Tanyigbe-Etoe, March 22, GNA – A programme to strengthen the economic capacity of community based care-givers of orphans in the Tanyigbe area of the Ho Municipal Assembly was launched on Tuesday at Tanyigbe-Etoe.
Under the community based tutelage concept, orphans are identified and put under trained and supervised care givers, who fend for them with funds marshalled from well wishers through the Dr Asase Memorial Children’s Home, a Ho based charitable organisation.
Mrs Irene Asase-Dagadzi, its current Director to perpetuate the memory of the late brother Dr Seth Theophilous Asase, founded the Home in 1996.
Mrs Asase-Dagadzi said the programme would introduce the care-givers to simple but viable home-made preparations such as pomades, beads and edibles for sale to augment their incomes.
She said enhancing the economic status of care givers was a viable approach to efforts at bringing up the orphans to become well educated, morally upright and responsible citizens.
Mrs Asase-Dagadzi said it was better to cater for orphans in their own environment under the care of relatives rather than bringing them up in orphanages.
She said extreme disparities between the rich, some of whom live in extreme luxury while others live in extremely difficult conditions due to poverty was not good for the country and appealed to the rich to extend helping hands to the needy.
Mrs Asase-Dagadzi told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that so far 110 orphans had been put under supervised care of the Eastern Wing Care Givers Association, made up communities in the Tanyigbe area.
Mr Larry Bisaba, Volta Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare expressed regret that societal values that in the past made families closely knit and made “everybody’s child the other person’s child,” had been replaced by an individualistic outlook on life.
He asked that care be taken not to put the tag of orphans on the children so that they did not grow up with pent-up feelings of disillusionment.
Mr Raymond Atutornu, an Agriculturist suggested that people in that predominantly farming community, liaise with Agricultural Extension Officers to increase their output.
Meanwhile Madam Comfort Asigbe, one of the Care-Givers died from snake bite on Monday on the farm while being rushed to the Ho Municipal Hospital.
Source: GhanaWeb
