Osu Children's Home

For the past two weeks, our group has been going in pairs to the Osu Children’s Home, a government run orphanage. Caitlin and I spent Monday and Tuesday there. Throughout our time there the manager was very busy so we weren’t able to find out very much about the Home. As far as I know, it is a home for children who were abandoned, whose parents died or are keeping them there until they are able to fully care for them. Apparently they take in about 2 children per month, and are able to facilitate about 2-3 adopters per month. The orphanage is not staffed well and often depends on volunteers for help (which can be sporadic at best).

We spent the first day at the nursery, which was home to about 40 infants and toddlers, 0-3 years. Their daily schedule was something like, wake up, eat, toilet, bath, play outside (if old enough) until lunch, then eat, toilet, bath, nap…and so on. The toilet time consists of lining up all of the toddlers on their own little pot or bowl until they have gone. Very efficient!

I found it absolutely heartbreaking, while all of the physical needs of the children were met (adequate food, clothing and shelter), they were only lacking love and affection…and a family. The toddlers were not at their appropriate developmental stage and many were not well with respiratory illnesses. Probably the most difficult part was seeing the children who were around the same age as my niece and nephews. While Tyller is crawling around, a girl about the same age hasn’t even rolled over yet. I expected these toddlers to be running around but many of the children would sit there aimlessly playing with a toy or lying on the cement. It seemed they just wanted to be held. They wouldn’t even respond to tickling, but were just content to sit on my lap and be held close.

The next day we went to the school for children aged 3 to about 6. This was a lot of fun as we watched their assembly, full of praying, singing, marching and clapping. It was exciting to see the potential for the kids in the nursery. We also spent some time at a seminar for social workers on HIV and Aids Counseling (which was being hosted at the Children’s Home).

I think the experience at the Children’s Home has had a significant impact on our entire group. It was easy to pick out the challenges at the orphanage, and of course as nurses we are always looking at health and wellness of individuals, but overall we could see that the ladies there are doing their best and running it as well as possible with what resources they had.