On Saturday 17th July I went to Avenir Enface for the final time. Throughout my time in Togo I have been visiting Avenir as part of my Mercy Ministries responsibilities. Avenir Enface is a day centre for orphans and half orphans. Benjamin set up the centre after he was seriously injured in a vicious attack. Fighting for his life, and spending around 8 months in hospital he started to re-evaluate the direction his life was going. In all fairness prior to the attack his life wasn't that bad, he had a good job and was married to a lovely lady, but with all the months in hospital he contemplated what the purpose of his life was. Over the course of that time he became a Christian, and decided that he wanted to do something different. He saw so much need around him and wanted to reach out and serve his country.
A specific need he saw was the orphans and half orphans near where he lived. These children have lost one or both of their parents and now live with their extended family or family friends. These people caring for these children are not necessarily Christian, in fact far more are not than are, and some of the children are not treated very well. Benjamin has them to his centre at the weekend to provide respite for the careers and for the children by giving them some space from each other. He does some teaching and fun activities and games with them. In September he will take on 16 of the children as he has recently got a new dormitory wing finished at the centre to allow it to become a functioning orphanage.
We have been supporting Benjamin and running sessions on a Saturday morning. We would go and do a mixture of singing and dancing, a story and craft, and some free play with Jenga, memory (pairs), nail painting and friendship bracelet making, balls and skipping ropes, among other things. Some of the big challenges of going to Avenir was the apathy of many of the children. Coming from difficult homes, some having not eaten they found it very difficult to switch off and enjoy the time spent at Avenir. This made it really challenging to get them involved and engaged without forcing them, and took a lot of tender love. Another challenge was the fact that the group of children we saw was not consistent making it difficult to build good relationships. Despite these challenges it was good to spend time there, and I believe it was beneficial to the children we shared with.
For our final session at Avenir we went through the story in John 2:1-12 where Jesus performs his first recorded miracle, as we did at the Youth Detention Centre previously. This is a lovely story to end on because it is a big celebration. We got dressed up with flower garlands, and decorated the room, we danced and celebrated and went through the story. Admittedly things did not run completely to plan, as is often the case in Africa! Half way through we were quietening the children down ready to do the story, when in walks a local camera crew who wish to film the children singing and dancing etc. So they get them all riled up again and spend half and hour taking video footage of the children until they are satisfied that they have captured what they need and we are allowed to continue the story! Thankfully it wasn't too disruptive (it wasn't in the middle of the story), however, it did make it a bit of a rush to get everything finished so that we got back to the ship on time, but all worked ok.
A specific need he saw was the orphans and half orphans near where he lived. These children have lost one or both of their parents and now live with their extended family or family friends. These people caring for these children are not necessarily Christian, in fact far more are not than are, and some of the children are not treated very well. Benjamin has them to his centre at the weekend to provide respite for the careers and for the children by giving them some space from each other. He does some teaching and fun activities and games with them. In September he will take on 16 of the children as he has recently got a new dormitory wing finished at the centre to allow it to become a functioning orphanage.
We have been supporting Benjamin and running sessions on a Saturday morning. We would go and do a mixture of singing and dancing, a story and craft, and some free play with Jenga, memory (pairs), nail painting and friendship bracelet making, balls and skipping ropes, among other things. Some of the big challenges of going to Avenir was the apathy of many of the children. Coming from difficult homes, some having not eaten they found it very difficult to switch off and enjoy the time spent at Avenir. This made it really challenging to get them involved and engaged without forcing them, and took a lot of tender love. Another challenge was the fact that the group of children we saw was not consistent making it difficult to build good relationships. Despite these challenges it was good to spend time there, and I believe it was beneficial to the children we shared with.
For our final session at Avenir we went through the story in John 2:1-12 where Jesus performs his first recorded miracle, as we did at the Youth Detention Centre previously. This is a lovely story to end on because it is a big celebration. We got dressed up with flower garlands, and decorated the room, we danced and celebrated and went through the story. Admittedly things did not run completely to plan, as is often the case in Africa! Half way through we were quietening the children down ready to do the story, when in walks a local camera crew who wish to film the children singing and dancing etc. So they get them all riled up again and spend half and hour taking video footage of the children until they are satisfied that they have captured what they need and we are allowed to continue the story! Thankfully it wasn't too disruptive (it wasn't in the middle of the story), however, it did make it a bit of a rush to get everything finished so that we got back to the ship on time, but all worked ok.
Good bye Avenir Enface!
1 comments:
lovely ending blog post Steph! Makes me realize I should have come with you... not sure why I never did! Anyway good work!
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