hardt haven

(15/3/09)
I know I just finished raving about this not too long ago – but I’m at it again. Hardt Haven made me fall in love with Ghana. I decided today, on the way home, that what is happening within the walls of Hardt Haven is what is truly the heart of Ghana. And I love that.

Natalie and I went back up this weekend and spent some time with the kids and volunteers in Kpando. I learned more about the stories of the children that call Hardt Haven home and more about AIDS in general. It made me cringe to hear where some of the children were coming from; not all of them are suffering form HIV/AIDS but their stories are no less horrifying. There are miracles walking among them; children who have been deemed “the walking dead” by health professionals but are continuing to function everyday, children who came in not able to walk or eat but now dish out food for the kids dinner, children who were shunned by their parents or abandoned by their family but are still able to love and show affection.

The care the children are receiving at Hardt Haven is a good deal above par by societies standards. And the children are definitely still kids and there are things that are surprisingly universal; toddlers will still fight over toys, teenage girls will hoard shoes and jeans, boys will steal and show off to their friends on the playground, brothers and sisters will fight like cats and dogs. The kids don’t escape any of these things. But I respect how the staff at Hardt Haven deals with it: they completely overhauled the grounds this weekend. They cleaned out all of the excess, laid it out, and made each child get rid of the things they did not use or need. What was left over could be put back in their rooms and the excess was given out to the community or to other orphanages in the area. It was good to see that they do not hold the children to a different standard, but expect them to be a functioning part of the community, contributing and helping out where they’re needed.

We visited with Edem about coming back up sometime soon and helping him complete the new complex he is working on. They currently have to pay an exhorbant amount to rent out the facility they are in now so for the past few months Edem has been building a compound around his own home that the children can stay in. Because money is tight they are not able to hire any help so for the most part he has been doing all the manuel labor. Which means, he mixes the cement and mud and forms his own stones. After waiting for them to dry he lays them out and fills in the cracks with more self-mixed mud mixture. Edem is run thin as it is with all of his other projects around the community. And with a group of us we’d be able to complete quite a bit in a couple days. The issue now we’re running in to is money: They don’t know if they’ll be able to afford enough supplies anytime soon so that we can keep working on it. We’re still waiting to hear back from him, but hopefully we can work something out.

I want to ask for your prayers for these kids and the people that are helping them. They’ve experienced more than any child their age should but have found a way to keep going. They have a long way to go but the power of prayer is unimaginable.

in love