AGRICE shelter for blind and disabled children in Guinea-Bissau

A shelter, which is in the care of the foundation, has become home to nearly 100 blind and disabled children.

There are three units in the boarding school:

• 50 blind children live in Bissau.
  
• 22 children live in Gabo village: blind children and children with disabilities.
  
• 20 blind young men and teenagers live in The village of Moskovo.
  

The Foundation tries to do everything possible to improve the lives of these children.

GOALS:

1. Provide children with full-fledged conditions of stay.
   
2. Help them grow up and adapt to life, taking disability into account
   
3. If possible, give each of them special education and help with employment.
   
4. To change attitudes towards children with disabilities, to educate society so that parents would not give up on children with special needs.
   

Since 2020, the Foundation has been helping the shelter on a permanent basis. In January 2022, in the city of Bissau, a two-story house with a modern renovation of more than 400 square meters was rented and equipped with everything necessary for the comfortable life of 50 blind children. Since May 2022, two more subdivisions in the city of Gabo (22 blind and disabled children) and in the village of Moscovo (20 teenage boys) have been added to the care of the Foundation.

In May 2022, as part of a humanitarian mission by ophthalmologist Daniel Casanave, the children underwent a qualified examination for subsequent treatment and surgeries to improve their vision.

In 2023, a new bus was purchased for the children, on which they are taken daily to a special school.

At the moment, the shelter is housed in rented buildings. The plan is to build the own building on the plot of land which is already owned.

AGRICE has no permanent major sponsors. It is maintained entirely on donations from people who care. Therefore, we are in search of permanent sponsors for this project. This would greatly facilitate the life of the wards and would allow many more children to live in it.

These children have a very hard time. Each of them was abandoned by their parents after learning that they were not well. They cannot see (or have a disability) and experience the world very differently. They cannot fully take care of themselves. Furthermore, they cannot walk out of the shelter on their own, walk to school like normal children. It is not safe for them, because they aren't able to navigate in an unfamiliar place.