A Call to Mercy is currently giving holistic support to 350+ orphans and vulnerable children, 50 of whom are being mentored.  The need is immense here…and each child has his or her own story of loss and struggle.  We try to get to know many of their stories.  We don’t want to see them as numbers.   We met Ernestine 5 years ago when she was working as a caretaker at the hospital orphanage.  At night, she was teaching herself to sew with an old machine that the hospital matron had loaned to her.  We could see that she had talent and a desire to do more with her life.  She was the first child we mentored, before it became part of A Call to Mercy’s program.  We paid for her training as a “decorator”.  In Africa, seamstresses decorate weddings, funerals and events with fabric.  Ernestine’s training is over and she has her certificate but is still working with her trainer, without pay, in order to keep learning.  She is also embarking on her own business.  A Call to Mercy purchased satin decorator fabric to help her get that started.

Maris is 14 years old.  He is a cousin to Clovis, the boy in the last post.  Maris has lost all of his elders in his immediate family, both parents, all four grandparents.  He is alone in the world and lives with extended relatives who do not have the means to support him.  Sr Rosemary, Director of Project Hope has taken him under her wing this past year, giving him work in the pig sty during the summer holidays and food when she can.  She begged people she knew in the community for a second hand bike for him because his school is more than an hours walk from where he is currently living.  When we met Maris last week, we were trying to find Clovis’s twin siblings.  Maris helped with that search.  We also learned that his tires were busted and the chain broken on his bike.  We gave him money to get his bike fixed and he returned to show us the work.  Maris is being enrolled in A Call to Mercy’s program so he will not have to worry anymore about who will help him pay his school fees.  He will also receive health care.  He is a sweet and grateful boy.  Here he is with his bike, and wearing a t-shirt donated by Dub Caesar Apparel, Philadelphia.

Clovis was 17 when he died last year from complications of Sickle Cell.  He was a dear, precious boy that we met at the orphanage in 2012.  He captured our hearts with his quiet ways and tenderness. Clovis’ mother passed after the birth of his twin siblings, Stella and Sylvester.  He came to be at St Martin de Porres Mission Hospital Orphanage to help care for them and keep them connected to a family member.  We left an account for Clovis at the internet cafe so he could stay in touch with us throughout the year and he emailed us two days before he died.  We were so heartsick to learn of his passing.  When we returned this year to find his twin siblings gone from the orphanage…we felt compelled to track them down and make sure they were OK.  Clovis would want us to do that.  We discovered that they were in another orphanage, Harvest Children’s Home, a few villages away in Fundong.  The orphanage here at St Martin de Porres is one of the few that takes infants.  It is expensive to feed and care for an infant. And their policy is to send them back to their extended families when they can walk and eat real food.  These twins, Stella and Sylvester had no where to go, both parents gone, their siblings still too young to support them.  Not only did we find them healthy and well, but we discovered a wonderful Baptist Orphanage, Harvest Children’s Home, that took them in with open arms until they can hopefully be rejoined with their siblings.  It filled our cup to see them.

Clovis in 2014

Sylvester and Stella, now 4 yrs old at Harvest Children’s Home.

Sylvester

Stella

Emmanuel Ful, Director and Chaplain and Emmanuel Ngala, Manager of Harvest Children’s Home.

Carol with her babies.

Our first week here has been wonderful, seeing A Call to Mercy’s program with Project Hope thriving and in action.  It is so beneficial for us to be with those who are in the program and to talk to them about their lives and concerns.  We are so proud and grateful to be partnering with Project Hope, whose dedication and concern for their community is only matched by their skill at creating and implementing programs that really work.

THRIVING!  Two years ago, we met 9 yr old Carine and her grandmother at the family compound.  Carine is HIV+, had lost both parents, was not in school and had defaulted on her medicines because her grandmother could not afford her clinic visits or school fees.  She was enrolled in A Call to Mercy’s OVC program and today is thriving.  We met Carine again last week when she came for her clinic visit.  Note that Cameroonians are proud people and wear their Sunday best when coming to the hospital.  Here is Carine, before and after two years in the program.

At the family compount, 2014.

At the family compound, 2014

2016, Healthy, strong, in school and complaint with her meds.

HOPE! This little boy, Achia is from Anjin village. During a field outreach there on Friday, the Anjin support group (more on that later) alerted Project Hope about a sick child.  Achia was diagnosed HIV+ one year ago.  He had recently became very ill and developed fluid in his stomach.  His mother could not afford the transport or hospital fees.  Project Hope provided transport and enrolled this child immediately into the program so he could be treated at the hospital – 100% covered by support from A Call to Mercy.  By Monday, he was feeling much better!

Friday, admitted to hospital.

Friday, admitted to hospital.

Monday, feeling better!

GRATITUDE! On Saturday we were taken to Anjin village to meet with the people there whose children benefit from A Call to Mercy’s program.  Because this village is a few hours walk away on rough, rocky terrain, Project Hope has created an HIV Support Group there.  The group helps to raise awareness, lessen stigma, and teach the community what it has learned from Project Hope, specifically about nutrition, hygiene and the importance of taking their meds. Project Hope will deliver 2 months of HIV meds to the support group to save the people from the long journey every month.  They only come to the clinic when their lab work needs to be done.  The women greeted us at the opening of the compound with traditional song.  Beautiful and sweet.  They had prepared a small program in the meeting house, the home of the groups’ President.  They expressed heartfelt gratitude and sincere appreciation that people a world away would care about their wellbeing.  Some of their words after mentioning the support they received… “from the beginning we never believed that such dreams could ever be true. So we were shocked when everything was a reality. In the past days our lives were hopeless.  Today, thanks to the efforts of A Call to Mercy to make us have hopeful lives.  Your visit here today is remarkable in the history of this village.”  We then were given their sentiments in writing, a meal, and gifts of beans and bananas from their subsistent farm plots.

Women singing a welcome song.

Secretary of the group expressing appreciation.

Oh the children!

Dressed in their Sunday best for the visitors.

The customary group shot with the children!