If ever there was a project that “scooped us up” and carried us from the beginning to the end, it was this. While doing some simple renovation in a hospital in the town of Dzodze on the Togo border with Ghana, I meet a young girl called Xorladi who was often seen wandering around the hospital corridors. After making some enquires, I discovered she was HIV positive. This was the result of her being infected by an older man. She was abandoned by her village and left at the hospital. We immediately assigned a constant personal carer to care for her. Despite our efforts after only a few months Xorladi sadly passed away. During her last few weeks she was surrounded with the love and compassion she deserved.

This was the first piece of the jigsaw. We wondered how many more would suffer such tragedies, through no fault of their own,

Next came a chance meeting with a Ghanaian order of Reverend Sisters. They told us about their long-held ambition of starting a home for displaced and needy children. They had the land but not the financial means to build a home. Fortunately, my long-term friend Ettore Barion and his Italian charity Noipeloro shared this dream. He immediately began applying for financial support from his home country. After much fundraising even more help arrived.

A Cork based trust, The Toma Trust donated a new digger to us. This was a very useful and invaluable piece of machinery for this project. Then came the arrival of COVID. This meant we had more time to spend in Ghana, which normally would have been impossible. Everything was falling into place. Ettore inspired his local council to back the project and we drafted a timeframe. Our goal was to have the home completed by March 2022. With your help this was achieved. What we strived to do has come to pass. We have reached the end of the beginning.

Without having met Xorladi none of this may have been possible. Thank you Xorladi

Conor