Help 19 disabled and disadvantaged kids in Ghana

Simona, our contact person from Ghana, is giving us fresh updates about the project Coffee Beans.

The shelter Casa Italia keeps hosting orphans, abused or ill-treated kids, providing them with medical care, food and school support, as well as the affection that all children have the right to receive. We are happy to tell you that all these “beans” are doing great .

The shelter successfully obtained the qualification of SPECIAL CHILDREN’S RESIDENTIAL HOME. This is a great honor, but it also implies important responsibilities. We all look forward to live up to what this qualification means.

Regarding our “beans”, our kids, we would love to share with you the story of Kwesi.

Kwesi reached our shelter when he was about two years old. His father was a violent and abusive man - with both his son and wife. One morning, when Kwesi was home alone with his father, he dared to take a bit of food without asking permission to the father, who took his tiny hand and put it into the boiling pot of food. The man held Kwesi’s hand in the boiling food for so long that his small fingers melted down, until the neighbours , attracted by Kwesi’s yelling, intervened and took him to the hospital. The medical staff tried to do everything possible to save his hand, and Kwesi had to stay long in the hospital, to heal from the temperature and the infections got from the mutilation.

After this horrific incident, the social workers issued a care order and assigned Kwesi to our shelter Coffee beans. Since that day, Kwesi never received a visit from his mother, let alone the father. However, as incredible as it may sound, he never stopped smiling. Kwesi is such a strong and brave kid! He’s always happy and playful with everyone. He’s such a dynamo of energy and is growing up happy and sound. Our main goal with Kwesi is to keep ensuring him love and peacefulness , following him in his school path and hosting him in the centre, until a caring family will be able to take care of the kid.

During his years here at the shelter, we accompanied Kwesi for his several fingers’ surgeries. And guess what? We are finally happy and touched to inform you that they have all been fixed! This is such an amazing achievement for Kwesi, for the whole shelter and for all of you supporting this project!

But the good news are not over yet! Despite the surgery and his absence from school, Kwesi managed to be amongst the best students, not only within his class, but in the whole school!

This is exactly what Coffee Beans is about: turning a kid’s personal story into a wonder of joy and hope.

This achievement couldn’t have been possible without you and your generous help. So thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our heart for your generous commitment.

Together we can achieve many other great goals.

Supporting us, Coffee Beans and Kwesi is very simple: just connect to https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/coffee-beans/ access the DONATE NOW area and make a donation 

Only one donation is allowed for every single person with a maximum amount of 50 dollars, so don't forget to spread the word and involve as many people as possible! 

Links:

• https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/coffee-beans/

As you might remember, our volunteer Valentina flew to Ghana in May to discover the “Coffee Beans” project – are you curious about her amazing experience there? Well, let’s hear her story!

“As soon as I landed, I was amazed by the chaotic beauty of its landscapes and its inhabitants, who were trying to sell Simona, Luca and me weird products of any kinds (from WC paper to exotic fruit!). But, the most pervasive emotion came when we dropped off our car: the 23 children at Casa Italia ran towards us, jumping up and hugging up as we have known one another for years!

After resting in a small but well-endowed bedroom, my visit of the Centre began. “Coffee Beans” mission has several small houses having a specific goal per each: an administrative office, a kitchen, volunteers’ and children’s bedrooms, a central hall, Simona and Luca’s house and an upcoming physiotherapy studio. All around this structure there was a big garden the assistant manager Mr Collins took care of to keep the jungle and its risks away from the children.

Who’s living this miraculous reality? There’re Simona and Luca, the volunteer Viola, Mr Collins, two cookers Yvonne and Ester who prepare meals for 40 people every day, 5 “mami” who lovingly look after 23 children, who are the heart of this mission!

Awh, only if you met Nana and JD! Nana is a 9 months lovely baby and JD is a 15 years old young man who see the world in his own special manner. In Casa Italia you can find both children with or without disabilities and those who go or not to school – but each of them is precious and this mission wouldn’t be worthy without them.

It’s impressing how fast they remembered my name and they started calling me “mami”. Even being overactive and never tired, they are very well-educated and respectful… but they go wild as soon as it’s time to play games! They wake up at 4.30 am every day and can’t way to lunchtime where volunteers, as me, help them (especially Ella, OJ and other disable children) eat. You should have seen how happy they got when we all played with a balloon I had brought from Italy, and soap bubbles!

One day we had to cope with an emergency. Koby needed to be brought to the hospital to have his hand operated – what a courageous boy!

What an awesome experience…. So many of little pretty hands asking to be held in our arms. I learnt a lot from Coffee Beans – this trip is a lesson of total integration: a child having cramps gained solace from one without hands, all children take care of one another, they all value the most. Their energy is a proof that integration is possible even when it seems to be a deal breaker”.

Valentina was looking forward to tell her story and what She witnessed in Ghana – all these results couldn’t be possible without you.

Thank you again for your irreplaceable help!

Links:

• http://www.aleimar.it