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About
The aims and objectives of Adullam
Orphanage are:
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To
offer orphaned, abandoned, deaf and destitute children shelter and a
permanent home, regardless of their race or creed, solely according
to their need.
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To
provide education up to Senior Secondary School and sponsorship for
University and vocational training for orphans and the
disadvantaged.
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To
provide Special Education for Deaf orphans and children.
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To
prepare our children to be self reliant, independent, thinking
individuals becoming positive, active, and contributing members of
the community.
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To
provide good nutrition, health and medical care in a clean hygienic
environment in which the children can live and grow.
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To
teach honour and respect of oneself, other people and God.
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To
give training to widows and to support them and their children
whilst undergoing training or starting an industry.
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To
teach all children to be a new generation of proud Africans.
How
it all began...
In
1995 Andrew Timothy was offered a job in the mining industry in Obuasi,
with an Australian company working in Ghana.
It was a very good offer, financially viable for the family, but
with six-month tours, the family would have to be left in Australia or
taken along to Ghana. He
told Louise that he wouldn’t take the children into a developing
country, as their fourth child was one year old at the time.
Louise told him, “Give me 24 hours to pray and find out God’s
opinion.”
She
did exactly that and the Lord laid it on her heart to be the best wife
she could possibly be and the best mother she could possibly be, no
matter where they lived. After
Andrew’s first 6 months on his own in Ghana, he came back to Australia
and brought his family back to Ghana, supposedly for two years.
Two years turned into 13 and Louise said she was just getting
started. The first two weeks
of living in Ghana were spent living in one room with all six family
members.
After
two weeks they found a small house in the heart of Obuasi with no air
conditioning, or fly screens. Despite
the living conditions, Louise and her husband were confronted with the
poverty and destitution of their neighbors.
A woman living close by who had seven children, asked Andrew and
Louise to take her youngest child back to Australia for her and raise
him up there to have a better future.
They decided to look after the child in Ghana, and Louise became
the grandmother of all seven children, including another one on the way.
Louise
looked for an orphanage to offer her help during the week but was unable
to find one in Obuasi or the surrounding district.
Louise started to meet with a lot of the local people and was
told about the plight that widows often find themselves in, so she
started helping them, one or two at a time, helping them start up small
business, such as buying and selling tomatoes, peppers, or clothes.
She helped them keep a basic money book so they could make sure
they were earning more than they were spending, and Louise and Drew took
care of the medical needs of their children.
Louise
rented a house for the widows to live in, and donations of beds,
blankets, etc for the house. When
the orphaned and abandoned children started coming in, the widows looked
after them as their children.
Louise
had also found a nurse who was looking after six orphaned babies, but
not able to provide much for them on her small salary.
Louise employed the nurse’s two sisters to look after those
children during the day, but the two rooms they lived in was not enough
for everyone and the children were soon 12 in number.
It was agreed that the children would come live in the same house
as the widows. Over the last
12 years, Louise and
Andrew’s efforts have led to the establishment of Adullam Orphanage.
The
orphanage currently has 165 children, providing them with food, a good
place to sleep, clothes, schooling, medical care (social security).
Over the years, donations have come in to help fund and supply
the orphanage. It is a
struggle to find enough money to buy all the necessary supplies.
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