‘Include orphanages in school feeding’
The Founder of the Mums Love Rural Orphanage Foundation (MLROF) at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Brong Ahafo Region, Mr Imoro Adams, has made a passionate appeal to the government to consider enrolling the various orphanages in the country on the School Feeding Programme (SFP).
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He explained that the homes only depended on individual donations and little incomes of the founders, which was woefully inadequate, to provide the children with three square meals and take care of other responsibilities such as the payment of school fees, electricity bills, provision of shelter and clothes.
Mr Adams expressed worry that the homes did not receive frequent assistance from the public, which makes it difficult for them to take care of the inmates, saying “it is only God’s intervention that has helped me keep the home running.”
Mr Adams made the appeal when he spoke to the Daily Graphic after the Omanhemaa of Duayaw Nkwanta, Nana Serwaa Nyarko, and her two friends from the United Kingdom, Madam Theodora Peniston and
Madam Charmain Leopold, had presented assorted items worth over GH¢1,000 to the MLROF Home.
He disclosed that he had sold his three cars to take care of the home and some orphans were currently at the University of Education, Winneba, and nursing training colleges in Tamale and Kintampo.
Items
The items presented to the home included student beds, assorted clothes, sandals, playing toys, schoolbags, books, calculators, files, pens and pencils.
Apart from the donation, the visitors also organised a party for the children and interacted with them to find out some of their challenges.
Mr Adams, who is a farmer, said taking care of orphans was a voluntary work. He also explained that the home had 38 inmates and depended largely on his farm produce for its operations.
He said it was not easy to run an orphanage and explained that sometimes he had to run the home for more than three months without receiving help from the public.
Free SHS
Mr Adams commended the government for the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, emphasising that the policy had helped him to send a number of orphans to SHS.
He said over the past few years, enrolling inmates from the home at the SHS was not an easy task and that he was confident that the policy would continue to assist less privileged children.
Mr Adams also appealed to the government and non-governmental institutions to support people who had established orphanages to take good care of the children.
He pointed out that it was his vision to support orphans and abandoned children, rehabilitate street children, school drop-outs, drug addicts and people who had been released from prison to lead useful lives.
Appeal
For her part, Nana Nyarko called on the public to cultivate the habit of visiting children’s homes, prisons, hospitals and prayer camps to support the needy.
She called on other philanthropists, including traditional leaders, to assist various homes to address some of their challenges.
According to Nana Nyarko, the presentation was also to demonstrate to the orphans that they had not been rejected by society.