THE EGYAM ORPHANAGE IS NOW KNOWN AS EGYAM CHILDREN'S HOME
PROJECTS
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Water Project
Sustainable Water Project
The FST Sisters officially took over the management of the Home on 17th January, 2018. They immediately identified the need to internally generate funds to augment donor support. They observed that the children were still growing and would soon proceed to the tertiary level of education where financial commitment to their development would increase dramatically, and they could not rely only on donor assistance. Therefore, they initiated some projects to generate funds internally to maintain the Home. These include a water treatment plant, a fishpond and a greenhouse project. They started the construction of the water treatment plant to produce water for sale to the local community and to also ensure the supply of potable water for the use of the Home. They prayed over a portion of land within the Home and started the water project with an initial amount that was close to but less than twenty thousand Ghana cedis (GHS 20,000.00) on 15th August 2019. With financial support from local donors, the water treatment plant has been completed and is currently operating.
Our Founder Mrs. Thea Van Den Bosch Remarks on the Sustainable Water Projects
November 12, 2022 “Today Thea and Herman received a tour of the new water projects from Sister Gladys. Its concerns a huge building near the orphanage that is reasonably finished downstairs and the upper floor is still under construction. The intention is to become largely self-sufficient in the future by selling filtered and packaged drinking water.
Since the orphanage is non-profit organization, it is not allowed to sell things that is why a separate foundation which will in the future led the profit flow back to the orphanage. Approval has already been received from Social Welfare for this. A sensible initiative because they realize that they cannot and do not want to be dependent on the Netherlands forever.”
“The building will be multifunctional. There is a department for water purification and packaging for which the enormous machines have been sponsored from America. The sponsorship came about through the connection of the pastor of Egyam Very Rev.Fr. Anthony Kodwo Eshun. There will also be space where the children can do their homework undisturbed and place where elderly, poor can be cared for.”
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Locally improvised Greenhouse and Catfish farming
A fishpond has also been established and will soon have its first harvest to sell to the local community as well as supplement the food needs of the Home. In addition to these two, a greenhouse project is also ongoing to serve the same purpose. Both the catfish and greenhouse projects are supported by the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) under the Greenhouse Project, funded by the European Union Twin-City in Sustainability Development Project. Even though these projects are still in their infancy, they have given hope to the management of the home that it has a great chance of being sustained, and indeed has a future, despite its challenges.
What the Sisters foresaw and started these projects was confirmed when in 2019, the Dutch Foundation which is the initial and main source of funding, officially informed the Home of their inability to support tertiary education. They further divided the subsidy into three parts with only a third of it going to the Children’s Home. Since the management of the Home had already envisaged this problem, it was not a big surprise at all, because by this time, the Home had taken steps to enroll some of the inmates in Senior High Schools (SHS) and tertiary institutions, thanks to the free senior high school education. The MasterCard Foundation through the Kwame Nkrumah University and Technology (KNUST) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) have provided tremendous support in this direction. In 2018, sixteen (16) children of the Home were enrolled at the senior high school. Some are also being trained at the tertiary level at KNUST and Takoradi Technical University (TTU). Indeed, one had a full scholarship to study medicine at KNUST, and is doing well. Presently, there are twenty of the inmates enrolled in various tertiary institutions.
With current efforts to increase funding internally, there is hope that many children in the Home will have the benefit of formal education. Following are pictures of the projects of the Home:
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COMING SOON
