Heaven Homes, Sierra Leone with Operation Orphan, April 2017
The first thing that hits you about Sierra Leone is the heat
– literally, as you step off the plane, smack! There it is! OK, I do come from
the Shetland Islands in the far north of the UK where the temps lately have
been a mild high of 5-9C so that may be why the average temp of 30C felt rather
warm, but even so! It’s not much cooler at night either.
I was on my second expedition with the charity Operation
Orphan, the first was a warm clothing distribution trip in Moldova, this one a
bit different: working in the school and orphanage of Heaven Homes in Sierra
Leone. There were just three of us, myself, Cyrilyn, Operation Orphan
co-founder/ director and a teacher and Morag, a retired teacher. The school was
set up to cater for the community, the homes came after when demand for
accommodation for Ebola orphans created the need. It was at this point
Operation Orphan became involved, helping Heaven Homes by providing funding for
building the homes and caring for the orphans. Four homes have been built, 2
are lived in the other two are nearly ready with the children living
temporarily in a building the other side of the school.
On our first day we went to visit the ‘aunties’ in the
homes. These 4 amazing women provide 24/7 care to the 56 orphans in their care. Their kitchen is outside, they cook over open fires and provide 3 meals a day for the children - making them 'well off' children in the eyes of the local community. The children include 2 relatively new arrivals who were abandoned and bring developmental
problems into the mix with the Ebola orphans. The older children just accept
them and carry them around, play with them – or ignore them, just like siblings
the world over. 
We also met with school staff on that first day, to arrange
training and get to know them a little. As we were taken around the school,
pupils in each of the seven classes stood and welcomed us into their
classrooms, the rooms mainly bare walls apart from the occasional poster, some
handmade some printed, the children beaming smiles, excited to have visitors. I
felt the teachers were wary of us at first but we became closer as the days
went by and we were soon being invited into classrooms to observe, be
entertained by songs, take classes and give examples of different ways of doing
things.
We did a day of teacher training with all the staff and I spent a lot
of time in the nursery showing the teacher how learning through play could take
place and sharing with her the resources we took out with us. Not
sure how sensible learning parachute games or the Hokey Cokey in full sun is
though! I have one of the
teachers on Facebook and I’m delighted to have that continued connection.
When working in the school we found out how difficult it is
to write every piece of work on a piece of painted hardboard. There are no
worksheets for the children to use, everything is written on the board by the
teacher for them to copy out, a time consuming process made harder by the bendy
surface and breaking chalk (at least when I was writing it broke!). Other resources
were in short supply, children sharing a pencil of having a blunt pencil but
nothing to sharpen it with for instance. To this end we are looking at putting
together resources for the school which will be sent out in a container by
Operation Orphan in July.
After school, the children from the homes change out of
their uniform and then head for the pump to wash it ready for the next day. While
Morag read stories to some younger ones, Cyrilyn and I tried to persuade the
children to let us help. It took a lot of persuading but they eventually let us
loose with a washboard and soap. My first attempt at a shirt was rejected as
the cuffs were still dirty and it wasn’t long before I was on pump duty
instead! The water pump is a vital part of the homes along with the roofed
outdoor kitchen where meals are prepared.
Once washing was done, I started to teach the children to crochet with t-shirt yarn. Never before have I taught 20 people to crochet at once or had it picked up so fast! All started learning to chain and were soon wearing bracelets, necklaces, headbands and belts. About 6 went onto learning other stitches with the intention of making mats – these soon turned into bags with one boy having completed a bag the next morning and done it in a stitch I hadn’t shown him! The children in the other homes also picked up the skills the following day as did 2 of the aunties. The peg weaving loom I showed the senior class at school another day was also picked up very quickly with all the children learning the different skills needed for preparing the fabric, setting up and using the loom and hand weaving sticks. They are very practical, very keen and very creative, the woven mats were also quickly turned into bags (spot a theme here?) with flaps and handles added with no further help from me, as well as headbands, bracelets and belts.
One almost guilty pleasure while at Heaven Homes was sitting
under a mango tree biting into freshly picked mangoes – never have I tasted
anything quite like a mango that has ripened naturally on the tree, still warm
with juice dripping. The fibres do get stuck between your teeth, but it’s worth
it! The food in general was wonderful, lots of fish, chicken, rice, small
cucumbers, plantains and SPICES. WE were very well looked after by Sani, Mommy
and Titiya – including arguments over who was going to wash our clothes, us or
Mommy – she won! By the end of the school week, I was allowed in the kitchen because I was now ‘family’, an honour I do not take lightly – and by Sunday I was allowed to pound the spices for the meal!
The bathroom at the house had no running water so we washed
with water stored in a large blue plastic barrel. As the level went down we
asked about getting it refilled. I tell you, your water consumption goes right
down when you realise the children are carrying on their heads from the pump at
the school for you! I can now ‘shower’ including washing my hair in 2 colander
sized scoops of cold water! The sight of one of the girls carrying a basin on
her head while walking along crocheting will remain with me as a highlight,
just as the women or yore in Shetland knitted while carrying a kishie of peats
on their backs.
While we were there, a group of 12 runners arrived having
run a relay of 650 miles in the UK followed by a 33 miles run in the heat from
Freetown to Heaven Homes. It was organised by Michael who had visited Heaven
Homes with Operation Orphan last year and wanted to raise awareness and do some
fundraising. The children had great fun learning cricket, racing the (tired) runners
and playing and singing with them. Some of the runners even had time to paint
the nursery yellow, a much brighter look than the original.
On the Sunday we had an afternoon at the beach. Mainly
occupied by tourists (backpackers tents aplenty) or the more well off from the
community it was a beautiful place with a backdrop of mountains and warm sea
water (strange!). We had what had to be the poshest picnic ever with Sani’s
spicy fish and cassava leaf eaten off china plates with proper cutlery. There were
even glasses for the water. I got in my only bit of shopping at a beach stand
(hot, hot sand!) buying a couple of batik bags and a dress.
Morag did a fantastic job sorting resources at the school
and creating a room for the teachers to use to meet, study and store resources.
She and Cyrilyn took classes on the Monday allowing the teachers time to go and
sort through what was there and sort it for themselves – so they knew what was
there and where to find it. She arranged for shelving to be put up and it made
such a difference. ( I was weaving with the senior class.)
A great way to end our stay – although we
did have an official goodbye at the school the next day. I can honestly say I left a piece of my heart behind me that day.
I would like to end with a conversation we had with Kippy,
founder of Heaven Homes, one evening. When asked what the cut off age for the
children being in the orphanage was, she replied, “There is no cut off age, how
can there be? If we said they had to leave at a certain age they would still be
orphans. They can leave, go to college or work and come back if they wish, get
a plot of land and build a house, raise a family. They’re family and that’s
what families do.”
:) xxx
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