Additional Information

Title of Project.

The centre is called The International Christian Orphanage. A number of things observed in the society left to the creation of the orphanage. We now take a look as to the context and justification of its creation.

Context and Justification

The after effects of the economic crisis of the 1980 can still be felt in the Cameroonian Society. All sectors of activities were affected as no sector was left out. A fall in prices of raw materials, as in the case of cash crops like cocoa and coffee, drastic salary cuts of civil servants, the privatisation of some public corporations as well as personnel lay off and the failure and bankruptcy of some private corporations.

These all had negative consequences like income reduction, a rise in unemployment and loss of jobs. As a result, most families could not really feed themselves as well as ensure their medical care, coupled with the fact that the government no longer disposes of enough means to help the growing population.

The situation is further worsened by the outbreak and rapid spread of HIV/ AIDS, which has increased the death rate of the population. Another thing is that the people especially those in rural areas have no mastery of contraceptive methods giving rise to a high birth rate. In most cases parents pass away, leaving behind orphans who are abandoned to themselves. In towns, children are sent away by landlords, whose houses their late parents were renting, (since they cannot pay the rents, their parents being dead.) They then find themselves homeless and wander into spaces thereby becoming vagabonds. They do not go to school, receive no medical care, have nothing to eat, and are exposed to all sort of vices.

On the other hand, some are taken over by family members. However, the treatment they receive is deplorable; they undergo all kinds of discrimination and torture. They are maltreated and receive no care within the family circle. They are the ones who perform the most difficult tasks and profit nothing. They are either deprived of food or eat the remains. They are deprived of the rights to education and receive no healthcare.

Faced with these situations, these orphans prefer abandoning their families and they take to the streets, which become their only refuge. They soon discover however that life on the streets is not as easy as they thought. Not only are these children homeless and without shelter, they also sleep on pieces of carton or planks in the open, inside very old cars or abandoned and haunted houses. They find themselves obliged to carry out menial jobs to have something to eat. They do things like washing or guarding cars, transporting things on their heads, in wheelbarrows or trucks in markets, stealing people's purses and the like.

The streets as we all know follow what is known as the law of the jungle where the strongest survive at the expense of the weakest. The weaker children are thus deprived of the fruit of their labour by the older ones who are stronger than they. As concerns health, the general tendency is that when one of them falls sick, he is abandoned to himself and this is how many of them die. They suffer from diseases like scabies, ringworm, eczema and the like with no treatment at all for them. What is clear is that these children possess a great potential which if well exploited can make them responsible citizens, capable of contributing to their own development as well as that of the country. It is in this light then, having noticed all the dangers to which such children are exposed that we decided to create the orphanage to contribute our own small quota to the improvement of their lifestyle and in this way enable them contribute not only to national but equally to the international development. Who can be indifferent to the plight of these children after making such a case study?

Beneficiaries of the project

The work of The International Christian Orphanage (I.C.O) extends all over the national territory and even beyond I.C.O offers its services to all wretched orphans and abandoned children from 0-10 years old wherever they can be got and is already in charge of 20 children but has a capacity of 50 and even more.

The Objectives of the project

• General Objective

It has to do with improving the conditions of life of orphans. For this to be achieved, a number of specific objectives have to be attained.

• Specific Objectives

I.C.O aims at:

-offering an appropriate environment to orphans and abandoned children,
-giving these children all the material and psychological support they need to grow up and develop normally.
-turning orphans into responsible citizens,
-ensuring their general well-being in the domains of education, health, feeding and clothing,
-providing them an environment with leisure activities where they can bloom like flowers,
-fighting against discrimination against orphans in our society,
-sensitising the Cameroonian society on the rights of children in general and those of orphans in particular,
-cultivating a spirit of solidarity towards orphans within the Cameroonian society and beyond,
-training orphans in little trades so that they can easily integrate themselves in society as adults.

The Impacts of the Project

A-Social Impact

In the long run ICO aims at:

-Improving the living conditions of orphans and abandoned children,
-reducing social ills such as juvenile delinquency, the rising crime rate and the phenomenon of street children,
-Favouring the integration of orphans in the society.

B-Economic impact

ICO aims at:

-training orphans in small jobs like the manufacture of soap, dyeing, hairdressing, and sewing so as to enable their integration into economic life,
-participating in the fight against poverty by supporting the orphans who have been thus trained for self-employment,
-protecting children from need,
-helping orphans to be financially and economically autonomous.

C-Environmental impact

At this level, ICO aims at:

-contributing to the restoration of social order,
-convincing people at all levels of the Cameroonian society that orphans are not good for nothing but human beings full of great potentials that if well exploited can make them useful in the society.
-promoting the spirit of solidarity towards orphans
-making people understand that orphans have rights like all other children and consequently should not be exploited under any pretext whatever.

10 Ways to say Yes for Children

1. Leave no child out
2. Put children first
3. Care for every child
4. Fight H.I.V. Aids
5. Stop harming and exploiting children
6. Listen to children
7. Educate every child
8. Protect children from war
9. Protect the earth for children
10. Fight Poverty: invest in children

What Matters!

What matters is not to be happy, but to make others happy
What matters is not to be loved, but to love and be a blessing to others
What matters is not to enjoy but to share
What matters is not impose but to impose yourself but to deny (renounce) yourself
What matters is not to find life but to lose it
What matters is not that God should do our will but that we should do His
What matters is not that we live for long but that our life finds it’s real meaning (worth)
What matters is not what we do but why and how we are doing it
What matters is not what people think and say about us but what we (really) are before God
What matters is not what we are but how we are
What matters is not to have a lot of knowledge but to practice the knowledge we already have
What matters is not what we appear to be but what we are
What matters is not that we be spared from suffering but that suffering should attain its goal in us
What matters is not to know when we shall die but if we are ready to meet God.

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