Who in the world takes care of all these girls? A spotlight on our House Moms

This is a common question we receive. With MamaLand now up to 20 girls, raising all of them is a monumental task! With 20 girls ranging from 4 to 13 years old, can you begin to imagine the extent of laundry, dishes, emotions, homework help, band-aids, bedtime prayers, teeth brushing, hair braiding, food preparation and hugs that are involved??

In a previous blog post, we introduced you to Grandma Dorcas, the experienced leader, nurse, pastor, and nurturing grandmother who has established the protocols for how these girls will be well cared for. Dorcas lives part of the year in her homeland of Sierra Leone and part of the year in her home in Pennsylvania, making it necessary for the daughters of MamaLand to have year-round, consistent mother-figures in their lives.

A priority has been to hire experienced, devoted Sierra Leoneon women who are deeply committed to this program, ideally women who are mothers themselves and who share their language, culture,and values, to serve as role models and mentors for the girls.

Every girl in the program has experienced a significant loss or trauma in their life which has led to them coming to MamaLand. They have been through so much already in their short lives that we want MamaLand to be a safe haven of acceptance, understanding, and healing for their hurting hearts.

This is where two very important, invaluable women come in.

Introducing Hawa and Fatmata (affectionately called “Effie” by the girls).

Effie cares for the 10 youngest girls and Hawa cares for the 10 oldest girls. These women are kind, organized, nurturing, and love the girls very, very much. They have been mentored by Dorcas and have ongoing training and supervision. Hawa and Effie have assistants who support the program by helping with cooking, cleaning, sewing, driving, and laundry so that they can be most focused on the emotional, spiritual, physical, and academic development of the girls.

Hawa was the first House Mom to join the program. While Hawa is only 27 years old, she has demonstrated great resiliency as a single mom to her 12-year-old son, Musa.

Ali Kamanda, our Program Director, identified early on that Hawa had just the right personality, patience, and maturity for this role. Hawa’s maturity may come from her incredibly difficult childhood where her father had 5 wives. He did not take care of her mother and left her to sell firewood to send her kids to school. Hawa elaborates,

“I really struggled growing up. I wanted to work to help others not go through what I went through. I want the MamaLand girls to be even more than me and have a heart to help others.”

Hawa’s bond with each of the girls is clearly evident and heartwarming to see. When she enters the room they run to greet her with a huge hug.

Hawa has been very dedicated to the mission of MamaLand for quite a few years now and has been a tremendous asset to the program and advocate for the girls. She has been known to request parent-teacher conferences with the girls’ teachers to discuss how a girl is doing socially or to find out how she can better support their academic progress at home. She has been saving little by little each month as she is focused on the future.

“My dream is to be able to buy my own house one day, one that doesn’t flood.”

Effie, age 48, brings the perspective of a more experienced mother, with 2 kids of her own, a 17-year-old son and a 27-year-old daughter.

Friends, will you please join us in praying for Effie and her family? We have just learned that Effie’s 17-year-old son has recently, unexpectedly passed away. Our hearts and prayers are with her during this tragic time.

Before taking on her role at MamaLand, Effie worked at another orphanage for 9 years. That orphanage had 100 kids with 7 kids in each house. Effie has had her share of hardships as well. She walked for 4 days with her baby daughter and a group of 30 others from Sierra Leone to Guinea to escape the brutal Civil War taking place. They had only potatoes and water on their journey and witnessed lots of gunfire, sadly losing her uncle who was killed by a bomb.

She is a single mother who proudly shares,

“I love this job and I love these kids. I treat them like my own children. My hope for the daughters of MamaLand is that they would grow up, be educated and help their villages. It is good that we are helping them but we want them to then help others in the future.”

Although Effie has not been with the program as long as Hawa, she has established herself as a warm, consistent and compassionate caregiver that loves each girl dearly.

Effie and Hawa both have a deep deep faith and strong work ethic as reflected in their typical daily schedules:

5am: Begin preparing breakfast for the girls
6am: Get girls up and ready for school
6:45am: Morning prayers, Bible study and singing with girls

Effie with girls — Effie leading the girls in morning prayer, singing, and Bible study

7:30am Girls leave for school. While girls are gone they clean the house, changes sheets, makes beds and join other women in preparing the evening meal
2:15pm: Girls return from school. They help the girls bathe and get changed out of their uniforms.
3-5:45pm: Girls rest, work on homework and have playtime together
6pm: Dinner is served
7pm: Evening Bible study with the girls
8pm: Bedtime

MamaLand Children’s Village is extremely fortunate to have these 2 House Moms, more like “Superwomen” heroes, pouring so much love and affection into the girls day in and day out.

It takes a Village to raise children and these phenomenal women are living out that mission with tremendous skill and dedication! We could not be more grateful for them!!