Catholic Church Houses Street Kids In Bolga

Bolgatanga (Upper East), 6 Nov. Twelve children have been taken off the streets of Bolgatanga and given a home by the Sacred Heart Prayer Group of the Catholic Church. The children, aged between six and 16, have all been put in schools, and basic daily necessities are provided them to make them feel at home. Speaking in an interview with the GNA, Mr. Rex Asanga, co- ordinator of the group, explained that the plight of the street children who were begging for a living, moved them to set up a programme to cater for all their needs including formal education. He said the children, a girl and 11 boys, are mainly orphans neglected by their distant relatives. Mr. Asanga said the group is soliciting for funds from non- governmental organisations and philanthropists to support the programme. One of the inmates, nine-year-old Vida Nyaaba from Yelimongo, a nearby village in Burkina Faso, said her mother remarried and went to stay in Kumasi after her father's death, leaving her in the care of distant relatives, who could not feed her. She said she left home to Bongo to assist a ''chop-bar'' keeper by washing bowls, but later moved to Bolgatanga, where she begged for alms. Another nine-year-old, Aduko Ayarka, said he took to begging when his father died, leaving him, a brother and a sister in the care of their blind mother who could not rpt not feed them.