Children’s Home

We will be looking at a possible second home to be donated to us for temporary use (1-2yrs) until we can get our own buildings up. We are so blessed and excited at this prospect and pray whatever is meant to be will work out. If we are able to acquire this home, it will take a short time to just dust and wash and weed, and then open it. We have four children that we will be able to take off our waitlist and accept into that home immediately.

We have also been in discussions concerning the land we had mentioned several months ago (back when Steve, Cat and Laurel where around). There have been several issues cropping up surrounding that and we have been trying to sort it out. At the same time we are also no pursuing a different option should that work out sooner and with no hitches.

We (along with people here as well) have to always be careful went entering agreements concerning land (or anything being given for free). This land we have been pursuing is suppose to be donated to us, with the community benefiting from the services we will provided by developing the area. If there is not full agreeance, and everyone in the community (including those who were born there and may not even live in the country anymore) must be made aware of any sort of transaction to occur. Everyone must agree. Papers must be signed showing the agreement of all. If this has not happened, it means that down the road you face the very likely possibility of someone from the community or a relative of someone coming to you and saying this is my/our land and “I” did not agree to this so you have to get off our land. This is something we do not want to face at all. So should things not be more then 100% perfect and agreeable with this community over this land we have been looking at and hoping to acquire, we will not take it.

Continue to pray for us that we get the right piece of land, in the right location, that the people and the paperwork all falls into place as it should, to ensure a long term/life time future home for our Abia base.

We are so excited to let everyone know we have welcome three precious new children into our home, Solomon 9, Gideon 7 and Chika 3. The came late in the night earlier this week, and couldn’t believe that this was the house they were coming too. They saw the light on (from the gen) and said to Amos, “Uncle is this your house where we are coming!!?” And Amos said no, this is your home, it is our house together now. They came up the stairs inside with big wide eyes. Our children were sitting inside, while there was a bit of a stare down as soon as we said everyone say good evening and welcome, every one exchanged greetings.  After baths and food, all the children automatically started introducing themselves and sharing their ages. Our Chinomso and Chinyere filled the roll of big brother and sister right away telling them welcome and they will like living here with us. The new children beamed in shock at their beds with mattresses and sheets and at new clothes to wear. They have been settling in very well, doing lessons at home already with Teacher Chinedu, playing well with the other children and adjusting to the rules quickly. They are so happy and relieved to be here it seems, despite being a little reserved as things are still relatively new. We are so proud of our other children as the changes in their lives become so evident every day, more and more!

Say What!!
Thats right, I  finally have a device that is semi-sort of  working with internet and I have been able to access our site. So…….

Hello from on the ground over here!

Live has been insanely busy and full of chaos, tension and progress. The house in Abia is doing well and carrying on. Our staff are amazing and make us proud every day. Our children are progressing well. After one year with our older kids, the change is evident, while there is a long way to go, they have come so far! The newest two little guys have brought so much life and laughter into the house, they definitely changed the dynamic.

There have been security issues in the village due to armed robbery attacks  and assaults, many way too close for comfort. But the community and security forces are trying their best to manage, so with curfews and citizen vigilantie groups, the attacks have started reducing in the last couple weeks. Also we have finished our security wires around the compound and our new front doors installed.

Hello Everyone!

Things have been busy as usual in the village home. With our new children trying to adjust and our older ones doing an amazing job of trying to share and be kind, we also have added new staff recently.
We have a wonderful new young man who has been with us since the start of February, his name is Peter. He lives in the home with us and helps with regular routine of the children, house duties, and supporting learning. We also changed our female house mom and are so happy to welcome a lovely young lady named Amaka. She is doing a fabulous job guiding the children in school learning and everyday routine. So Welcome!!!

Hello!!!

We have exciting news…we have just accepted three new children into the home!! They arrived yesterday and are adjusting quite well!

There is Mercy who is around 4.5, Ijay who is about 3, and Emmanuel who is 1. They were in desperate need of bathing and food, and with help from our other children and staff are learning to pace themselves and adjust quite well. They are young enough that they are not too upset about the transition, or rather more excited to be sleeping in a house with a family and having food, after coming off the street begging for food and sleeping outside.  It took some serious scrubbing and several buckets of water with Dettol soap to wash away the dirt and grime. We were lucky enough that we had one set of clothes in the house for each size of the new kids! Yay, God is good. So they each have a new set of clothes too.

Hello Everyone!
I apologize for the long delay in posting. Things have been very busy here with lots of traveling back and forth in the country, events and meetings, poor network, and lack of ability to be on the internet.

We are all doing very well! The children are great and growing. We as of a month ago we started drawing height measurements on the wall and it seems every few weeks they are passing them. They are also putting on weight… might have to start a regular DPA (Daily Physical Activity) session just to make sure they don’t put on too much. :)

There was information a while back that we were preparing for the arrival of four more children from two different cases. I want to update you that it is unlikely we will be receiving those children, do to different circumstances in both their cases. While our program is here to provide security, safety and opportunities for a future for children, we are NOT here to fight for custody of children from the situations they are in. We are working with different groups of people that are all leaders in some respect, to help us on behalf of receiving case information to work through. At this point in time, we do not and will not engage in action that actively fights cases to bring the children to us. We are here as an option for the children who meet our criteria and there must be a WILLING representative, be it a relative, community leader or government worker, who WILLINGLY releases and signs over the child to us.

I want to just let you all as followers of The Wanted Children Foundation know this information, so that you understand how our process works, and why it may seem to you that we have “few” children or not many children coming in all the time. We wait for Gods timing and pray and work very hard on each case and application that is brought before us, and there is a process to be followed to ensure the safety and security of the child in question, our current children in the home, and us as staff and a Foundation.
Take a moment to Google the story of ‘the boy and the starfish” to see how we view our work and our children. We are not basing our success on quantity but on quality; not how many we have and can get, but on how we can make a difference in the ones we have.

We are excited to announce we should be receiving one of our first two promised vehicles, NEXT WEEK! YAY!
This has been a top priority request for some time and seeing the end in sight is a huge relief to many of the daily challenges we have been facing with lack of transport. We are so excited. I will be sure to let you know when it arrives and put up pictures!

Also, we have several individuals compiling items for us that include:
a generator
battery/rechargeable oscillating fans
an inverter (power saver)
and others not mentioned to be but presumably taken from our request list…

We have our Igwe working hard on making contacts for us to have a second and possibly third house donated to us. We are waiting for some meetings to take place hopefully this weekend regarding this. We are hoping for the second house to be made available and moved into by Dec.

I must also mention that as we have distant relatives or community members coming to see us and visit the children here, each of them always bring items for us to help in some way. We are grateful!
We have recieved:
malta drink
oranges
plantain
groundnuts
cucumbers
yam
lemons
yogurt drink
material
bread
potatoes

We have had various people coming and visiting the home to see who we are and how we are doing. It is exciting as it is an action step that some individuals are taking.

Some of our friends who have come:
Igwe Chris – our Igwe who comes regularly to visit with the staff and children, and support new endeavors and objectives as they come up.
Francis – a medical professional from Abuja, who supports us with both medical and official advice as well as helping me when in Abuja with networking and meetings.
Effanga – a businessman from Abuja, who has taken interest in our work and keeps in contact by phone and visits to the house when in our state.
Dick – a retired general in the Nigerian Army and up and coming politician from Port Harcourt, who has taken personal interest in our work and came to the house to meet the staff and children.
SS men – regular guards and drivers who invest time speaking with the children, playing with them, teaching them bible stories and singing, all while on duty.

We are officially happy to welcome Tony Obediah to Adaeze Home in Amaba, Isuikwuato. He arrive to us on Thursday evening after a very long journey by road down here. Everyone as been eagerly anticipating his arrival, and the children were excited to meet their Daddie whom they have been speaking to on the phone.

Also, officially the staff member that is working with the children Monday-Friday on lessons, is Chinedu. So we are happy to welcome him officially. He is doing a wonderful job!