Construction of a dormitory for girls at the Bogo Orphanage in the Philippines

Creating a safe and welcoming environment

Located in the hills above Bogo, in the north of Cebu Island, the Beato Thomas Hope House orphanage takes in young girls and women who have no one else to turn to (victims of abuse, orphans, abandoned children, etc.) as well as their children. At the time of its creation in 2018, the orphanage took in 17 girls, but thanks to its reputation, it now houses 39, including seven children under the age of five.

The orphanage is run by Sister Flore and Sister Nelma, the programme managers, assisted by a few mothers and volunteers. They make sure that all the girls and children can grow up in good conditions: they feed them, teach them how to live in a community, ensure they receive a good education, care for them and look after them on a daily basis. This is a huge task, given the number of young women and the difficulties they face due to their past.

A new building is needed for two reasons: to provide decent living conditions for the girls in the orphanage and to renew the orphanage’s accreditation by the Philippine social services.

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The proposed solution

We therefore wish to construct a new building in place of the orphanage’s current vegetable garden. This building will have a ground floor and a first floor, which will accommodate dormitories and a common room for organising events and activities.

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THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW BUILDING

The ground floor will therefore house two large dormitories, a shared bathroom and two small bedrooms.

The upper floor will house a large room that can be divided into two separate spaces thanks to a removable partition. The Philippine social services require that girls sleep in separate rooms depending on their personal situations, which justifies the creation of several bedrooms.

This building construction project can therefore be divided into three actions:

Creation of a dormitory so that the orphanage can finally offer a bed to each of the girls in its care.
Creation of small bedrooms to allow young mothers with babies to have some privacy.
Creation of a room upstairs to allow activities and events to be organised.

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Philippines

Highlights of the project

The construction of the building will improve the living conditions of around forty young girls who have never had the opportunity to live in a decent and safe place.

This project will reinforce the work of Children of the Mekong, which has been involved in this collective programme for seven years and, more recently, with individual sponsorships to provide psychological support to girls.

The design office chosen for the construction of the dormitory is working closely with the Philippine social services and the town hall; they have therefore already obtained the necessary building permits and accreditations.

This project will enable the orphanage to renew its accreditation with the Philippine social services, and perhaps even put some of the girls up for adoption, so that they can join a stable family that will love and support them.

Who will benefit?

The direct beneficiaries are the 32 young women and 7 children currently living at the orphanage. But more broadly, this new building will enable the orphanage to take in all the young women who will follow in the footsteps of the current residents.

The aim of the orphanage is to accommodate the girls for as short a time as possible, either by enabling them to gain independence through education or by facilitating their adoption (which is subject to approval by the Philippine social services, pending the construction of a new dormitory).

Philippines