Bolgatanga, Dec. 15, GNA - The Mother and Baby Home of the Anglican Church in Bolgatanga has discharged 743 orphans since its establishment in 1986. The Home currently has 19 orphans in residence, and these were being catered for by the Church with the help of local and foreign philanthropists. The Project Manager of the Orphanage, Mrs. Rebecca Ayanore, disclosed these at the centre's Day celebration at Pobaga, a suburb of Bolagatanga, under the theme, "The Orphan Child and the Community." Mrs. Ayanore said the essence of the celebration was to sensitise communities on the importance of catering for orphaned children who are sometimes branded as witches by members of their immediate family, simply because they lost their biological parents at birth.

She said other aims included advocacy on the rights of orphans and awareness creation on issues pertaining to the welfare of orphans in the communities.

Mrs Ayanore said without the intervention of the Church the orphans might not have survived, and appealed to NGOs, philanthropists and benevolent groups to come to the aid of the less fortunate children. She said the house in which they resided had only five rooms, which she said was inadequate, especially if more inmates were to be accepted into the orphanage.

She appealed to NGOs and philanthropists to assist the Church in providing more accommodation facilities for the Home.

The Reverend Father Dennis Tong of the Bolgatanga Anglican Church urged people in the local communities to desist from blaming babies for the death of their parents.

"God creates human beings and also has the power to take back the life He gives," he emphasised.

Reverend Father Tong advised the youth against the HIV/AIDS disease, and appealed to the District Assemblies in the region to join hands with religious groups to launch a crusade against the pandemic. In a speech read on his behalf, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Rockson Bukari, referred to the Home as a centre for human development, and expressed the Assembly's preparedness to assist it with logistic support.