Ghana: Cosmos Center
Food and maintenance costs for the Cosmos Center
In order to be able to care for all 23 children of the Cosmos Centre, the Cosmos Centre in Dormaa needs 18,000 euros annually. The small facility lives solely on donations given to them.
The maintenance costs include the wages for all staff members (the teacher, for example, receives 800 GHC per month, which is about 120 Euros) and the food for all children and staff members. For about 14 euros per month, less than 50 cents per day, a child can be fed at the centre for an entire month. The electricity and water costs as well as the renovation costs for the buildings and medication for the children are also included in the maintenance costs.
"We would be very happy if you could contribute to our running costs; every "donated" month (about 1.500 Euro) relieves us a lot! That our children have enough to eat, that we can pay our employees in the center their wages... that is the most important thing for us!"
About the project:
The Cosmos Centre in Dormaa, in the far west of Ghana, is a small home for children with disabilities. There are currently 23 children living there, some of whom the Cosmos Centre took in as children are now teenagers. Here, the children receive three warm healthy meals a day, prepared by the Mmas who live at the centre. The Mmas also take care of the huge piles of laundry, which they wash by hand.
In Ghana, it is unfortunately still common that children who are born with a disability are seen as bewitched and cursed and supposedly bring misfortune to their family. Many parents of children with disabilities bring their child to a river immediately after birth and leave it there to hand it over to the river god. That is why the children are also called "Nsuoba", river children. Some of them, however, are kept hidden in the farthest corner of the house, ashamed of them in front of the neighbours. Other children, especially those whose disabilities are not noticed in the beginning, grow up within their families in the first years, but then become a great "burden" for their parents, as both usually have to work hard on their small farm to feed the family. These parents then search desperately for a place for their child. This place exists in the form of the Cosmos Centre in Dormaa.
The special thing about the Cosmos Centre is the fact that there is also a small school included, which is run by the house father and teacher Ayala and the support teacher Alex, who was trained in Ghana. There they try to bring a little bit of Waldorf education to life.
After school, the young people weave small blankets that later become bags or tablecloths. Twice a week, a "bead woman" comes to the centre and threads pretty necklaces with some of the children.
It has been clear for a few years that the young people should be introduced to a craft. This gave rise to the idea of building small workshops and then making them available to local craftsmen on the condition that they each instruct and train one of our young people. After a long search, we found a suitable piece of land: a garbage dump directly across from our center! This piece of littered land was donated to us by the "King", with the help of donations we have completely cleaned it up and are currently building two workshops and a small guest house.