On Thursday the 4th, Toju Ashogbon came back to visit the boys at the Home with intent to spend the night.  He has been really helpful spreading awareness about the work, and thought that he’d also experience a night at the Home.

Well, it must have been an experience for him, because the Home was packed full!  We had ten resident boys, and five visiting boys who got stranded because of the rain and had to spend the night at the Home.  One of the ten had just been tranferred to us that day from the Juvenile Welfare Centre, where he had been taken by a kind woman who found him wandering the streets.  After our own assessment, we decided he could join our boys.

Ordinarily, the visiting boys return to Oshodi, and visit us again the next day.  However, that night, we picked the remaining two boys to make our number complete at twelve boys.  The remaining boys were taken on Saturday morning to another Home, Child Life Line, where they will receive similar support.  We were fortunate to locate this Home, because there are few Homes that accommodate and rehabilitate street boys, who would have had vacancy at such short notice.

Well, back to Toju’s night at FLA.  The boys were really excited to have him over.  After dinner, and after they’d had their baths, Ufuoma rounded to the boys together with intense clapping, followed by dancing, and then some much needed stretching.  All the boys followed suit with laughter and jubilation.  Then they sat around on the Open Room floor and did some ice breaker games.

Toju then taught the boys a simple version of the game ‘charades’.  The boys were excited and split into two teams.  Ufuoma’s team and Toju’s team.  After some time picking their words for acting out, the games began.  At first, it looked like Ufuoma’s team would take the prize, but no – Toju’s team won by 9/6!  The winning team were promised biscuits for their reward the following day.

However, all the boys got peanut snacks for being good sports, and the winners each had Maryland cookies, which they happily shared with the losing team.  We are proud of them for sharing their treats!  We are also very grateful to have a friend like Toju.  He humbly slept on a small student mattress on the floor in the offices, while the fifteen children at the Home that night shared the bedrooms and TV room.  It was a lovely night indeed!

If you’re interested in helping, please get in touch.  The boys have study period at 6pm during the weekdays, and we could do with volunteers/mentors to help them study and do their Homework.  Weekends are also a good time to come and lend a hand.  We will be doing groupwork every Saturday, and group competitions at the Monthly Birthday Celebrations too.  You really should be a part of the next one 🙂