Help Us to Furnish St. Anne Junior College for Girls
Construction Funding is Complete.
Help Us to Furnish the School!
In 2006, Abode for Children was incorporated as a public charity. Its original project was St. Joseph Orphanage and School in Nigeria, which has since achieved independence under the auspices of the Diocese of Ogoja. The next project was the establishment of St. Thomas Orphanage and Mary Rose Buds School in the Diocese of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, India.
After several years of operation, a need was recognized to provide another orphanage for destitute girls. Mother Theresa Orphanage was dedicated in 2014. Ten girls were admitted as boarders, with a view of adding ten more per year, up to the building capacity of sixty.
In April 2021, three of these original girls successfully graduated from the 10th Level of Education.
NECESSITY OF A JUNIOR COLLEGE FOR GIRLS
As previously mentioned, three of the original girl boarders completed their education at Mary Rose Buds School through the 10th grade. We are expecting seven more from Mother Theresa Orphanage this coming school year. These young women have dreams of furthering their education but are prevented by the lack of funds and the rural culture climate. Their families are too poor to scrape the money together to send a girl to secondary education; that money would go to a boy.
Girls tend to return to the family to help earn money in some low-level job or else to be married off. This is heart-breaking for talented teens who would love the chance to become a nurse or business major or some other career. Boys are seen as having more potential for raising the family’s circumstances. Girls are a liability. We would like to help girls assist their families, too.
Just two more years of education, the 11th and 12th levels, can do so much to improve a young woman’s chances of lifting her family out of dire poverty. Instead of menial labor, working in the local farm fields or a sweat shop, she can actually be employed in an office or other business that pays more than a subsistence wage.
WHY A NEW BUILDING IS NECESSARY
To this end, we propose adding 11th and 12th level curriculums. This would be available to young women who otherwise would be unable to continue their schooling after their 10th grade graduation. We would also make it available to families who are able to pay tuition, on a sliding scale according to their means.
This new building will consist of three floors and contain classrooms, labs, a library, an auditorium, two offices and girls-only living accommodations. The auditorium will be open to both boys and girls as the need arises.
We first had hoped to simply add another floor to the original school. However, the foundation could not support a three-story building. Consequently, a separate edifice will be necessary.
IMPACT ON COMMUNITY AND FAMILIES
As mentioned above, the girls’ personal situations will improve, as well as their families’. The community will also benefit in the provision of a more highly-trained workforce and subsequent higher wages.
More businesses can flourish, either those started by our graduates or by others who move into the area. This will produce more jobs and more prospective students who will be able to afford tuition. In turn, this will help free up more of our donated funds to care for our financially-distressed boarders and their needs.
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