How we started…
Back in January 2017, something really special changed my life. We welcomed a little baby girl who was just 15 months old. Sadly, she had lost both her parents. At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel because our family didn’t have a lot of money either. But we loved her so, we decided to adopt her and gave her a beautiful new name, Esther Deborah Alabie. We found there are many other families around us, in our situation. We met together regularly.
Then, in September 2017, we did something that really stretched our faith. We started an orphanage and school called Mercy Children’s Home. Our motto was all about taking care of those who needed it the most. We went out and found more than 60 children, and you know, most of these kids came from families who didn’t enough money to pay.
Then, things got even tougher along the way. We couldn’t afford to provide food for all the children anymore. And the place where we cared for the kids wasn’t even ours, so we had to leave in 2020. But we didn’t give up!
In 2022, we decided to start all over again. We built our own building and while it was still being completed we opened a new place with the same vision. Well, it wasn’t complete yet, but we had hope. We wanted to get full sponsorship, since we were still struggling. So, we asked the families to pay a small fee, less than $5 per term. I know that sounds like a small amount to you, but it is a lot to the local people in Sierra Leone. 75% of the students couldn’t afford to pay. So, I made a decision. I let them come to school for free! I even bought them uniforms, books, and bags to help them out.
Then there was another challenge. We had six staff members who needed to be paid. So, I reached out to kind-hearted people who were philanthropists for help. We raised money to pay the staff and buy the things we needed for our ministry.
Let me tell you about the people who were the biggest givers. They are sand miners, fishermen, and gardeners. Most of them can’t afford to pay to take care of their own children. But they were very generous anyway.
So, here’s the really exciting part. We’re thinking about building an orphanage! I’m praying that it happens because it would be a dream come true for these poor children. I hope to hear from you soon!
Thank you for listening to my story.