food, the soccer balls were the most popular because after all, a kid is a kid. The largest portion of money that was donated to help those in Ghana went to the orphanage in Kasoa. This is a picture of the donation we made.

I was also informed that Auntie Rose who runs this orphanage has some medical issues but did not have money to go get help for herself. When meeting her it did appear that she needed to be seen by a doctor and so I spoke to her about going to the doctor and accepting a separate donation so that she could do so. I know this was hard for her to do but I emphasized that the children needed her to be healthy and at her best so she could help them. She seemed to understand.

The staff was very eager to show me around the orphanage. This was the hard part because seeing pictures is one thing but being there is another. I was there after a few days of rain and so every room was filled with standing water. To call the top of the building a "roof" is really a stretch as there was water everywhere. The ladies kept asking for insect repellant and mosquito nets. I was so upset I didn't have any that I wanted to get back in the van and go get some immediately but if you saw the muddy roads we had to navigate to get to the orphange door, you realized that we were already granted a gift from God to have made it there without getting stuck once and I didn't know if we would get a miracle twice. Note: I did end up giving money to a family that went to Kasoa right after I did and asked that they try to get some insect repellent and nets.
This is the outside, I just couldn't get over all the standing water. My mind immediately went to all the mosquitos this standing water is breeding.

This is the kitchen where they make food for up to 50 children.

This is where the children eat. There was so much water on the ground in this room that you really could not go back and sit at the tables, it was too deep.

This is the boys room. Not all beds have mattresses, a few have mosquito nets that are ripped and basically ineffective. These boys don't know any different, they were proud of their room. I think they are happy to have a place to lay their head at night.



This man is the science teacher. He spoke to me of how happy he was to teach the children science but asked if I could help him to get beakers and things for experiments. He only has what he is showing her but really wants to teach the kids by showing them an experiment.

Here are a few of the classrooms...






A final thought....While going through the process to adopt Selina, I was constantly on boards with others that have adopted from Africa. I noticed immediately that these families seem to almost be addicted to adopting. No sooner do they bring a child home than they are back working on adopting another one. I thought this was kind of crazy- how can people care for so many children? Now I know.

There are 148 million orphans in the world. One hundred and forty eight million orphans. When you see Kasoa and the children there, you can't help but to look at your house. When you look at the bedroom that these children sleep in and you look at your child's room you can't help but think, "how many more can I fit in this room?"

I no longer think it is crazy to want to adopt more children. I know what an orphan looks like, I know how they live and I see that there is nothing different between the children that were in front of me on this day and the children I gave birth to except for the situation they were born into. To my friends and family that have not adopted, you may see us and think, how can they care for another child as working parents, how will they afford another child? The truth is... these children need homes and when they are adopted and go to new homes, they thrive- we believe that every thing else will work itself out.

I am happy to report that several of the children in the picture with me have been moved to Eban House and are in the process of being adopted right now. I want to close by showing you some of these children that have already been adopted that lived in Kasoa for a period of time. Their awesome mothers (thank you Heather and Amy) allowed me to share with you that they are from Kasoa and I do so because I got to know these children when I was in Ghana and I love them and am so excited that they are home and transitioning into their new lives...


This sibling group of four was one that when I first heard about them, I so hoped they would find a home quickly but thought it would be hard for AAI to find a family to add four children at once. When they did find a family for them, I thought, "How lucky are these children" After meeting these children, my thoughts changed to "How fortunate for this family to be blessed with these four beautiful children". The youngest little guy was with Selina most of the time at Eban House as they are the same age- they were so cute together and it was so fun to watch them interact. See more of these kiddos here.


Sweet Williams as everyone calls him. He was so good to Selina when she came into the home. The staff told me that when she was learning to walk and would fall, Williams would pick her up. I saw him help her and be kind to her so many times while we were in Ghana. I am so happy that he is home now and with his family. See him with his new family here.

Thank you again for all that donated to make my trip to Kasoa and the donations I was able to make from all of us while there possible.