NMSI donate Fridge to Orphan Aid

A warm and sunny Saturday in September – perfect weather to make the leisurely drive down to Dodowa, a green mango-rich district 40 km northeast of Accra to deliver a new four-burner cooker to Orphan Aid Africa. Cori Deterding, Orphan Aid’s Chief Fundraising and Officer, had mentioned the need for a fridge to house medicines for about a dozen of their children with cerebral palsy when a team from NMSI visited the home  earlier this month.

“We found a fridge being sold by an expat worker employed by the Orphanage who was leaving at a good price,” said Harry Oliver, NMSI Logistics and Security Coordinator.

With funds in already in hand,  generously donated by NMSI directors and their families on a previous visit to Ghana, the fridge was purchased. The  kids joined in enthusiastically to carry and unpack the cooker.

“We first visited Dodowa Orphanage in July, where we received a warm welcome from the very enthusiastic and dedicated team,”  NMSI Deputy  Chairman Fred Hsu, said.
“We were all struck by the wonderful environment they have created over the past 10 years, not only for the orphans but for the local village children as well.”
“We loved that the orphans are not institutionalised but rather integrated into a community where they live with and are cared for by foster mothers and attend the school which all forms part of a very happy and nurturing place to be,” says Fred.
Cash  from an  additional fund drive  within the Ghana NMSI office, spearheaded by Harry, was just enough – and in time – to buy a cooker for the Dodowa facility which packed up  in mid September.

Ghana Project Director Damian Malins took his whole family along for the occasion.

“What struck me is how well-run and happy the place appears. The kids seem so well behaved. But Cori reminds me that they are  like normal kids,” he said.

OrphanAid Africa was established in 2002  by Lisa Lovatt-Smith. Many of the kids  have been separated from their families by poverty, the HIV-AIDS epidemic or the exodus from rural to urban areas. The group employs  50 people at the campus in the village of Ayenyah next to Dodowa, as well as fund-raisers in Europe and the United States. The dedicated staff includes social workers, teachers, psychologists and other mental health professionals. In 2012 OrphanAid Africa  served close to 4,500 children in Ghana.