Project Overview :

Foyer Monseigneur Leen is an orphanage for young girls located in Rose-Hill, Mauritius, which is committed to cultivating life opportunities for its residents despite having a rough start in life. The orphanage strives to give young girls under their care the skills they need to become happy, autonomous, and active citizens. This fund-raising is undertaken with a view of providing educational possibilities to the girls of Foyer Monseigneur Leen via art therapy sessions, the setting up of a vegetable garden, and culture-centered classes.

 Challenge : 

Children who struggle with interpersonal and professional skills have a higher chance of ending up begging, living on the street and unfortunately fall into patterns of prostitution, drug use and trafficking. As girls, the children of Foyer Monseigneur Leen are even more exposed to such risk given that they belong to a vulnerable minority. Additionally, they have been taken from their family home following abuse or have never had the opportunity to benefit from a parental figure, depriving them from the habitual love, care, and affection that is so crucial to the development of a child. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to give them the opportunity every child should have: to build themselves back up and learn skills that will allow them to break the cycle.

Solution :  

The funds accrued through this project will allow Foyer Monseigneur Leen to provide for art therapy sessions, the setting up of a vegetable garden and culture-centered classes to be held at the orphanage three times a week with a special event held each month.

Allowing girls to participate in sessions that include dance, theatre , pottery, mosaic-making, collage, sculpture, photography and planting will have a three-fold effect:

1. It will give girls the opportunity to develop their creativity, autonomy and social skills by learning new things they were unable to do before. This will result in a boost in their self-esteem, and will make them feel valued.

2. Interacting with the facilitators and the other children will teach them how to recognise and manage their emotions, something with has proven highly difficult in the past considering their background.

3. It will allow girls to heal from their trauma through art, and to grow into active citizens without being held back by the rough start they had in life which they had no control over.

 Long-term impact : Providing the girls of Foyer Monseigneur Leen with the possibility to learn new skills will not only help them grow into responsible, creative and autonomous teens, it will also allow them to enter adult life with valuable professional skills with they can monetise by the time they leave the shelter at the age of 18. Therefore, the long-term impact of the project is that the girls of Foyer Monseigneur Leen will no longer be in dire circumstances and unable to provide for themselves by the time they become adults: they will have managed to build themselves back up, will know how to manage and work through their emotions and interact with others, and will have acquired enough skills to avoid falling into toxic environments of drug-use and prostitution. Through this project, Foyer Monseigneur Lean will be able to help girls become strong, independent women, who can be active citizens in their community and hopefully, help others achieve the same.