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Contact:
Julita Peter
Monday, February 21, 2005 - The lives of the children at the Soufriere
Children’s Home will be remarkably improved, as a result of a refurbishment
exercise by Relief, Education and Child Sponsorship (REACH), a charitable
international organization based in Canada.
REACH International, which has been assisting children in St. Lucia since 1998
raises its funds largely through child sponsorship.
The government of St. Lucia through the Office of the Governor General is
hosting the group of 10 persons, with the collaboration of the Piton Lions Club
and the Jalousie Hilton, among members of the corporate community.
The Home is being operated by Eugenia Faustin, who, a member of REACH, Phillip
Tibien said took 18 children that were either abandoned or their parents died.
He said that the group had been working on the project all week painting,
cleaning, putting new windows, building a kitchen with sink and cupboards. “With
her 18 children she needs a lot of storage space to make sure that the Home is
very liveable and comfortable for everybody here”.
At a Summit on Poverty in St. Lucia in May of last year, the Reach international
St. Lucia Advisory Council was formed, chaired by Governor General, Her
Excellency Dame Pearlette Loiusy. One of the roles of the Council is to advise
REACH on the projects needing attention.
The Governor General, who paid a courtesy call at the Soufriere Children’s Home
last Thursday, also got involved in real practical work, including painting. She
said the caring of homeless children was a noble work and encouraged persons
involved to continue that awesome task.
“The children of this nation are ours to take care of, and to mould for the
future; some of them are our own, some of them are not as advantaged as others,
but persons who have the ability, the room, the inclination to take in those
disadvantaged, marginalized and at risk, you can see from that, that you can
start, you can initiate it and help will come”, Dame Pearlette said.
Owner of the Soufriere Children’s home, Miss Faustin has been involved in this
humanitarian effort from the tender age of 12, when she was prematurely taken
out of school to assist her mother who started the orphanage. Currently, there
are 18 children in her care.
St. Lucia is the only Caribbean beneficiary country of REACH International
sponsorship.
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