The air in Tsévié, Togo, still carried the scent of goats and red earth when ten-year-old Emmanuel Atossou first stepped into the orphanage compound. He had just arrived from Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) where the 2010–2011 post-election crisis had forced his family to scatter.
With his older brother, Justin, by his side, Emmanuel’s world shrunk to a few bags, a trembling heart, and the hospitality of strangers. But what he found at Jésus le Bon Berger (Jesus the Good Shepherd) was not merely shelter—it was, unexpectedly, home.
“The smell of goats, the chickens, the red soil—it was all so new,” he remembered. “But the kids made it easy. They welcomed us instantly. We argued and made up like a real family. Within a day, I felt like I belonged.”
More than 35 million children in Africa live without parental care, according to African Union. For many children in West Africa, orphanhood can result in living in poverty, homelessness, or exploitation. Without strong systems of support, the odds are stacked against these children. Yet Emmanuel’s story—now dotted with literary awards and published books—testifies to what’s possible when Christian communities step in with compassion, discipleship, and long-term investment in children’s lives.
UNICEF estimates that nearly 2.7 million children live in institutional care worldwide. The World Bank notes that Togo’s score on the Human Capital Index stands at 0.43. According to World Bank, this means children born in Togo today will achieve only 43 percent of their potential productivity because of limited access to quality health care, food, and education.
In 2014, Faith to Action Initiative released a report suggesting ways churches across Africa could improve orphan care. Some measures include providing trauma and attachment counseling, creating “family style” environments with smaller child-to-caregiver ratios, encouraging pastors and caregivers to provide long-term care and discipleship, and training children in life skills they will need for adulthood beyond the orphanage walls.
For Emmanuel, orphanhood started not with death but with displacement. Emmanuel’s family fractured due to divorce in 2006. Then Côte d’Ivoire faced political upheaval triggered by a disputed presidential election in late 2010. The incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede to opponent Alassane Ouattara, and their standoff escalated into armed conflict—more than 3,000 people were killed in a few short months, and up to 1 million were displaced. Emmanuel’s father, Atossou Komi Fiagno, had grown increasingly ill and so sent his sons to Togo for safety and stability. Emmanuel’s mother remained in Côte d’Ivoire. Nine years later, his father died.
At Jésus le Bon Berger, life was simple but steady. Mornings started with devotions. Evenings ended with shared chores and whispered prayers. Emmanuel said the children found comfort not in luxuries but in rhythm—and in the assurance they were no longer alone. That’s where he found support to heal from trauma, find long-term Christian mentors, and change the trajectory of his life.
The local Christian relief organization Association Espoir Nouveau Togo (New Hope Association, AEN Togo) has supported the orphanage since 2005, providing school fees, meals, discipleship programs, and volunteers.
“They didn’t just send funds,” Emmanuel said. “They sent people. They sent presence. They sent love.”
AEN Togo funded the arrival of Noël Atikpo, a trainer who taught the children about psychological resilience, self-worth, and spiritual strength. Emmanuel said he looked forward to visitors, calling many of them “aunt” or “uncle.”
“Even if they brought nothing, their presence filled us with joy,” he said. “It was love in its purest form.”
Under the orphanage’s care, Emmanuel began to dream of becoming a journalist and a writer. “Most of the books we had were for children,” he said, recalling his middle school years. “I used to read them aloud to the younger kids. That’s how I fell in love with storytelling.”
Though no teacher formally mentored him as a storyteller, one donor—“Aunt Marie,” a French visitor—noticed his passion.
“She used to say I reminded her of her son,” he recalled. “That encouraged me. At the orphanage, people loved my oral stories even more than my written ones.”
In 2019, Emmanuel Atossou earned his high school diploma and left for Lomé, Togo’s capital, to study at the University of Lomé. Loneliness, financial strain, and uncertainty marked his first year outside the orphanage. His father died that year, and his brother had left the orphanage two years earlier.
“Before he died, my father left me a list of verses to read each morning and night,” Atossou said. “When I stopped praying after leaving the orphanage, those verses brought me back.”
Atossou walked miles to school, attended long classes, and often went without food. At his lowest, he worked construction jobs, missing exams to earn money for meals.
“Once I missed two full days of exams—four subjects—just to avoid starving,” he remembered.
Unable to afford textbooks, Atossou turned to YouTube and free e-books, studying late into the night despite his exhaustion from doing manual labor. He tutored classmates to make ends meet. Still, his resilience and hard work led to his selection as head of the university’s literary club presentation committee. Atossou pushed through his disappointment and loneliness, writing even when no one was reading.
In 2024, those early seeds planted at Jésus le Bon Berger—along with Atossou’s continued perseverance—blossomed into broad literary recognition. He won second place in a national writing contest with a paper about digital fraud and placed first in the Codjo Rodrigue Abel Assavedo International Literary Prize contest in neighboring Benin.
Atosou now has two books published—Dédicace aux Âmes (Dedication to the Souls) and Les Derniers Souvenirs (The Last Memories)—and two forthcoming. Short Édition, a French publishing house focused on short forms of literature, also published Atosou’s short story “Le cortège présidentiel et l’homme haillonné” (The Presidential Motorcade and the Ragged Man), in which he critiques the pitfalls of power and explores human dignity.
But Atosou hasn’t stopped dreaming. He plans to return to graduate school in September to study law and diplomacy. “For literary awards, it’s not enough to just write,” he said. “Academic credentials also matter.”
In a quiet corner of his home, manuscripts now sit beside law textbooks.
Atosou said his message to orphans and to the world is this: “Be resilient. Be courageous. Have faith. Life gets harder, yes—but giving up isn’t in the vocabulary of God’s children. Rain or shine, you will fulfill your purpose.”
