Offinso (Ashanti), 12 Feb '99 -

Mr Brinton Clark, a US Peace Corps volunteer and his family, have donated 2,700 dollars towards the establishment of an income-generating project for the Offin Children's Centre at Offinso in the Ashanti Region. The centre is an orphanage established in 1996 to cater for orphans and needy children in the district. It began with 10 inmates and now has 21, made up of 11 boys and 10 girls, the oldest being 15 years and the youngest eight months. Mrs Mary Osei Tutu, project director of the centre, was speaking when Madam Angelina Duah, a Kumasi-based trader, presented 15 pairs of shoes worth about 300,000 cedis to the girls at the centre. Mrs Osei Tutu said other organisations, which have assisted the Centre included the Church of God in Christ (Mennonites) in Ghana, which has provided 9.5 million cedis towards the construction of a house for the inmates. She said SEW of Donnauworth, Germany, has also assisted with 2,000 deutsche marks for the construction of a five-bedroom house. In addition, it gives the centre 100 dollars worth of food items every month. The project director called for more assistance from philanthropists and organisations for the upkeep of the inmates, most of whom are attending school.