Ghana: Cosmos Center
Food and maintenance costs for the Cosmos Center
In order to be able to care for all 19 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 the maintenance costs through your WOW-Day donation!"
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 19 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.
For some years now the staff of the Cosmos Centre plans to introduce the young people into a handicraft and manual apprenticeships. This rose the idea of building small workshops and huts to make them available to local craftsmen on the condition that they instruct and train one of the young people at a time. However, the search for a suitable plot of land is very difficult because the owners of the surrounding land do not want to sell their properties. Some of them would like to build a house there themselves, others say quite openly that they do not want to make their property available for people with disabilities.
What else is the money needed for?
In addition to the annual maintenance costs of the Cosmos Centre amounting to 18,000 euros, the centre is currently looking for Ghanaian craftspeople who can teach the young people their art. As soon as suitable artisans have been found, costs will be incurred for the construction of workshops and possibly for new living spaces for the "big ones" so the grown up adolescence of the Cosmos Centre. It is difficult to predict how high these costs will be.
Unfortunately, prices in Ghana have risen in some cases by 50% due to the pandemic and the current global political situation, so the actual costs this year could be significantly higher.
"Already now we would like to thank those who would like to support our little centre in Ghana from the bottom of our hearts! Every euro donated to us via WOW-Day will benefit our children!"
