WHO commissions projects at Orphanage

Bawjiase (C/R), July 10, GNA - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday commissioned three projects valued at 170 million cedis at the Countryside Children Welfare and Orphanage at Bawjiase in the Central Region.

They are a poultry farm, a ventilated pit toilet and 12 bathhouses. The project, which was sponsored by WHO, aims at alleviating poverty by improving nutrition and enhancing self-sufficiency.

Dr Melville George, WHO Country Representative, said the projects were in fulfilment of a pledge the Organization made two years ago when members of WHO visited the Orphanage.

He said the Bawjiase Orphanage was chosen because of its peculiar needs.

"The WHO visited this Orphanage in the hope of searching for an institution that best fits its criteria for the selection." He said WHO's concerns were now to ensure that produce from the farm were used to improve the nutritional status of the children. Dr George said WHO would want to see some rapid improvement of the place where the orphans slept, adding that they should sleep under mosquito nets.

Mrs Emma Boafo Yeboah, Founder and Mother of the Orphanage, said the home spent close to one million cedis a day and appealed to philanthropists and other benevolent organizations to assist them. Nana Kwaku Osardu II, Bawjiasehene, cut the tape to formally commission the three projects.