Following the dispatch of the message entitled “Indifférents mais jusqu'à quand? ” (Indifferent, but until when?) and the favorable response to the call to action that concludes it, funds were raised and invested in a charity for the Centre Vidjingni les Archanges de Dékanmè.

The Centre Vidjingni les Archanges de Dékanmè was opened in 1995. At the time, the NGO Terre des Hommes (TdH) was implementing a program dedicated to stray children. The TdH delegate at the time, a certain Rose Marie, proposed the idea of creating this center to the late Bishop Isidore de Souza, who approved. The Center, run by Sister Sabine GLELE, a nursery nurse who has since been seconded, takes in severely handicapped cases such as psychosis, depression, epilepsy, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

All twenty (20) of the Center's “boarders” are abandoned children found on piles of garbage, in the forest, on the street or at the market. Apart from one child whose parents are known to the Center's management, there is no data/information on the parents of the others. For Sr. Sabine, each of these children is an image of Jesus abandoned on the cross.

With the support of a European friend, the Center acquired an estate and turned it into a farm. The farm is used for a variety of farming activities, including poultry and pig rearing. Swine fever has caused the Center to lose more than 130 pigs, and climatic conditions are not always conducive to good harvests.

The Centre also relies on small-scale sponsorships of between 10 and 15,000 FCFA per month. These resources, when they arrive on time and in bulk (which is rare), are used to supply the Center with fish and other foodstuffs not produced by the farm.

Prior to her secondment, Sr Sabine worked at the Porto-Novo Hospital, treating illnesses that could not be treated locally (in Benin). At the beginning of her secondment, she invested her salary in the management of the Centre, complementing the support provided by TdH. Unfortunately, TdH's support came to an end with the departure of Mrs. Rose Marie, the Delegate at the time.

Touched to the core of their sensibilities and driven by the desire to contribute to bringing a little happiness to those who seem to enjoy it only occasionally, our faithful readers mobilized in a remarkable way. While some donated the suggested five thousand (5,000) CFA francs, others chose to go even further. All in all, by the time the purchases were made (Thursday December 31, 2009), a total of one hundred and ninety thousand (190,000) FCFA had been raised.