Charlotte Baby Home opened in September 2007 and is home to 63 children between the age of 3 months to 5 years. It is situated in a Kajo Keji, in Southern Sudan, about 12 miles from the border with Uganda and only a few minutes walk away from a UN camp.

 

The orphanage forms a thriving part of a community which was badly affected by South Sudan's two civil wars and by the terrorist militia the Lords Resistance Army, both of which recruited child soldiers and attacked and destroyed villages across the country. South Sudan also has the worst maternal death rates in the world, which makes Charlotte Baby Home particularly important to the area.

 

It is run by IWASSRU (The International Widows Association for Southern Sudan) which is a grass roots charity run by Susan Tabia. Their goal is to provide support for the orphans, widows and disabled victims of the war. They run various other charities including another orphanage in Northern Uganda, a widow centre and a leper colony.

 

Charlotte Baby Home shares the compound with an IWASSRU-run orphange for older children called St Bartholomew’s. The children at Charlotte Baby Home move into St Bartholowmew's when they grow older. The compound is also home to the local school, which is also attended by other children from Kajo Keji. There is also a small plot of land on the compound which is also farmed to produce fruits and vegetables, the Infirmary and the playground.

 

The children are cared for by seven women or 'mamas', who also cook and clean, and there is a nurse and a watchman on site for health-care and security. Cooking is done on traditional wood fires and water comes from a bore-hole, solar-powered pump within the compound. Solar power provides electricity to both Charlotte Baby Home and St Bartholomew's and there is a generator for emergencies. 

 

The compound is very tranquil and there is a real sense of close community. Children and staff get together in the evenings for sessions of dancing, drumming and singing in English or Kuku (the tribal mother-tongue language for most children), which the children love. (click here to see a video)

 

During the day, the younger children play whilst the older children go to school, and help out in the compound, gardening, helping the mamas with housework or cooking. Many of the children are very bright and would like to become teachers, doctors, nurses or lawyers. A sponsorship scheme is now in place to make provision for them to train for a career, after leaving St Bartholomew’s at the age of 16.