Providing goats to the children of Mumslove Orphanage
Mumslove Orphanage in Duayaw Nkwanta, Ghana, is home to 41 orphans. Though they are well loved by founders/caretakers Imoro Adams and his wife, Abdulai Sakina, who care for them as their own, resources are always running lean with so many mouths to feed, young minds to foster and hearts to lovingly tend.
A small donation can change the world of 41 orphans by providing them with a Goat Husbandry Workshop and goats to establish their shared herd.
Tin Can Dreams...
Goats are highly adaptable creatures known in cartoons and common culture to chew on and eat everything from the laundry on the line to… tin cans. Ghanaian children brought up in rural endemic poverty are resourceful and resilient. Unlike children in the developed world who are immersed in an abundance of plastic toys, Ghanaian children are forced to be more creative in their play, which often results in ingenious toys made out of trash and materials found in nature. A tin can to a Ghanaian child presents a sea of possibilities, and is a metaphor for the clever resourcefulness, adaptability and multitude of dreams that children harbor. It is these that we are focusing on as the heart of this empowerment project.
Together we can change the world. Today, let’s start making some tin can dreams come true.
About Mumslove Orphanage
Meet Mr. Imoro Adams, the general director and founder of Mumslove Rural Orphanage. As a young man in 2007, he saw a great need in his village, and since no one else was addressing it, he devoted his entire life to taking in and caring for the local orphans. He requested and was granted land from the local chief, then, using his own funds and writing countless grants, he bought the materials and built the structure that has since been his home and the home of Duayaw Nkwanta’s orphans. Since then, he has married a truly wonderful and devoted lady, Mrs. Abdulai Sakina, and they are raising their own children here as well. For over ten years, Mr. Adams and Mrs. Sakina have been single-handedly caring for and financially supporting any and all orphans that come to them. They make sure that they all have good food to eat, clothes to wear, beds to sleep in, toys to play with, and access to medical care and good education. The orphans all view Mr. Adams and Mrs. Sakina as their parents and refer to them as “Papa” and “Mama.” The pair treats every orphan as one of their own, and the whole place feels like one large family.
Why Goats?
Goats are versatile animals that are easy to care for, adapt well to different environments and can provide meat, money, and learning experiences.
Life Skills & Responsibility
All children benefit from experiences that help them develop a sense of responsibility and prepare them to be independent adults. Learning how to care for goats and being tasked with their daily tending is an excellent way to do this, and will provide valuable animal husbandry skills that these children can use to support themselves in the future.
Food Security
Goats are relatively small and require less land than other livestock such as cattle. They also have a shorter reproductive cycle, which makes them an efficient continued source of meat. This ensures access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food year-round that isn't dependent upon local inflation or availability.
Nutrition
Like most rural Ghanaians, the Mumslove family has its own small subsistence farm in which it grows vegetables, fruit and starches for the extended table. Protein sources such as meat, eggs, milk and fish are much harder to come by and are comparatively expensive. When funds are tight, it is protein sources that are unfortunately cut out of the diet. Thankfully a herd of meat goats in the yard will solve this issue, while also providing a valuable source of manure fertilizer for the garden that is easy to use and naturally produced as pellets. Goat meat is nutritious, delicious and particularly favored by Ghanaians, often eaten during the holidays and at certain festivals.
Income Generation
Goats are an excellent investment, especially at the household level and particularly in the context of endemic poverty. They require few inputs and expenses and will gladly eat kitchen and table scraps. Forty-one children have countless needs including healthcare, food, clothing, school fees, and school supplies. These expenses add up quickly. Once established, a herd of goats will provide financial stability to the orphanage as goats can be strategically propagated and sold, and are always there as a safeguard to sell in the case of emergency.
Our Plan:
As we collect funds from “Vance Lee’s Journey for a Cause” and from general donations, we will start with funding a goat husbandry workshop and then send subsequent funds in batches to Mumslove Orphanage so they can buy at least five goats at a time from their market town to establish their herd.
Project Progress:
Together, we can change the world. Today, let's change the world of:
