Create special fund for orphanages …Nana Dankawoso I urges govt
The government has been urged to establish a special fund for the effective running of orphanages in the country, to promote the welfare of inmates, particularly their education and health.
This has become necessary as children in some orphanages, instead of continuing their education or acquiring employable skills, are made to leave the facilities as soon as they attain 18 years, thereby becoming a liability or threat to society.
President-General of the Eminent West Africa Nobles Forum (WANF), Nana (Dr) Appiagyei Dankawoso I, who made the appeal, lamented that, “Some orphanages are struggling to provide food, health, accommodation, clothes and education for inmates, and it is crucial for us to come to their aid.”
He noted that while extended families were obliged to provide basic needs of orphans at homes, those in orphanages continued to rely on the benevolence of individuals and organisations.
Nana Dankawoso I made the call after donating food items including, bags of rice, sugar, gari, beans, tins of tomatoes, toilet rolls and cash, all amounting to GH¢30,000, to the Countryside Children’s Welfare Home, at Bawjiase, in the Central Region, at the weekend.
He cautioned: “if children leave orphanages with little or no education and skills, some of them may end up on the streets as robbers, thieves and pick pockets and vent their frustrations on the very people who failed to ensure their propercare and integration into society.”
Nana Dankawoso I, therefore, appealed to individuals, religious groups, traditional authorities and politicians, to contribute to any financial scheme that might be designed to address problems facing orphanages.
Highlighting the importance of education to national development, he said, “I have adopted five children of a basic school belonging to the Countryside Children’s Welfare Home 10 years ago.I am giving them higher education, and one of them has completed the University of Development Studies with a first class.”
Nana Dankawoso I further stated that, “as a foster parent of the orphanage, I have for the past 17 years been visiting the children two times every year to share gifts, give motivational messages, pay the care takers and distribute cloths to them.These are the things God expect us to do for orphans, widows and prisoners.”
Ms Emma Boafo, founder of the Countryside Children’s Welfare Home, who received the donation, thank Nana Dankanwaso I for his kind gesture, and appealed to other philanthropists to support the facility.
