The past few months have been very busy for the Nyandengoh! team. There are about 80 children now who need regular visits. We can’t wait to welcome one or two more workers over the next few months, and would continue to appreciate your prayers towards this. It is not easy to find qualified, enthusiastic people who are willing to work with our target group. Sadly, there is still a lot of fear and stigma attached to working with children with disabilities.
In March, we had our regular visit of the Enable the Children team from Freetown. In the morning they assessed 8 new children, and in the afternoon 19 children came back for follow-up visits. A group of six adolescent girls with intellectual disabilities was invited for a group meeting with the counsellors, to talk about issues related to growing up as a girl. Every one of them received a care package with a nice “lappa” (cloth wrapped around the waist as a skirt), comb, toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.
About two weeks later it was Easter and over 60 children and their parents came together to celebrate. They watched the children’s version of the Jesus movie, colored pictures, and enjoyed a good meal of Jolof rice. Some of the children had fun in demonstrating to the parents some of the games they play in their weekly classes.
Before they left, everyone received a brand-new mosquito net, donated by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Kudos to the team for the initiative they showed in requesting these from the Government! So many children still come down frequently with malaria, and sleeping under a mosquito net (without holes!) makes a big difference for them.
We want to use this opportunity to say Thank You to Dr. Richard & Cathy Toupin for their support of Nyandengoh! during their stay with the UBC Mattru Hospital over the past couple of months. It was so helpful to have them around to see some of our children and give advice on some of the medical issues and epilepsy care…
The Yoders are looking forward to their upcoming trip to Sierra Leone (August 17-September 22). Please pray with us that all the logistics will work out, and that Sierra Leone will be protected from the Covid-19 pandemic that is threatening to get worse in the African region.
Thank you for your support!