Liberia: Antoinette Cheshire Home Seeks Help

Antoinette Tubman Cheshire Home (ATCH) has called on the government, humanitarians and well-meaning citizens for financial support to keep the home running. 
 
ATCH is a charitable, non-profit organization in Liberia. It caters to individuals with cerebral palsy, especially children, and any other with physical and mental disabilities.
 
Madam Marian Browne, a board member of the facility, disclosed that the home is in dire need of funds to feed and cater to the children. She named amongst other urgent needs the rehabilitation of the facility, increasing the staff, specialized doctors, salary incentive for workers, security, cook, provision of food, and sanitary materials, which she said must be urgently addressed.
 
“I do not get anything from the government to run the home; everything is being done by friends, donors, and goodwill citizens. We have engaged the Ministry of Gender because we were told they are supposed to provide welfare for the home but to no avail. The majority of these residents are mentally challenged; we have a committed catering staff that makes only US$30.00 dollars as take-home pay,” Browne revealed.
 
Established in 1985 by a group of Liberian women who heard that children were born and abandoned by their mothers and left to die in hospitals because of their physical appearance. It hosts the needs of a vulnerable population including those with cerebral palsy, especially children, and any others with physical and mental disabilities.
 
Madam Browne made her appeal at the Christmas celebration event organized by the home to raise funds and used the occasion to honor her long-time serving staff.
 
“We get called by the government, sometimes the ministry of gender and even the public about these children who are being abandoned. We usher them in without a cost but, even so, we are not even captured in the budget,” she said.
 
According to her, the staff remains underpaid without allowances and there is a need to increase their pay. “We are two months back with payment and we want to put a smile on their faces by giving them some incentives.” 
 
The home currently houses 32 persons: 15, children, and 17 staff members. She stresses the need for the government to look in their direction.
 
CHESHIRE home, a charitable organization  was named in honor of Mrs. Antoinette Louise Padmore Tubman, wife of former Liberian head of state Williams V. S. Tubman. It has been catering to the less fortunate in society, the society majority of whom were abandoned by their parents due to their deformity. The Cheshire Home was heavily supported by its namesake the former first lady of Liberia as well as the government in the past, but that has changed with time as the home is being operated at the mercy of the public.
 
Meanwhile, as part of the fundraising event, ATCH friends and family network was launched by the board as a means of generating funding to address the needs of the home.