About our foundation
The Henk Arts Foundation was founded in 1996. We are registered as a foundation with formal charity status in the Netherlands. Our foundation has two main overall goals: Supporting the community in Port Loko: the children in the St. Martin’s orphanage, the neighborhood school the people of the local community. Also we aim to increase awareness of the people in the Netherlands. The translation of these goals in to reality implies that we ensure that the children (and neighborhood) have safe drinking water, food, a place to live, medical treatment and can go to school. In the Netherlands we do presentations at schools and for clubs etc. Also our website contains much information including Facebook updates and YouTube videos.
All our annual financial statements are published on this website (in Dutch). The annual budget is between 25.000 and 30.000 euro. The money comes from people who donate on a monthly or annual basis, one time events, fundraisers, etc. All work for the foundation is done on a voluntary basis.

 

Our YouTube channel

 

Check out these videos

• Adding new classrooms to the school
• Collecting eggs
• Building new toilets and washrooms
• Selling cold water
• Children from all around come to do their homework at the orphanage
• The water pump vat St. Martins and a traditional well elsewhere Port Loko
• Riding in the van together
• Rain…
• Cooking
• The Schools
• A tour by Emily
• Sierra Leone – a true picture

 

Pictures
A collection of pictures from 2010 can be found here. More recent pictures and videos are available on our Facebook page.

Pictures on specific topics from 2010 can be found below:

• The orphanage
• The country and Port Loko
• The children
• Eating and drinking in the orphanage
• Income and the results of solar power
• Freetown (the capital of Sierra Leone)
• Portraits of all children
• On the road in Sierra Leone (transport)

 

About St. Martin’s

The orphanage is run by Emily. With the help of some staff members she takes care of the Children. Most children live in the orphanage in Port Loko and go to school there. Some of them study in other towns such as Makeni and Freetown. By selling cold sausages and charging mobile phones there is some income.

A chicken stable was paid for by a Dutch elementary school and will now produce eggs which will be sold and eaten. The solar system makes it one of the few places in Port Loko to have lights. Although there is some electricity from the hydro-dam now. That is why many children from all around come there every night to do their homework. Sun set is around 6pm every night…

The water pump is used by many families. Even when you are poor it is important to share… While the orphanage was founded by a Catholic nun from Canada, all children can keep their own religion.

Behind the orphanage a school has been build which serves the whole neighborhood.

 

About Port Loko
Port Loko is the capital and second largest town of Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city lies approximately 40 miles (64 km) north-east of Freetown and has a population of 23,900. Port Loko lies on Banka Soka River, which flows into the Sierra Leone River. The population of Port Loko is mainly from the Temne ethnic group and its people are largely Muslim The Temne language along with the Krio language are widely spoken in the town. Port Loko lies on the main highway linking the country’s capital Freetown to the Sierra Leone border with Guinea.

 

About Henk Arts
Henk worked at the Emergency Room of a hospital in Roermond (the Netherlands) for about 30 years. In his free time he worked in many projects in many countries, such as Sudan, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Indonesia. He died in 2005 in Indonesia while he was there to finish a project after the Tsunami. We decided to continue his work for St. Martins and have been doing so since then.

 

Want to help us?
It is very gratifying work to provide a safe living environment and giving the children a chance for a better future. If you would like to help by making a donation please contact us at haged@home.nl or make a donation via PayPal https://paypal.me/stichtinghenkarts or our bank: IBAN NL65RABO0123471834, BIC RABONL2U.

If you would like input for presentations (PowerPoint) or have any other questions, please contact us, visit the website or like us on Facebook.
Name: Stichting Henk Arts
Adres: Land van Eyckstraat 18
Postal code: 6085 CP
Town: Horn
Country: the Netherlands