Welcome House Introduction
I met Karim after hearing his name over and over again from the prison kids. We soon became friends and working partners. Karim is a social worker trained in France, and works for Grandir Dignement, an NGO that advocates for prison youth in Madagascar and Niger. https://www.grandirdignement.org/actions/madagascar.
I will always remember the day we paved in the muddy mire where the kids play ball and squat in lines for head counts.“This is Christmas for me,” Karim said. “I don’t need any other gift this year.”
Karim and his team look after the kids, give extra food to those suffering from malnutrition, take the sick ones to the hospital and accompany each child individually through the legal process. They arrange activities to help pass the time, teach skills like chicken raising, cooking classes and soap making and employ a person to teach literacy for those who can’t read or write.
Last year one teen-ager slipped in the toilet at night, suffered head trauma, and died. Because there is no electricity at night for lights or a call button, the other kids had to wait until morning, locked up in the dark next to their friend’s body. Karim helped the kids work through their shock and grief, and they buried their friend together. The parents could not be reached.
In spite of all of the good work that they do, funds are limited and they struggle to make necessary renovations to bring the conditions up to standard.Before I left, we sat down and discussed ways we might work together in the future. Karim expressed his dream to have a Welcome House where out of town parents could stay while visiting their kids. Most families live in remote villages in the surrounding four provinces and some don’t even know where their children are.“My parents probably think I am dead,” one youth told us.
The concept is to pay all expenses for the parents to visit for four days, during which time the House Warden would inform them of the their kids’ legal, introduce them to the prison officials, lawyers and judge, and walk them through the process. I asked for a project estimate and promised to do what I could.Friends of Madagascar Mission (FOMM) agreed to cover the approximate $6000/year budget and the Welcome House was conceived. Other donations come in through EMM to pay for medical expenses when kids get very sick.We hired a young educated Malagasy woman, Onisca,to find a place to rent and to head up the program. The Welcome House is already so popular that there is a waiting list. I’ll be posting photos in the next couple of months.
I manage a non-profit social business in India bluemangotrust.com and when the women saw photos of the prison, they were so moved that they offered to donate monthly from their salary to help out.“I guess we don’t have it so bad,” they said.We found matching funds for their donations and will use the money to help upgrade the Welcome House with mattresses, bedding and other basic items.
This model has the potential to grow into expanded legal aid for the kids and more. Perhaps it can also be replicated in other prisons across the country, in coordination with Grandir Dignement as the concept originates from them. More donations are always welcome so that Karim’s dream can grow.
