Bolgatanga, Nov. 8, GNA - Afrikids, a grassroots Non-Governmental Organization assisting the area of the deprived, vulnerable, abandoned, orphaned and neglected children, has been able to save a number of children in some parts of the Kassena-Nankana West District in the Upper East Region perceived to be spirit children and sometimes abandoned to their fate.

Mr. Nicholas Kumah, the Country Director of Afrikids announced this at the award of the Staff of Afrikids held in Bolgatanga on Friday. The Country Director explained that many of the community members in the area conclude that as soon as a child was born with some deformities, that child was a spirit child and hence does not deserve to live. He explained that to combat the situation, Afrikids through one of its projects embarked on an extensive education for the stakeholders who were engaged in the act of killing children believed to be spirit children.

He indicated that they were also empowered economically with alternative means of livelihood and this had made them stop the practice.

Mr. Kumah also indicated that Afrikids were also able to rescue 120 children from the Talensi-Nabdam District in the Region, many of whom were engaged in small-scale mining activities and put them into formal education, with 30 of them undergoing vocational training, adding that all these service delivery went with micro-finance for the parents and guardians to support the children.

He stated that Afrikids through its operation "Fresh Start" had been able to bring about 150 children who migrated from the region to the southern parts of the country back to the region, some of which have been enrolled in formal education and others in Vocational Training. " Two had already sat and passed the National Training Institute (NVTI) Examination, one had gained admission to Teacher Training College and one is now IT Instructor in our ICT Centre", he said, adding Afrikids was currently also providing shelter for the orphans, deprived and abandoned children in the Region.

He explained that Afrikids was able to carry its activities through the support of its UK Donors and Staff, District Assemblies, Department of Social Welfare, Ghana Private Road Transport Union, Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), and Ghana Health Service in the Region among others.

Some of the Staff of Afrikids who were honoured for their hard work took home DVD Players, Laptop computers, MP3 Players, bicycles,and Cloths among others.

The Country Director commended the staff for their hardwork and dedication to duty, and urged them to continue to work harder to increase productivity.

He thanked the cooperate bodies including the Ghana Commercial Bank, Agriculture Development Bank, EX-tee Electricals, Andrews Adjei Enterprise, Salifu Enterprise and Quality Insurance Company for their donations towards the award.