Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Today I'll show you around WORCSA and the people involved.
This is Mama Jane Adu, founder of WORCSA. She started WORCSA as an orphanage and women's shelter back in 2000 with her own resources. She is a recognized author, an accomplished teacher and a social worker on top of the work she does for the children. This is her on ''Beanie Baby Christmas," as I like to call it. A generous young man from my community donated over 200 Beanie Babies which flew overseas into the arms of the lovely children living here.
Akwaaba to Worcsa! Akwaaba means ''Welcome'' in Twi, one of the 3 tribal languages of Ghana. Twi is the primary tribal language in southern Ghana, where I was and will be returning, but most people also speak English if not the other two tribal languages on top of their own native tongue.
This is Ma Maggie, 1 of only 2 women working at WORCSA tending to over 70 children. Quite an undertaking, which is why volunteers come in such handy! This woman is incredible. She largely tends the youngest children as they're the ones in need of the most help. Each morning she manages bathe 10 or more children under 5 years of age, brushes their teeth, brushes their hair, and wrangles them into their school uniforms all before 7am. I spent a lot of my time working with Ma Maggie in the mornings and I assure you, though the volunteers help with this process she is the one keeping track of which pants go with which kid and what each child needs before they're ready to go.
Did I mention washes about this much laundry every day by hand out of a plastic garbage can? She does! And she does it with that beautiful smile on her face.
This is the courtyard of the orphanage. The well is in the foreground, chicken coups just behind them to the right, and lots of dirt. To the far right is the room where nearly 30 boys sleep.
The other side of the courtyard includes the many many laundry lines, the broken pump(kindly set up by previous volunteers, unfortunately no one can find the plumber who installed it to come fix it) and the 4 small bedrooms that house the girls.
And these are my favorite people, the children themselves! But more on them tomorrow :)
