The Hanukkah kids

We kindly introduce you to the Hanukkah kids:

Adwua is 13 years old, and is the first girl that we took in. We found her in a small village, half an hour driving from Sunyani. She was sitting in a very small hut (2 x 3 meters), all by herself. She lived there together with her parents, brother and sister, who were working on the land at that moment. We discovered her, having a swollen wound on her leg because of an infection. Neighbours told us she had been there for a year already because her parents did not have the money to bring her to a hospital. We took her immediately to the hospital in Sunyani. The wound had not been taken care of for a very long time and the smell alone indicated how infected it was. Also, a lot of pus and infection came dripping out. In the hospital we were told nothing could be done and her leg needed to be amputated from below the knee. A week later, she had a successful operation. Another week later, she was free to go home with us. She quickly learned to walk with crutches and now she  is doing very well right now. For the first time in her life she goes to school.

Roos is 5 years old. She is Adwua’s sister. Two days after we picked up Adwua, Rose was brought in. Her parents had no money and were always working on the land. The kids were very undernourished and had to take care of themselves.

Ama is four years old. Her brother Kwami is three and the littlest, Mary is seven months. They were taken in by Hanukkah because their mom has a mental disorder. The two oldest are developmentally delayed in speech and cannot talk well. They were verbally abused and left behind from a very young age. With lot’s of care and attention, they are step by step, finally experiencing how it is to be loved and slowly making progress.

Lucas is 2 months old. He was born with spina bifida and a hydrocephalus. In the hospital, his parents were told nothing could be done for him. After that, his parents tried to kill him. Social Welfare discovered the situation and immediately took him away and brought him to us. He was three weeks old. We brought Lucas to a hospital in Accra where he underwent surgery. Momentarily, he is out of hospital and is developing very well.

Jeniffer is ten years old and brought to us after her father was arrested. He had molested her severely. She has never been given the love every child deserves to experience in a family. It is not possible to inform you on the backgrounds of all of the 27 children, but our aim is to give you an impression of the work of Mariëtte and Moses on the basis of these seven stories.