David Nii Otoo Nunoo, a Ghanaian resident in the city Reggio Emilia, is one of the new arrivals of immigrants in Italy. His file shows he arrived in the country on 14th December 2007, thanks to Italy’s law -‘Flussi’- which allows Italians or foreign nationals, legally resident in the country, to file for documents and employ nationals outside Italy to come and work in the country.
When I met him at his residence staying with a brother he was flicking through the pages of an album showing photos of his 90 adopted children in Ghana, grouped under one family at Ashdahar, a village some 40 kilometres from Ghana’s capital, Accra.
Emotionally recounting his story on these children between 3 to 18 years of age, most of them orphans, others whose father or mother is dead, he said pointing to some of the pictures. “These children are dear to my heart and will do all that it takes to help them get a meaningful life”.
The underlining story of Nii Otoo Nunoo and his children dates back to early part of the year 2003 as he recalls: “I was a building construction carpenter in Ghana and one day was walking in the streets of Accra at Kaneshie, a suburb of the city, when I heard a voice calling me from behind. At first I pretended not hearing the man who was calling and appears to be in his 70’s. When I finally stopped to listen to him, he told me: ‘there are children crying and following you, if you will listen to them it will be well for you’.
“His message didn’t sink in well. I have two children by my wife so I wondered if he was referring to them. The man turned to walk away and I went on in my direction but just as I looked back some few seconds later I didn’t see him again”.
The story went further that some few months after the encounter with the old man he accompanied a friend who was going to visit a family member at Ashdahar in the Accra province of ‘Wudomia bra’(literally meaning ‘if you love me, come’). “I was touched by one little boy I saw there, he was looking under nourished and appeared not to have eaten that day. I felt something in my heart to reach out to this little boy and upon enquiries was told he is an orphan. My further information at the village revealed there are more of such children in the village,” he told me, and went on: “At first I brought together 10 of these children in the village and surrounding areas to take care of them. I was an ordinary worker in Accra, but fortunately had a vehicle which is used for business and also a small-scale poultry business. Upon request, the elders of the village gave me a piece of land to cultivate some crops – maize, cassava, tomatoes, pepper, etc – for the feeding of the children. It was a big task and responsibility but was determined not to abandon them. I visited the village most of the time and had five other helping hands there as their number increased, a friend from Accra even went there to join in helping to take care of them”. According to him when leaving Ghana last year, the total number of his children has shot up to 70 and about a year on in Italy that number has increased to 90. “Prior to coming to Italy we made a make-shift mud house for them to sleep and another one for use as a school and holding church services,” says the 31-year-old native of Accra who also said he worshiped with New Life Outreach Church before coming to Italy.
“They were becoming increasingly congested so we had some of them coming everyday to eat, take part in the daily activities and go back to their villages”, he mentioned. His humanitarian services, was somehow rewarded by people who did not know about his caring of these children as he says: “In Ghana, people sometimes give me money when I have not told them about what I am doing for these children,” and added that he even kept the care of his children from his own mother and close friends because he did not want anyone to discourage him.
So what made him leave and come to Italy after all these when his help is so much needed by the children? “I have not abandoned them,” he repeatedly said, “I was facing financial hardships then because the poultry business went down and when the opportunity came for me to come to Italy I did not want to miss the chance to try my luck elsewhere”. He continued: “My heart is always with these children and I am in constant contact with them and the people who are taking care of them. Have started work only some few months ago and sent home (to Ghana) some money, though not enough, towards their feeding. I call and talk to them most of the time. I believe God will help me give them some meaningful life”.
The heart-touching story of David Nii Otoo Nunoo recounted with hope and deep sense of love for children seems to be ripples of his own father’s demeanour. He told me about the years living with his father: “I recollect when I was a little boy, back home in Ghana, my father has a house with a large compound where me and my siblings were all staying. He had goats, sheep, fowls, turkeys among others and on festive occasions such as Christmas, New Year’s Day or sometimes ordinary days will invite children and others in the locality to come and eat, he was so much attached to children and went on helping in educating his nephews and nieces. We lost him under a very sad circumstance. He woke up one morning feeling his usual self, I was sent across the street to buy something and on my return found him in bed fighting for his life and that was it. He left us sadly”.
Nii Otoo told me he is so much used to children and hate to see them suffer or mal-treated. His urgent concern for his 90 children is to provide good drinking water for them. “The water they use to bath, also for washing their clothes is the same water they drink and it’s unhygienic. It is sourced from a nearby river in the village. God willing, I will go home in December this year and from what I have earned so far working here I want to provide them a pipe-bored hole water facility, something which will need to have its filter changed from time to time,” he said.
When I asked him if he tried for some assistance whilst in Ghana from any NGO, he replied: “Yes I did, but there was no help from those quarters and did not want to wait but do with what I have. I even sold my vehicle before leaving Ghana and the money given to the caretakers for their upkeep”. He indicated he went on to register his orphanage under the name, ‘Redeemer’s Orphanage’, whilst in Ghana and most of the time after work in Italy goes round looking for second-hand clothes to send home for the poor kids. “I also have plans to build them a school where they can learn a trade by having some working skills so they can depend on it for their future”, he told me.
In the care of the children he mentioned the 18 years olds, numbering 10, assists in the upkeep of the junior ones but says he will welcome any assistance be it food, non-alcoholic beverages, financial, logistic or any other towards the upkeep of these 90 children, the number likely to increase further on.
Any help towards the upkeep of children in the ‘Redeemer’s Orphanage Home’ can be channelled to the following address or bank account:
Redeemer’s Orphanage Home c/o David Nii Otoo Nunoo Via Perugino 28 42100 Reggio Emilia Italy.
Tel/Fax: 039-0522-383-259 Cel: 039-380-4380-347 e-mail: r.orphanage@yahoo.com
Details of Bank Account: Barclays Bank To: Nunoo David Nii Otoo Account Number – 20250310 ABI: 03051 CAB: 12801 CODICE IBAN: IT82 V030 5112 8010 0002 0250 310
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