Wellington Orphanage in Sierre Leone
Wellington Square United Church has walked with Wellington Orphanage for over 19 years.
Each year we have provided help in some way. In the past, we have sent containers filled with food, medical supplies, clothing, bedding, educational supplies, sports equipment, carpentry tools, garden tools, bikes, sewing machines, etc. We have sent emergency funds during the medical crisis and employed a nurse. We have sent funds for repairing the buildings and even did a clean water project. Presently the church sends $2000 a month for food and medical care. God has given our Church, the great privilege of walking with this orphanage.
The Orphanage began in 1996, under the care of Pastor Mansaray and his volunteers with 60 little children in a bombed-out building sleeping 4 and 5 to a bed, often with only 1 meal a day. These children were the victims of a 10-year civil war.
In 2002 a woman from England provided sufficient funds to build the Wellington Orphanage in Freetown. There are two sites: the younger children are in the Wellington Orphanage as the government has opened a “free school” next door. The remainder of the older children are at the Mercy Ships site, two hours north of Freetown. The Mercy Ships is a gated compound where Pastor Mansaray took all the children when the Ebola crisis hit in 2014. They were confined there for 18 months. Since Covid hit, Pastor Mansaray has brought all the children back to Mercy Ships, to keep them safe.
Many of our original orphans, 18 years and older, are trying to get an education and Pastor Mansaray continues to try and help them. Every year, everyone comes home to the Orphanage during holiday time. Pastor Mansaray is a father to all of them and the volunteers are their Aunties and Uncles. Our children are amazing! Despite their deep wounds and daily hardships, they demonstrate a strong faith and trust in the Goodness of God.
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