$500k Home For Boys Instils Hope

The Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia Reverend Fereimi Cama says the new house for boys at St Christopher’s Home will instil in them a sense of hope heading into the future.

He made the remark during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Moana St Clare Boys Home in Nakasi on Friday.

The value of the project is more than $500,000. It will have a double- storey house.

The construction work will begin next month and will be completed in 18 months.

Archbishop Cama said the home was about hope and second chances for many, of the often ostracised, downtrodden and underprivileged young people.

“The boys home is an idea whose time has come for inception,” he said.

“For the right boys to be nurtured here, it will be just the ticket for them to get a handle on who they are; what they are capable of; and what they want to be when they grow up.

“The home will provide the discipline and safety our boys need for everything from academic learning to job and life skills to physical fitness.”

Archbishop Cama said the boys would get help in a safe and professional residential learning environment.

“The kids who come to the home will not be here because of their past and present, but because of their future,” he said.

“I’m unequivocally confident the home will empower these boys to become responsible and productive citizens of our nation and be role models for many.

“They are at a critical junction in the road to excellence. They are children of destiny. Their success later in life will be our success as well.

“They will go on to win family, wage jobs and help build our communities rather than burden them.

“We know it’s smart because the programme has been extremely God-ordained and spiritually pondered and thus our attendance here today is the fruition of God Almighty’s divine plan.” Archbishop Cama said.

St Christopher’s Home sister in- charge Kalolaine Tuineau said St Christopher’s Home cared for both girls and boys.

For girls, the home cares from newborns to 18 years, but boys from newborn to 12 years old.

Once the boys reach 12 years of age, they have to be transferred to Veilomani Home in Ba.

“I feel that we have been doing injustice to boys because the girls are more exposed to the career path and tertiary level,” Sister Tuineau said.

“We had asked the Archbishop for a home for the boys.

“One of the other reasons we need a boys home here is because when they leave, their sisters remain.

“I believe that they should be here to be closer to the family and their sisters who are here because they have lost their parents.

Their siblings are the source of strength for them.”

Edited by Percy Kean