Children Projects

Residential Care - Grace Village

The Woreda Social Affairs Bureau informs Abraham’s Oasis of an abandoned or orphaned child and takes a case history of the child, drafts and sends the letter about the child to our office. The child is then considered based on vacancies and the age of the child and once approved the child is examined medically and the HIV status is assessed and then the child is introduced to the housemother and the other children and made to feel welcome.

Children are integrated into the school system according to their previous level or assessed to see which grade they are ready for. Many come with no papers or previous records and this requires carefully handling. The children attend primary school on site at Grace School and secondary school in Shire Town.

Grace Village is home to needy children and youths where oversight is given by a childcare coordinator. Each house has eight to ten children with two housemothers. The mothers care for the day to day needs of the children. Each child has a sponsor who is informed of the child’s progress and developmental status. There are recreational activities and play areas where the children may play.
In the home for the teenage boys there is only one housemother because we want these lads to learn to live in a more independent fashion, to enable them to study and learn to be more self-sufficient for the future. They are given more responsibility in managing the home, doing their own laundry and helping their housemothers.

Child health is monitored by the health coordinator who manages most problems and refers more complex illnesses to doctors in Shire. The housemothers and older children are given health education and taught basic first aid skills.

There are four children who are HIV positive and two mothers who are also HIV positive. Five of these are on anti-retroviral treatment; all are under follow up at the local HIV/AIDS department of the hospital.

The village is permanent home for fifty two children and we plan for up to sixty children, for this we would be obliged to build another home and the current plan is to remain as is for nurturing the children and teens.

In order to make the childcare village sustainable for the future, we would like to see Grace Farm develop into an efficient farm where items could be marketed and bring about income generation that would be fed back into the village allowing the charity to generate its own funding.

The Community Child

It has become increasing common to encourage children as much as possible to stay within their own communities. Supporting the extended families or the older sibling makes this feasible and enables the child to continue school. Without this extra support the child may not be permitted to attend school because s/he is the ‘poor relative’ and must work to pay for his / her stay.

We work in close collaboration with the Social Affairs Offices when accept children judged necessitous into the community childcare program, this is based on funding available and the true nature of the said child’s needs. On occasions the school may recommend a child to us and we refer them to the Social / Education Offices for clearance.

By providing a reasonable amount of money, school fees may be covered, a little extra for food for the extended family, schools supplies are given to the children and s/he is thus able to continue his / her education. Medical problems can be addressed quickly by funds available for this purpose.

The child is seen if ill or in problem by our team of childcare workers, who also do home visits if requested. Absenteeism is checked by the childcare worker, and recommendations are made. Children who move away are removed from the program for logistical reasons and children who stop attending school without valid reasons are also released from the program.

The child has a sponsor who receives annual reports of their school achievement and a note of thanks along with a photograph of the said child. A small saving account for each community child is opened at the bank so that the child has some funding when s/he leaves school or goes onto University. Currently one of our sponsored children is attending University.

Child Protection

It is through the above two programs that Abraham’s Oasis has become known locally and UNHCR has requested the agency to provide Child Protection for refugee children. The refugee camp is some 80 kilometres from where we are situated. We have registered all the children at the refugee camp which included unaccompanied minors, and we have established shelters for these children ensuring a safe place for them to stay / live and that they are getting food and attending school.

Shelters with housemothers have been established for unaccompanied minors where girls and boys are be kept separately unless they are young siblings when special arrangements are be made to keep them together in a shelter. Older children and young teenagers will be lodged separately for their own safety. Siblings spent time together during the day, but at night when the female teenager is exceedingly vulnerable more protective environments are required.

We have planned a safe haven for the children/ teens in the ‘Oasis for Kids’ a centre where these vulnerable children/ young teens may feel free to come and play, do art work, express their hurts through art and/ or song. The children /teens are encouraged to attend school and to continue with their education, this is provided by the international and national refugee agencies with whom we work closely.

In ‘Oasis for Kids’ there will be one-on-one counselling and group therapy to help the children work through their anxieties. The future of this project is dependent on UNHCR. We have been fortunate to have guests come through who have been moved by the plight of these children and have given extra. This helps us meet the needs of these youngsters in a more humanitarian manner.