Royal Seed Needy Home

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Some of you have been asking me to tell more about the Orphanage I'm working at. There is soo much to say!!
Where to begin... well it is in better condition than what you can see on youtube. The place has developed a lot since the last year when the videos were taken. Anna Smith, an English girl, had raised a lot of money for the place. It was her and another volunteer who made the videos. Her boyfriend is trying to setup a website for Royal Seed. In fact, she is currently here and the 2 of us get on really well! Another girl is coming to volunteer and she heard of the orphanage through the website! Anyway, the toilets and wash cubicles (there are no showers, we use a bucket and cup) were donated by Anna. Her family and church managed to pay for one dormitary where most of the girls stay. The boys sleep at the end of the classroom block and some of the toddlers are in a... wooden shack. A dinner hall and a second dormitary are being built. Ok, currently not as the orphanage has run out of money. Once in a while we have some very kind people come by and donate food and clothes for children, which they really need. Without these donations the orpahange wouldn't last long. A few weeks ago we had run out of water. We were using dirty water from a well to wash ourselves and our clothes in. The volunteers and adults drunk filtered water. Us volunteers were getting worried about our health and the childrens', so we bought a water polytank. This costs about 35 pounds. Everyone was much happier when it arrived. However I heard it only lasts a couple weeks!

I have really fallen in love with these children. There are some which I'm particuarly fond of, and some which adore me too!? I just love to cuddle them whenever I can. In the mornings they all get up at 4am to say their prayers, then they start their rountine of brushing their teeth, washing themselves, smearing oil on their skin (probably so they don't get sunburnt) and then put their school uniforms on. I help them with these things as well as serving their breakfast (rice water with sugar). I wash their clothes while the children sing their National Anthem at assembly and then march into school (which is in their orphanage grounds). I only give Creative Art lessons on Wednesdays to class 4 now, which I enjoy much more than what I was trying to teach before. After school I sometimes help with washing their school uniforms and help with homework if they ask for help. They sing the prayers at 7pm, which sounds beautiful! I wish I could record their singing and bring it home. It is one of the things I will miss the most from Royal Seed. Sometimes I join the children in the girls' dormitary to watch Ghanian Soaps (terrible acting lol) or football ^^

What more can add... Yesterday a new baby orphan arrived! The tiny 3 month boy came from Cape Coast, so Naomi (the mother of the orphanage) had to go and pick him up. Apparently the baby's mother was mad and had left her baby. Social Welfare are trying to identify his parents. Us volunteers have decided to call the curly haired boy Noah 😊 As Anna Smith is here for 3 months, she will be his 'mother'. Lol we don't know much about how to look after a baby, but we are learning. To be honest, the adults do a lot of the work as they all have experience 😉


When I can I will add photos of Royal Seed and the lovely children 😊 I have loads of the children as they love to have their photos taken (and to make photos themselves of each other and their home!).

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Photos

Royal Seed grounds
Kindergarten (left), office and bedrooms (right)

school assembly
looking down from the dining room roof

hanging the wash
above the dining room

Comments

[katie]

hi there, i volunteered at this orphanage in august 2007 for a month and when i returned to england i fund raised £1000 for them. i have been told by naomi how the money was spent, but it is nice to see pictures, thanks x