As a way of achieving their goal as God loving people and to show that they love and care for the poor, Winners Chapel International past Friday donated food items to the Freetown Cheshire Home at Race Course Road in the east end of Freetown.
According to Pastor Dapo Olumuyiwa, head of mission and regional pastor in Sierra Leone, this is in relation to the statement made by Jesus Christ in Mathew Chapter 25 where he said when I was hungry you did not feed me, when I was naked you didn’t clothe me, and the people asked when were you hungry that we did not feed you and, Jesus said if you do not do it to the ones that are around you then you have not done it to me.
“This is one of the reasons why we decided to reach out to the less privileged, to make them feel good and be happy as this is something we have been doing before this time.”
He maintained that the second reason is that they had twenty-one days of fasting and prayers in January which is an annual tradition for them as a ministry in Winners Chapel International world wide and he cited Isaiah Chapter 58, saying that they noticed that one of the factors that make prayer and fasting acceptable is reaching out and feeding the hungry.
In receiving the food items on behalf of the children in the home, Madam Henrietta Sesay, care taker at the home disclosed that they have over forty children covering the educational and residential aspect, adding that they now have a vocational centre that was supported by the Indians for children that are not academically strong so that they too will have something to learn.
She added that they have children both in the primary and secondary schools and they also have one student who is presently pursuing a Diploma at the Institute of Advance Management and Technology (IAMTEC), noting that the children have competition among themselves in terms of academic activities and other areas.
In highlighting some of their difficulties in the home, she pointed out that they stopped receiving their fifteen million Leones subvention from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology since June last year since that ministry has been supporting them. She added that transportation is another problem facing them at the home as they are dealing with children that are physically challenged.
“Sanitation is another very big problem in the home, we are really trying our best to see that we attend to these children in our own little ways, but we are tied up with financial constraints,” she maintained.
In the area of water supply that is very vital for human survival, Madam Sesay said that they have bore holes in the home which assist them with that problem, but that they also lack medical facilities as they have no nurse to look after the children in the home. Usually she said they have had to squeeze from their pocket to assist the children as 85 percent of the children had been abandoned by their parents and relatives.
Martha Mariam Turay, first year student at IAMTEC, representing the children at the Cheshire home, said that they will like to continue with their education but they are presently facing difficulties in paying their tuition fees and other charges both at the school and tertiary educational level.
She disclosed that life at the home is not rosy as they are aware of the constraints that their care taker and other workers at the home are facing in trying to cater for them so that they will not feel being neglected by society.
In closing the programme, the children occupying the entrance of the home during the occasion, sang a song with a message that is in tune with their struggle, crying for help but no one showed up. She thanked God that they were troubled but not disturbed.
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