City of Refugees Ministries
Stacy and Johnbull Omorefe met in Ghana in 2001, married in 2002 and launched a non-profit organization called City of Refuge Ministries in the United States in 2006. It wasn’t until they read aNew York Times article detailing rampant child trafficking on Lake Volta, though, that they knew what they wanted their organization to tackle.
They flew back to Ghana in 2007, enduring a sometimes road-less, 17-hour drive before arriving at the lake.
“That trip was the one that changed everything,” Johnbull said. “(The children) were young when they came, but now they are 16, 18 years old and they can’t read, write. All they know is fishing.” Johnbull himself grew up on the streets of Nigeria without parents or guidance. “I wept,” he said. “I’ve never felt that way before in all of my life. It reminded me of my childhood, how I grew up.”
The non-government organisation City of Refuge Ministries’ work in Ghana started in an apartment in Tema with less than 10 children. Now, an entire children’s village sits in a clearing behind a military camp in Doryumu, Greater Accra, with a dirt path through leading all the way back to the main road.
Now CORM consist of the Omorefe’s home, a volunteer house, a guest house, three dormitories, a school, a basketball court, a playground area and more. “Everything you see here…we didn’t have the money,” Johnbull said. “Everything has come as a surprise from God.”
When they learned a private Christian school in Tema was passing students on to the next grade even when they couldn’t write their own names, the Omorefes decided to build their own school. The chief of Shai Hills, when he heard about their plan, offered the land in Doryumu in exchange for free education for one needy child from each of the eight local clans.
The children who call the CORM Children’s Village their home live in family houses. Each house is made up of a Christian married couple who are the house parents, a cook, a caregiver and 18 children.
City of Refugee Ministries’ goal is to allow the children to have a childhood since so many of them come out of situations where they were working long hours on fishing boats or doing domestic chores. The children attend school during the day and in the evenings they are free to play. The children also take part in bible studies and a number of recreational activities, including football, art and other camps in the summer. They are also taught lessons on life skills such as budgeting prepare them to live successfully on their own. The organisations vision is that the CORM Children’s Village will be a place of refuge for hundreds of children who are in need of a safe place to call home.
City of Refugee Ministries is working to not only rescue children out of slavery but also to prevent children from being sold in the first place. The organisation is doing this by empowering single mothers who are vulnerable to selling their children. They believe that if they can empower dingle mothers economically and educationally they will no longer be vulnerable to selling their children to Lake Volta’s fishermen. They are working with numerous communities to provide education to the people about the issue of slavery and what is happening to the children once they are sent to work at Lake Volta.
Stacy and Johnbull Omorefe met in Ghana in 2001, married in 2002 and launched a non-profit organization called City of Refuge Ministries in the United States in 2006. It wasn’t until they read aNew York Times article detailing rampant child trafficking on Lake Volta, though, that they knew what they wanted their organization to tackle.
They flew back to Ghana in 2007, enduring a sometimes road-less, 17-hour drive before arriving at the lake.
“That trip was the one that changed everything,” Johnbull said. “(The children) were young when they came, but now they are 16, 18 years old and they can’t read, write. All they know is fishing.” Johnbull himself grew up on the streets of Nigeria without parents or guidance. “I wept,” he said. “I’ve never felt that way before in all of my life. It reminded me of my childhood, how I grew up.”
The non-government organisation City of Refuge Ministries’ work in Ghana started in an apartment in Tema with less than 10 children. Now, an entire children’s village sits in a clearing behind a military camp in Doryumu, Greater Accra, with a dirt path through leading all the way back to the main road.
Now CORM consist of the Omorefe’s home, a volunteer house, a guest house, three dormitories, a school, a basketball court, a playground area and more. “Everything you see here…we didn’t have the money,” Johnbull said. “Everything has come as a surprise from God.”
When they learned a private Christian school in Tema was passing students on to the next grade even when they couldn’t write their own names, the Omorefes decided to build their own school. The chief of Shai Hills, when he heard about their plan, offered the land in Doryumu in exchange for free education for one needy child from each of the eight local clans.
The children who call the CORM Children’s Village their home live in family houses. Each house is made up of a Christian married couple who are the house parents, a cook, a caregiver and 18 children.
City of Refugee Ministries’ goal is to allow the children to have a childhood since so many of them come out of situations where they were working long hours on fishing boats or doing domestic chores. The children attend school during the day and in the evenings they are free to play. The children also take part in bible studies and a number of recreational activities, including football, art and other camps in the summer. They are also taught lessons on life skills such as budgeting prepare them to live successfully on their own. The organisations vision is that the CORM Children’s Village will be a place of refuge for hundreds of children who are in need of a safe place to call home.
City of Refugee Ministries is working to not only rescue children out of slavery but also to prevent children from being sold in the first place. The organisation is doing this by empowering single mothers who are vulnerable to selling their children. They believe that if they can empower dingle mothers economically and educationally they will no longer be vulnerable to selling their children to Lake Volta’s fishermen. They are working with numerous communities to provide education to the people about the issue of slavery and what is happening to the children once they are sent to work at Lake Volta.