A GNA Feature by Edward Acquah
Accra, Oct. 29, GNA – A basic school set up by the New Life Nungua Children’s Home located at Nungua in the Greater Accra Region to educate children under their care has been shut down for the past seven months due to lack of funds.
The school was set up in 2010 to offer quality education to children and help eliminate the stigmatisation against them when they were enrolled in public schools.
A total of 92 children have been admitted by the Orphanage and since the establishment of the Home in 2000, it had relied solely on donor funds to operate, but since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, donations have dwindled significantly.
Nii Afotey Botwe II, Founder of the Orphanage Home, told the Ghana News Agency, that the situation had taken a toll on the academic performance of the children as some of them complained about being stigmatised in the schools in which they have been enrolled.
“We pay special attention to the children in our school such that we didn’t keep more than 10 children in a class. But things are difficult for us, so, we had to shut down and enrol the children in nearby schools.
“Their mates call them names and that affects their studies. That is why we set up the school so they could concentrate on their studies and avoid the stigma,” he said.
The Orphanage currently caters for 92 children. The Home solely relies on donor support to cater for the needs of the children as well as pay for utility bills.
Nii Botwe II, said the Home required at least GHS30,000 monthly to effectively operate.
He said the Home had suspended its quarterly programme where it supported Persons Living with Disability with food, clothing, and other essential needs due to the decline in resources.
“The food we have in stock now can only last for two months and we appeal to individuals and organisations to come to our aid because we are struggling to survive,” Nii Botwe II said.
He appealed to the Government to exempt licensed Orphanage Homes from payment of utilities to cushion them under the current economic circumstances.
An engagement with some other orphanages paints a disturbing picture of the challenges facing these homes under the current economic hardships as some of them have still not recovered from the challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Give To Eat Missionary Work, Ghana, located at Agona Nkum in the Central Region has established Ghana’s first Teenage Mothers Home, where it has integrated three classrooms to educate 71 children from Crechè, KG, and Preschool.
The NGO supports a total of 201 children located in the Central, Eastern, Volta, and Greater Accra Regions. The Organisation caters for their food, school, and medical costs, and assists them with monthly stipends.
The Management of the Organisation said the COVID-19 pandemic slashed its donor income by nearly 50 per cent, and the current recession, inflation, and energy crises worldwide had decreased its donations “drastically”.
Reverend Dr Kingsley Arthur, President, of Give To Eat Mission, Ghana, said the Organisation has been exploring innovative strategies to sustain its operations.
“We are now using alternative means to generate income for sustainable humanitarian work. We are involved in agriculture, planting for food which flows into feeding the numerous children in our Mother-Child Home, the residence of teenage mothers and their children,” he said.
Data from the Department of Social Welfare indicate that currently there are about 3,460 children in 124 Orphanage Homes, out of which 69 have been licensed.
These homes provide alternative care in non-family-based group settings, such as children’s homes and villages, orphanages, and shelters for an emergency, or temporary care.
Ghana has signed onto the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and has also passed the Children’s Act, 1998, all of which recognises the establishment of Care Homes for the development of the rights and well-being of the child particularly orphans who lacked family care and fosterage.
The Children’s Act states that under no circumstance should a person below the age of 15 be allowed to work or fend for himself or herself.
When children are neglected, they are likely to end up on the streets and are exposed to all manner of activities that hamper their growth, their welfare, and become a threat to national security.
A 2021 UNICEF report titled: “Children Living in Residential Care” found that only one-third of children in residential care had foundational reading skills, while a much lower proportion had developed foundational math skills.
Without the contributions of Orphanages, thousands of children without family care may have ended up on the streets, which has its consequences on the welfare of the child and national security.
Amid the pressing economic hardship, failure on the part of the State, organisations, and individuals to go to the aid of licensed orphanage homes to sustain their operations could hamper efforts to build an inclusive society that guarantees the welfare and protection of all children.
Efforts to get the Department of Social Welfare to contribute to the discussion proved futile.
GNA