Work with Children
Providing safety and care to vulnerable children in northern Ghana
The Mothers of Mercy Babies Home (MMBH) in the town of Sirigu in northern Ghana provides care for vulnerable infants in the very early stages of their lives; children who may be orphaned, unable to be looked after, or in danger of harm. Thanks to your generous gift in support of the 2019 Catholic Mission Church Appeal, the Home has now been renovated.
Established by the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese in 1984, the MMBH rescues babies at risk and provides them with a loving home. The Sisters of Mary Immaculate, who run the MMBH, aim to rehome each child with their family when they reach three years of age as long as it is safe and reasonable to do so.
To ensure a smooth transition back to life in their home community, the Sisters offer education and support for families, children and their communities. Children who are unable to return to their families are connected with the Centre for Child Development (CCD) for ongoing care beyond infancy.
Sister Beatrice (centre), who lives and works at the Home, outside the premises with Fred (right) from the Centre for Child Development (CCD) and Dominic Abugre
As shared through Catholic Mission's 2019 Church Appeal, after years of running without any renovation, the MMBH was in urgent need of basic repairs, furnishings and equipment. You heard the story of the Sisters in Sirigu and the children they care for and responded with prayerful and financial support.
Thanks to this support, we are excited to share that renovations on the Home have been completed and several essential items have been purchased.
Impact in numbers
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- Babies are living in a safe, comfortable and caring home
- 11
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- Individuals are employed in meaningful, safe and well-paid jobs
- 10
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- Young men who carried out the renovations (plumbers, tilers, painters, masons and carpenters) were given meaningful, safe and well-paid employment
- 13
How your donation has made a difference
Through the support of Catholic Mission, the MMBH has now been renovated and furnished. The Home has become a safer and friendlier place for abandoned and vulnerable babies in and beyond the diocese.
Phase one of this project is complete. The ceilings have been repaired, new toilets installed, bathrooms re-tiled, rooms freshly painted and ceiling fans fitted.
The MMBH is also furnished with brand new beds and mattresses for caregivers; baby bouncers, cot mattresses and bed sheets; chairs for sitting room and office; television in sitting room for staff and sisters; and a deep freezer for the kitchen, so the Home can store more food, which is especially valuable given the its rural location.
One of the bathrooms, fully renovated.
A freshly painted sitting room with new chairs.
One of the carers' rooms with new beds and mattresses.
Babies, full of beans, in the new cots and repainted dormitory room.
The renovations and new furnishings have not only made the Home more comfortable for the babies and carers who live and work there, but they have also made the premises safer and enhanced hygiene, particularly with regard to the bathrooms.
The work environment for staff has also improved significantly and this has helped to promote a healthy and safe environment that also protects the rights and dignity of the babies in the MMBH.
Some of the pigs in the existing pigsty
Phase two of the project involves the expansion of the Home's existing pigsty with the purchase of 15 additional pigs. This forms part of the project’s plan to help improve the sustainability of the MMBH and will commence in the coming months.
