The Problem Of The Poor Management Of Orphanages In Ghana
Ghana’s population is currently about 29. 6 million. The country’s economy has seen significant growth in the past year. Oil and gas output increased by 80. 4 percent in 2017, contributing to an increase in the industry sector; agriculture surged 8. 6 percent and services 4. 5 percent. Baffo (2017) outlined some of the challenges of Ghana’s health sector: deficient medical officers, high patient-doctor ratio, and deficient health centres. According to his research, there are about 79 district hospitals with no doctors, and 82 districts without a hospital in the country. Urbanization is growing at an annual rate of 3. 55 percent: 31. 3 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 1984, 43. 8 percent in 2000. Millions have fled poverty in the countryside seeking for jobs in urban areas, and as a result, sanitation problems in overcrowded poor areas have escalated, especially in the main cities of the country: Accra-Tema, Kumasi, Tamale and Sekondi-Takoradi.
My family has a tradition of helping the fatherless and orphans in any possible way. I grew up noticing the kind-heart of my father towards orphans, as he showed genuine care for them. Whenever he travelled abroad for business or a vacation, he would come home with loads of goodies (sweets, biscuits and toys), some of which he gave to my siblings and me. The rest of them were reserved for the yearly party he organised at the Osu Children’s Home. The party was held every Christmas day (25th December). The children and orphanage staff were engaged in recreational games like football, basketball, table tennis, sack racing, jump-rope, and dancing competitions. Oh, the joy that filled their hearts! Children below the age of 12 were entertained through activities like face-painting, musical chairs, and a clown act. I would never forget the smiles on the children’s faces as they ate, drank, played and danced. It has been ten years since my dad passed away, and the family tradition still holds. My mum and I are actively involved in supporting the Osu Children’s Home through monthly donations. We have dedicated our Tuesdays to spending time with children at the orphanage. Moreover, we hold counselling sessions for caregivers to equip and motivate them. There are currently about 119 orphanages in Ghana, and 85 percent of them are poorly manage.
The Osu Children’s Home is the most prominent orphanage in the country, and yet management has failed to tackle certain issues that have surged. For instance, news about the poor treatment of children was released in 2010 through the work of investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw. He was able to capture a video recording crime against humanity: violent physical abuse, emotional torture, corporal punishment and reckless neglect that led to the death of three orphans within three months. Caregivers sharing among themselves, food stuffs and other items that had been donated to orphans, was also captured on tape. Gyimah (2013), a former head of research and development for a leading international voluntary organisation, also came up with a distressing report after visiting most of the orphanages in the country. He learned that some orphanage operators had adopted a business model where the centres get more money from international donors, if they have more children. According to him, orphanage recruiters approach poor, often rural families, promising a better education, better food and clothing, and a brighter future for children who leave their families to live in institutions. He claims that the orphans at the accredited orphanages are more often abandoned children (including the disabled) than children whose parents have both died. More on his report, dozens of orphanages in Ghana, including some run by religious bodies, have been accused of using children to attract donations.
Alarmed by these news reports and statistics, I, together with two friends from Ashesi University, have decided to undertake a project to address the poor management of orphanages in Ghana. Countryside orphanage is a social welfare institution situated in Bawjiase, Cape Coast. My team and I thought it was a great place to start our project because we believe our impact will be felt there. The protection of children’s rights has been the only intervention in Bawjiase, as the social welfare department of Ghana sought to reinforce the laws under The Children’s Act. The first part of the Act outlines the basic rights of the child, including: the right to grow up with parents (unless it is not in the best interests of the child), the duties and responsibilities of parents towards a child, the right to parental property, the right to education and well-being, and the right to social activity.
Furthermore, the Act requires that every parent has rights and responsibilities towards his child, which includes the duty to protect the child from neglect, discrimination, violence, abuse and exposure to physical and moral hazards. The limited implementation of The Children’s Act led to rising accounts of sexual abuse, violent physical abuse, and child labour in the community. However, the social welfare department of Ghana organised Child Panels in 2006, which proved to be effective. A Child Panel is the only legal structure at the community level charged with the socio-legal protection of children. As a less intimidating seminar for children, it has attested to be child-friendly. It exposes children to non-violent ways of resolving conflicts. Moreover, it is capable of assuring justice is allotted to the child without recourse to the main justice system, which tends to be expensive and time consuming.
The Panels drew the attention of children and adults in the community, and they attended in their numbers. Some of the children who were reported to have run from their homes were reunited with their parents. Despite the government’s intervention, very little has been done to support Countryside orphanage. My team and I will focus more on improving the lives of the orphans by counselling, coaching and equipping them with life skills. We will also engage them in recreational games like basketball, football, jump-rope and athletics. Moreover, we plan to teach various age groups core subjects like math and English, and to engage them in educative board games like scrabble and monopoly. Furthermore, we would take up different jobs at the orphanage to better understand the working standards there, as well as to empathise with the staff. Through my experience of counselling, equipping and motivating caregivers, I would hold counselling sessions for the staff at the orphanage. Per my family’s tradition, we would organise a party for the orphans and staff. There will be food, drinks, games and competitions to keep them entertained.
On top of that, we intend to make donations to the orphanage and award prizes to the staff. Additionally, reaching out to the heads of families in the community is a part of our plan. We will educate them on family planning, leadership skills, ethics and the Children’s Act. Moreover, we plan to visit the social welfare committee of Cape Coast to announce the problems surrounding the orphanage, and to stimulate them towards developing the institution. Since the orphanage is distant from our individual homes, monitoring the success of our work might be quite challenging. However, we plan to assess our impact by making regular phone calls to the heads of the orphanage (including staff) and the social welfare committee. We will call to find out whether there have been improvements in the literacy of the children, or to find out if a child has been reunited with his or her parents. Apart from the phone calls, we intend to visit the orphanage as often as we can. The resources we will need to make our project a success include: items related to our recreational games, donations (in the form of clothes, shoes, home appliances and food items), cash of about GHS 3000, math and English text books (for different age groups), as well as exercise books, journals, story books and stationery.
Future of Africa is our community partner. The organisation’s mandate is to equip children in street situations to become leaders. It focuses on these areas: the wellbeing, education and purpose of a child. The purpose of the company is to equip young leaders so that they adopt a lifestyle of empathy, self-sacrifice and service. I realised this purpose had been fulfilled in my dialogue partner who happened to be a part of Future of Africa. Francis Senaya joined the organisation first semester of his sophomore year. I was not surprised to learn that he is working with the company for his service learning project. The Future of Africa team meet every Saturday at the Opeibea square in Accra. Occupied with counselling, coaching and educating street children, they spend over eight hours working on the streets of Accra. Likewise, my project is cantered on counselling, coaching and educating the children at the orphanage. Moreover, our goal is to positively impact their wellbeing, education and purpose. We aim at helping them understand their created value, so they develop a clearer view of their purpose. Furthermore, we aim at awakening in them, a hope that would never fade. Francis spoke around these aims and explained how the Future of Africa team had been able to reunite some of the street children with their parents. He also described ‘legion’ – one of the areas where his team had worked. Legion is a slum around Opeibea; the team found street children who were involved in social vices like stealing, smoking and prostitution. Francis told me about the awesome work done by his team, and the impact thereafter.
I was deeply touched by the life of the founder of Future of Africa Torwomenye Kwasi Mawuli Azaglo, as Francis spoke about how he laid down his secular job to concentrate on work at the organisation. Future of Africa has built a school in the Volta Region of Ghana and is currently constructing a community centre for children in Accra. Throughout my conversation with Francis, I felt the genuine care he had for street children. He understood how they felt and reasoned, and he genuinely wanted to help them. I strongly believe my team and I need to have such a heart for the orphans if we are truly going to impact their lives.
