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Our Vision is to see every child in Ghana raised in a family
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We shelter children who have been rescued from forced labor trafficking, abandonment, or who have special needs until we are able to reintegrate them with their family or successfully place them somewhere else on the path to self reliance.
WE BELIEVE that children have been endowed by their creator with the inalienable right to be reared in a family. Thats why we make a difference in the lives of Ghanaian children by providing them with a place they can call home: a temporary home that includes food, shelter and physical, mental and emotional nurturing while trying to reintegrate them with their biological family or find them a new adoptive family.
OUR GOAL is to always be, pound for pound, the most impactful place you can put a dollar. Thats because, we shelter and reintegrate some of the most vulnerable children in this world and we run our operations using sound business practices, operating on donations and volunteer efforts from people like you so 100% of every dollar goes directly to the cause. Anyone can make a difference at GMAD.
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Cory and Stacey Hofman first traveled to Ghana in May of 2012, seeing that so many children were lacking many basic necessities in life, they were determined to help. Upon returning home, the Hofmans joined with others in Idaho to create Ghana Make a Difference (GMAD). GMAD was founded in July 2012 to protect vulnerable children and to preserve families in Ghana. We also have a sister organization in Ghana, also called Ghana Make A Difference, that is a legally incorporated Ghana charitable organization.
Since GMAD started, on five acres of land donated by the local village chief, we have constructed and currently operate a main children’s home (8,200 sq ft), a smaller home for children with special needs, a school, a dental / medical clinic, and a volunteer house. |
We employ 31 local, full-time Ghanaian and refugee workers (nannies, social workers, teachers, cooks, maintenance and grounds workers, management), and each year we have over 100 volunteers that travel to Ghana (mostly from the USA) to help us maintain and operate the home.
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We shelter children who have been abandoned and who have been rescued from forced child labor. We provide these vulnerable children with a place they can call home as we work to reintegrate them with their biological family or to place them in a new family. We believe there is no better way to raise the next generation than a family.
We believe that families are central to God's plan for the eternal destiny of His children, our operations in Ghana reflect this belief. We preserve families by providing a path to self reliance through education, adult literacy, vocational training, social assistance, healthy living, and access to medical care. |
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Children's Shelter
Our children’s home is a temporary place of refuge for vulnerable children who have been abandoned or rescued from human trafficking. Empirical research shows that no institution, no matter how good it may be, is an adequate replacement for family. We provide children with everything they need while we work to reunite them with their families, or to place them in new permanent families. We provide preparatory training and follow-up support to ensure the long-term success of child placements and family preservation. |
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Children with Special Needs
In Ghana, children with special needs are stigmatized, and are even thought to be part of a curse that is the source of a community’s problems. These children are quickly abandoned and left for dead. We offer these children a home, and in turn we are able to teach our other children, our staff, and our community (1) the truth about disabilities, (2) the good to all that comes from inclusion, and (3) the power of love. Our partner, Acacia Shade, has helped us with these efforts. |
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Medical Missions
Treatable medical tragedies disrupt millions of African families every year. Often parents are unable to work due to the needs of a sick child or they themselves have an unmet medical need that keeps them from being able to provide an income for their household. GMAD began a collaboration with Ghana Health Services, Graft Foundation and Latter-Day Saint Charities in an effort to put families on the path to self reliance by providing needed medical and surgical care. GMAD has been able to help hundreds of families receive desperately needed care by providing them access to healthcare providers, medical equipment, medications, and when necessary, surgical teams. |
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Medical, Dental, and Vision Clinic
Due to the success of our recurring medical missions and the ongoing need for care, we built a medical clinic on our property. The clinic is set up to accommodate dentists, optometrists, and primary care physicians. The clinic will allow us to help families be self reliant by providing them with greater access to dental, vision and medical care. The clinic will also allow us to provide follow-up services for medical mission patients. |
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Education
Many of the children sheltered at GMAD have been rescued from labor trafficking, and as such, have never attended school. The GMAD Academy of Learning was created in 2017 to provide a powerful curriculum that is customized and flexible to better meet the needs of our children. Unique for Ghana, our children learn on tablets and laptops. The school is located onsite. We are currently raising funds to start construction on a new school. Our currant school, a converted chicken coop, will become a middle school and the new school will be better equipped to unlock each student's full potential. |
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