How it begun

The concept of forming an ecumenical Christian community with the aim of providing a home and shelter for abandoned and mentally handicapped children dates from 1991. In this year, we, the founders saw with their own eyes how gruesome the faith is of some of the so-called water children. In Ghana, people still traditionally believe that mentally handicapped children are the result of sexual intercourse of water spirits with the mothers of the children. It may not come as a surprise that the life of such a child, therefore, is difficult, sometimes even impossible. This is the reason why so many of these children are abandoned, often far away from home and sometimes near a holy river. The people hope that the spirit fathers who live in the water will take their children back into the river.

Encountering a few of these children under the most pitiable circumstances in a state-orphanage and a mental hospital, the founders felt obliged to act. In 1992, they decided to establish our community as al Ghanaian non government organization. The original name "Peace of Christ Community" (PCC) is still in use, but most people now say "PCC/Hand in Hand community". The community was founded by three Ghanaians and one Ghanaian-Dutch citizen: Dr. William Appeidu Mensah, Mr. George Kumih Kyeremeh, Mr. Andrew Osei Takyi and Dr. Ineke Bosman. While the first two founders left soon after the start, Mr. Osei Takyi spent fourteen years helping to raise the community to its present level. Other board-members joined: Bob Maram (1997), the American husband of Ineke, who is the financial director, and Samuel Baffo (1998) who is in charge of income generating projects such as the internet café and the guesthouses.

At present, in 2007, Ineke is the managing director, Bob is the financial director and Baffo is the director constructions and income generating projects. The employed caregivers in 2007 have reached 23.

The board of directors: Ineke Bosman, Samuel Baffo and Bob Maram. Mr Andrew Osei Takyi is friend and ambassador to the community.

In 1992, the chief of Nkoranza donated a beautiful piece of land. Gradually, a number of cottages were built on this land in order to provide a safe home for the first few children. The first two children to arrive (in 1992 and 1993 respectively) were Nana Yaw, a deeply autistic child of about six years old, and Nyamekye Commando, a teenager with Down's syndrome. Both boys were "stacked away" in the overcrowded state mental hospital in Accra. This famous and more than full hospital had five hundred beds and an average of over 2000 patients per day. There was a constant lack of food, medication and nursing, as well as beds. To the surprise of the founders the mental hospital was the last and only permanent place where mentally handicapped children would find a home. A horrendously inadequate home. Every day, Commando climbed over the wall of the hospital to go and look for food and fun in the big city. Since he was a fantastic clown, he had no trouble finding people to provide him with food and drink, nor did he have problems interacting with people. Everybody knew him in Accra, in all the bars and on every street corner. Nana Yaw was a small, starving, speechless little boy who, lost in his own world, sat among a confused group of psychotic adult males. These were the first two children who found a good home within the PCC/Hand in Hand community. Now, in 2007, over 40 children find a permanent home there, and another twenty young persons with a mental handicap from town and the surrounding villages come daily to work at the sheltered workshop of the Hand in Hand Community.

A picture of the staff of the PCC/Hand in Hand
community in 2004

A picture of the staff in 2007

Since the beginning a lot of individual sponsors, "Wilde Ganzen" and "Het Liliane fonds" have helped us financially. At this moment, fifteen years later, our network of child sponsors is still increasing. In addition to the community, there are now over 90 mentally handicapped children who attend a special school: The Shalom Special School. This school was erected by the PCC/Hand in Hand community and was handed over to the government of Ghana in 1997. Since 2004, twenty children of the community and another twenty handicapped youngsters from Nkoranza and surroundings have found a "working on the job" experience in our sheltered workshop. The construction of this sheltered workshop has been financed by the Dutch embassy in Ghana. Ellen Seldenthuis, a Dutch volunteer, helped to develop the workshop. Presently the in charge of the workshop is a Ghanaian woman called Angela. She has a staff of seven caregivers. Peace Corps volunteers are also committed to the running of the workshop.

For more detailed information you can also read the "Annual reports".