ACCRA, 05 Dec 2002--Marking International Volunteer Day (IVD) on Tuesday, 5 December 2002, the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) and partners in Ghana organised a day devoted to community work at Osu Children's Home in the capital Accra. Other participating volunteers included members of the UN Volunteer Association of Ghana (UNVA), Canadian University Service Organisation (CUSO), the National Service Scheme, Voluntary Work Camp, CIF and other local volunteers.

The volunteers painted the Home, cleared the surroundings, cleaned the children's hostel and their playground and paved the landscape with painted stones.

Shortly after the work was completed around mid-day, the Honorable Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Gladys Asmah, arrived at the Home and thanked UNV for organizing the event. In her speech, she also praised the volunteers for a job well done and called on all Ghanaians to volunteer their time and resources for national development.

Responding, UNV Programme Officer Joseph Oji of Nigeria thanked the Honorable Minister for taking time off her busy schedule and encouraging volunteerism in the country.

For CUSO Country Director Kwame Oduro, the exercise was proof that people can come together irrespective of their profession, rank, nationality, age, sex and creed to work and make life worth living for the less privileged.

In addition to these activities, UN Volunteers used the occasion to highlight new international development targets under the theme, "Volunteers for Millennium Development Goals". Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama's keynote address was read by Cecilia Bannerman, Honorable Minister for Manpower Development and Employment. In his speech entitled "Volunteerism, a proven adjunct to national socio-economic development efforts", the Vice President lauded UN Volunteers and volunteers in Ghana for making sacrifices to improve on the plight of their fellow men and women. He listed numerous contributions of volunteers to national development.

Other speakers included Mrs. Agnes Guimba-Ouedraogo, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative and representatives of the volunteer Organisations.

After the speeches, an exhibition of volunteer Organisations was declared opened. Participants freely visited stands set up by UNV, the Peace Corps, VSO, CUSO, National Service Scheme and Action Aid.

Participants at the IVD events included country directors of the major volunteer sending Organisations in the country -- the US Peace Corps, British Volunteer Service Oversees (VSO), Canadian CUSO, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Ghanaian National Service Scheme. Others included Honorable Ministers, Representatives from UN Agencies, NGOs, both local and international, community-based Organisations, the media, the private sector, students, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) staff and private citizens.

According to the IVD event chairman, Local Government and Rural Development Minister Baah Wiredu, it was an "IVD with a difference".

Stephen Appiah, skipper of the senior national team, Black Stars on Thursday presented items worth nine million cedis to the Osu Children's Home in Accra.

The donation formed part of the player's social contribution to the needy.

Presenting the items, Appiah expressed his gratitude for the opportunity given him by the Home to make his widows might towards the upkeep of the less fortunate in society.

Among the items presented were bags of rice and sugar, cooking oil, soft drinks, sachet water, cowbell milk, oats and two million cedis cash.

Skipper Appiah said the donation would not be the last but the beginning of a long lasting relationship with the Home that would blossom into something bigger in the near future.

The Stars skipper was optimistic that even though the items would not solve all the problems of the Home but it would go in a long way to alleviate some of their immediate needs.

Mrs Helena Obeng Asamoah, Manageress of the Home received the items and thanked the skipper for remembering the less fortunate in the society. She said it is important for all to pull their resources together to help in the upkeep of the less fortunate who are expected to grow up to be the future leaders of the country.

Mrs Asamoah was hopeful that the gesture would not be a one off thing but rather the beginning of long lasting relationship between them for the benefit of the children.

Accra, Aug. 27, GNA- A website was on Friday launched to provide the Osu Children's Home in Accra with an online community which would serve as a convener and a catalyst for donor funding as well as form closer partnerships between the Home and the society

The website, to be accessed at WWW.osuchildrenshome.org, would also afford stakeholders the opportunity to learn about the activities and needs of the Home.

Mrs Mary Amadu, Director of Social Welfare, thanked the GROBOPLUS Limited, for designing the website, which is valued at 10 million cedis, free of charge.

"This will help all who want to have information about the Home to access it and where possible assist," she said.

She said it was envisaged that the new ICT status of the Home would bring about effective management and planning of the institution. Mrs Amadu appealed to donors to assist the Home, expand its facilities to accommodate the increasing intake.

She said since 2000, the Home had admitted about 250 children annually, which is three times higher than the number admitted before this period.

The Home, therefore, needed to expand dormitories and other facilities that were currently very congested to be able to accommodate more children and ensure good health for the inmates.

Mrs Amadu cautioned private orphanages that were not operating under the Department of Social Welfare to register and ensure that they obeyed regulations governing the establishment of orphanages.

She said the proliferation of orphanages was very alarming and should be checked by law, "since some of the operators are said to be using the children to solicit for donor support, and thus refuse to allow adoption."

She further stated that the adoption of such children without the knowledge and involvement of the Department of Social Welfare was an offence and could create a problem for the child, should the adopted parents die without a Will.

Mrs Amadu called for a nationwide education on good parenting to halt the increasing spate of teenage pregnancies, irresponsible parenting, abortion and streetism, since those were the remote causes of the current increase in the number of orphans nationwide.

She stressed the need for effective collaboration and networking among all stakeholders to uplift the socio-economic, spiritual and moral status of orphans in the country. Mr Enoch Currie Tetteh, Managing Director, GROBOPLUS Ltd, said the company would further ensure the provision of a computer laboratory with Internet access, online games, tutorials and many other educational programmes for the Home.

"We will also ensure ICT training for the children at the home to help them compete favorably with the global world," he said. He appealed to potential donors to use the medium to pledge their support for the training and upbringing of children in the home.

She said due to the lack of enough accommodation, the adolescents and the children were still sleeping together with the children in the same room.

Mrs Obeng-Asamoah told the Graphic in an interview that the home, which was meant to accommodate 65 children, was currently housing 124 inmates which was detrimental to their health and development.

She said the inmates were between the ages of two months and 17years, with majority of them aged between three to 10years old. She said there was, therefore, the need for the teenagers to be separated from the children since adolescence was critical stage in one's development.

She noted that this was the period where the teenagers needed a lot of space and time to think about their future without any disturbances from the children.

Mrs Obeng-Asamoah said the teenagers did not have any privacy in the midst of the children, and therefore, appealed to benevolent individuals and institutions to support the home to build a new hostel to house the teenagers.

Earlier, His Majesty Academy, a remedial school based in Dansoman, donated food items and money to the home.

The items included provisions, used clothing and toiletries and a cheque for 2 million cedis.

Presenting the items, the proprietor of the academy, Mr Evans Opoku Gyimah, said the donation was part of the academy's social responsibility to support the needy and destitute in the society.

Mr Gyimah said the needs of the home could not be the burden of the government alone, and stressed the need for individuals and Organisations to assist in development of the inmates.

Mrs Obeng-Asamoah expressed her gratitude to the academy for the gesture and promised to use the items to cater for the inmates.