DREAM TEAM TOGO is an association of International Solidarity that does actions in favor of orphans and street children, provides assistance to the poor and remote populations of Togo by improving their living conditions.
At the university I had the idea to create a group on the Whatsapp network to collect funds at first and quite quickly various aids in order to help orphans in my country. People got motivated and mobilized and the group grew very quickly, gathering people who have the fiber of humanitarianism. We visited an orphanage called Mother Charity where there were babies abandoned by their parents due to lack of money or death of their parents. We were sad to see that. But all this makes us want to get more involved.
What drives me is the desire to help, but above all to create links and to meet the people who benefit from our actions. Once you make a donation to an orphanage as a humanitarian action, you keep in touch with the leaders. This allows us to reach out to children and youth. It is often on weekends that we go to meet the children, eat together and play soccer or other things with them. By this presence we bring joy.
While filming a report on a project for the association I met a schoolboy who is participating in one of the projects. This young man frequently skips school to go sell at the market in order to find money on the side. When I passed this child in uniform in the middle of the market on a school day, I asked him why he wasn’t in class at that time. There the child explained that he was in this place to fend for himself, looking to sell items to help his parents and to cover the cost of his schooling. This market is only held once a week on Fridays, if he doesn’t go, it will be a difficult week. This meeting motivated me to continue the action and to want to better understand how: helping is also meeting people.
What motivates people to act around us and with us is our seriousness and honesty in our work and humanitarian actions. What motivates me is the faith and hope of the people in the orphanage, the communities that act, and the joy of the children.
Nenonene KOFFIMENSANH