Westhaven

	Westhaven Children's Home

Westhaven Children’s Home is an orphanage for handicapped children in
Jamaica. It was started in 1986 by a group who saw the need for a residential
facility to assist children with disabilities to reach their full potential.

The first cottage opened December 17, 1991, two more were opened in 1993,
and the fourth cottage was opened in 2003. There are currently four fully
operational cottages housing up to eighty children, ages three to twenty
seven years old, with a wide variety of abilities. This varies from children
with mild cerebral palsy, Downs Syndrome, and mental retardation to children
with more profound handicaps. Full time care givers at Westhaven provide all
necessary care including physical therapy and education.

The home is located on a former sugar plantation in the city of Copse. Copse
is a small mountainous village outside of Montego Bay. The drive from the
hotel takes about 45 minutes through some of the most beautiful scenery in
Jamaica. This former sugar plantation is also home to the Copse Place of Safety.

The ongoing operational costs of the home are supported, in part, by the
Jamaican Ministry of Health. However, the largest daily support comes from
continuing donations from local and overseas individuals and groups.

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Sample Projects:

1) Daily cares:

Every morning, Westhaven staff must assist with bathing, dressing, and feeding all of the children. This daily work involves up to 80 children with various disabilities. Any help is appreciated. Volunteers can help with bathing, dressing, feeding, caring for and loving these disabled orphans, aged 2 to 27. Others may decide to spend time with the children; talking, playing, walking with, and listening are all great ways to help brighten up a child’s day. Other volunteers will assist the Jamaican physical therapist in exercise programs for the children. Volunteers with classroom skills can organize classroom teaching and learning activities. A schoolroom is available for the about fifteen children from Westhaven that regularly attend school.

2) Fifth cottage:

Volunteers began the construction of a 3,600 square foot fifth cottage in 2004. This long term project is designed for the older children at Westhaven and has been coordinated through The Westhaven Board of Director’s Building Committee. Over the last 4 years, volunteers from various organizations have dug and poured the foundation, built block walls, and started framing the roof. In 2009, the JMP volunteers framed and paneled the interior walls of this cottage.

3) General maintenance:

As one can imagine, housing up to 80 children in a topical location with yearly hurricanes requires regular maintenance to the property. This has recently included; roofing repairs, painting, replacing floor tiles, and other general repairs. In 2009, Rob Wanless repaired a dangerous metal gate and Micah Piasecki reframed new locking doors for the school.

4) Water tank:

With extra time in 2009, we built a 3 feet platform for the water storage tank to get it off the ground. The tank had been placed o the ground and since the washing machines are gravity fed, this obvious didn't work real well. We finished this project and were able to autograph the concrete slab.

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Testimonial by: Linda Wanless 2008
(Click here for full version)

The moment I stepped passed the metal gates into Westhaven is a moment I will never forget. We were greeted by children of all sizes and ages running up to us with pure joy in their faces. Before arriving to Westhaven I can’t honestly say what I had expected to see... I remember guardedly walking across the grounds with children pulling and tugging at me. I think of myself of a person with a caring heart but I distinctly remember commenting to God that there were things that I could do and things that I could not. When I look back on my time at the orphanage I am so thankful that He didn’t listen to me…

…As we boarded the van to leave the orphanage they had to lock the gates because one of the girls was crying and trying to go with us...As we drove away I finally let loose of all the emotions that I had felt since we had arrived. I cried and cried. When I pulled myself together enough to talk I told my husband that I wasn’t crying for the children. I knew that they were loved and that they are taken care of there. Life at Westhaven is all they have ever known and they will be okay. I was crying for myself. I was crying because I was leaving a life of such simplicity. All the children asked of us was to give them love.