Emanuel fundraiser for Ebola orphans

In order to raise much needed funds to support Heaven Homes and their work in Sierra Leone, there will be a coffee and acoustic morning held in Emmanuel Church, Castle Lane on Saturday, November 29.

All money raised will be used to complete the work on the orphanage & fund the care of the 36 orphaned children now in their care.

To support the work of Heaven Homes, come along to the coffee morning from 9.30am to 1pm. Everyone is welcome.

To find out more about the work of Heaven Homes in Sierra Leone, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/heavenhomes

The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa.

Sierra Leone is one of the worst affected countries with over 5586 confirmed cases & 1187 deaths to date.

In the midst of the Ebola crisis, a new humanitarian disaster is brewing. With movements currently restricted in a bid to control the spread of the disease, adults are unable to go to work to earn money & are struggling to provide enough food for their families.

Hundreds of children are now left orphaned and abandoned as parents die, leaving them to fend for themselves. Caught up in a perfect storm of poverty, fear and stigma amid the chaos of the epidemic, orphaned children are either unable to trace relatives or have simply been abandoned.

Sierra Leone’s Unicef director Roeland Monasch explained: “When you had the HIV pandemic, which caused many more orphans, 90% of them were absorbed by their [extended] families. But because of the stigma, that is not happening here.”

Heaven Homes is an Elim Missions backed charity who are working on the ground in the village of Joetown, 30 minutes drive from capital city Freetown.

They have distributed food parcels to struggling families & in the last week have worked tirelessly to convert a disused storage building into an orphanage and taken in 36 orphans from nearby Waterloo.