THE Supervisor of the Tamale Children’s Home, Madam Augustina Quainoo, has said the increase in expenses made at the home was a big challenge to the management.
She said the 29 inmates of the Home, most of whom were babies, needed extra care including medical attention and feeding, and these expenses kept rising.
“Babies for instance need to take at least four cartons of lactogen in a month because their mothers were not available to breast feed them, while we are also grappling with the problem of school fees and other expenses for the children,” Madam Quainoo lamented this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Tamale. The supervisor acknowledged that although a significant number of public-spirited organisations and individuals had made donations to the home, the truth of the matter was that they were still inadequate.
She said all cash donations were paid into the home’s account at the Barclays Bank in Tamale and that if the authorities had not used the resources judiciously, the home would have collapsed.
“Our major challenges here include lack of funds, inadequate feeding grants, poor access roads, lack of transport, fence wall, rampant defecation around our premises, poor lighting system and lack of potable water supply,” she stressed.
She further emphasised the need for the staff strength of 19 to be augmented to include more childcare givers, labourers and night watchmen.
Madam Quainoo expressed regret that most of the used clothing that were donated to the home were not good enough to be worn by the inmates.
She, however, thanked all donors and volunteers for supporting the home.
“Sometimes things get so tough that I have to go about begging for lactogen for the babies and these items are so expensive to buy these days; please help us, ” she pleaded.
Established in 1969 by the government, the home serves as a foster home to the 29 inmates who are between the ages of three weeks and 17 years.
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