Project for construction of kilns and wells in the orphanages of Togo
When PaoloGiovanni Monformoso was there, he saw that there was much to do: there was nearly nothing there. There are two religious communities there made up of wonderful people: Sister Marthe, who manages more than 3 orphanages and Don Emanuele. The communities have been assisted by Friends of Don Emmanuel for over twenty years.
There are three principal orphanages:
Notse-Kpedome: 54 children from 0 to 5 years old, all complete orphans, helped by 3 nuns and 15 women from the village (woman – Maman – in all the orphanages – work for eleven months a year, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day...for around 22 euro a month for eleven months, because the month they are at home, in Togo, is not paid). In Notse there is a well, and the everyday maintenance and instruction are guaranteed with the support at a distance.
Kovie: around 22 children between 6 and 11 years old, all complete orphans of elementary school age. They are helped by 2 nuns and two women.
Tohoun: around 50 children (there are more who live in the village, but they are still in the care of the Sisters) of mixed ages and disabilities. They are helped by three nuns and some women from the village…they lack beds, electric lighting, tables, chairs…
The orphanages in Kovie and Tohoun do not have wells, only cisterns for rainwater collected during the rainy season. The rainy season ends in October and it does not rain again until May/June: by the middle of December the water in the cisterns is finished (one can see the cistern…and the poverty) in Kovie.
In Notse, they need a large oven to make and distribute bread to all the children of the orphanage and those of the village (The Association of Friends of Don Emanuele has sent and sustained the money for the delivery of a container in which there was also rice donated by our collaborator Paolo Monformoso).
To date, to ensure the survival of these poor orphans, Children First has decided to install wells and ovens as well as to expand and renovate the buildings of the existing orphanages. We are at the beginning and we have much to do! PaoloGiovanni Monformoso left on December 27 to build an oven in Notse, and a first well with a drill in Kovie, where the terrain requires it. Usually wells can be constructed by hand if the terrain makes it possible; but in Kovie and Tohoun the ground is rocky, and the wells must be dug with a drill, while in the two villages of Abalo and Sokodè; other places where water for the community and children is necessary, it might be enough to dig by hand. Unfortunately, on his last trip in April / May 2008 he learned that the excavation with the drill did not lead to real water, but only a false water table (see "Tales of current conditions by P.G. Monformoso"). We were deeply saddened to learn that the earth in Kovie, which is deeply rocky, will make it almost impossible, even in the future, to construct a well. We have, however, added to one of our projects there the construction a large oven.
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The context of the drama
It is a state in sub-Saharan Africa which faces the Gulf of Guinea (The Slave Coast). It is of small size and sparse population, bordered by Benin, Ghana, and Burkina-Faso. It was a German colony from 1884-1918, when it became a French colony. Independence was declared in 1963, and it became the Republic of Togo. For 38 years, leadership of the country was held by General Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who was succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé in April 2005. There is still controversy as to the question of the elections which caused social unrest, massacres and waves of refugees. The country, which extends on the equatorial side, has a tropical climate and is divided into 5 regions. The main economic resources are tied to agriculture, and a number of iron and phosphate mines. What little industrialization there is, is concentrated in the capital city of Lomé. There are more than a million inhabitants; it is a free port, and the coastal node between the National Institute and Burkina-Faso. This city constitutes the backbone of the country; and it runs parallel to the high voltage lines, which come from a hydroelectric dam on the Mono River, the only hydroelectric plant in the country which also provides electricity to Benin. For the last two years, production has not covered demand and continuing cuts in electrical current has blocked development, resulting in massive use of generators in the capital city, rendering the air virtually unbreathable.
The main towns are arranged along the approximately 700 kilometers of paved road crossing the country. They have electricity, even if the service is not within reach of all citizens. There are other nuclei, minor but much more numerous, such as villages which are far from the national roads: they have no electricity and only have access roads of clay, which are impassable during the rainy season. This economy is "stopped"; the lack of infrastructure and services does not promote any development.
The primary necessities are tied to medical and social assistance, which are very low or absent, the modernization process is nearly inexistent, as is farming due to the recent scourge of hunger and malnutrition. The average lifespan is 53 years (77 in Italy), infant mortality is 95 children per 1,000 (in Italy 7), there are 9 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants (in Italy 170)…these data may seem like mere numbers to us, numbers which jump quickly while one is reading. We must attempt to put ourselves in their shoes, to focus on those for whom these are not merely numbers, but facts of life, against which they must clash every day. Assistance to children in need, orphans and the disabled is currently performed only by ecclesiastical or secular institutions and associations, given that the state is entirely absent. |
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Download the letters in Italian from Giovanni di Paolo Monformoso from Africa (pdf format):
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