Out of AfriKids

Blessed, pictured above and below, arrived at Mama Laadi’s in March 2010 after being found by the

authorities at an illegal orphanage. He arrived at the Foster Home, after staying in a hospital, ex-

tremely malnourished, unable to walk or talk and horribly weak.

AfriKids (UK) staff visited Ghana in March this year with a team from

Deutsche Bank, very soon after Blessed had been brought to Mama

Laadi’s. They were extremely saddened by what they saw but knew

that within weeks of being cared for by Laadi, Blessed would be a dif-

ferent child.

Below is an extract from the monthly update the AfriKids (UK) team

received from AfriKids Ghana, explaining the situation

We collaborated with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) to

rescue children from an unregistered orphanage. The children were

kept under very bad conditions with no health care and proper feeding

rendering some of them malnourished. These children were rescued by

the DSW and with our support sent back to their various homes. Two of

these children are currently staying at Mama Laadi’s Foster Home and

the Next Generation Home. One of them who has been named Blessed

is about one year and two months old. At the time of rescue he was

very sick and malnourished and had to stay in hospital for a number of

days. Mama Laadi has as usual worked some magic and Blessed is now

a strong and healthy boy.

Written by Lena Naaso, Head of External Affairs at AfriKids Ghana

May 2010

AfriKids is a Child Rights Organisation working to improve life for Ghana’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in a holistic, inclusive and sustainable manner

Blessed just a couple of weeks after being put

into Laadi’s care. Pictured below and above at

the Foster Home.

One child at a time...

Blessed with Grace, one of Mamma Laadi’s

girls who has become Blessed’s ‘buddy’. Each

younger child in the home has an older buddy

who cares for them alongside Mama Laadi.

For those of you that missed it, read Mairead from

Deutsche Bank’s blog from last month’s newsletter here.

All of our child beneficiaries are supported on a ‘one child at a time’ basis, as well as design-ing large care programmes to change lives for hundreds of children at a time. AfriKids has

worked with our partners to establish havens of love and safety where children on the brink can be taken and cared for until a loving home with relatives can be found. All the children in these pictures have been taken out of desperate situations by the police or social welfare and been taken in by Mama Laadi, Felix and JJ at the Next Generation Home, or Joe and Elijah at

the Sirigu-Angus Child rights centre over the past year.

Thank you to Jane Howard, continually supporting AfriKids!

Sirigu Concoction Men visit Yumba Special School, Tamale

Out of AfriKids inside stories

In a bid to completely win the concoction men and get them to fight for the rights of children, Operation Sirigu embarked on an excursion with them on the 17th of March 2010. They visited the Yumba Special School at Wamale, a suburb of Tamale. Yumba is a Dagbani word which means ‘Love Them’. For a special school with a population of 80 students and a staff strength of 10, you can imagine that without love and passion for the children the school would have closed down quickly; it is however in its seventh year of operation.

This visit accorded the concoction men the opportunity to see for themselves children born with deformities (and given the chance to live) in other parts of the country. The trip was a great achievement as lessons were learnt some of which are; the concoction men saw children with the same conditions of chil-dren they have killed before (and they were given a chance to live); What the concoction men saw served as a challenge to them and from their testimonies they are ready to give up the practice of infanticide; A bond of trust and com-mitment has been strengthened between the project and the concoction men. This extract above came from the AfriKids Ghana monthly update written by Lena Naaso.

A group congregate

together at Yumba

Special School, Tamale;

(left) and Opinions are

shared in Tamale (right)

You may have received the AfriKids Family Tree Letter that accom-

panied last year’s Annual Report; it gave the example of Jane How-

ard, a long term AfriKids supporter who had helped raise over

£60,000 for AfriKids. A year later, Jane continues in her efforts for

AfriKids and is signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with her col-

leagues at CVC Capital Partners in June. Her fundraising for the

event included a Pub Quiz in April which raised over £20,000 to be

split between AfriKids and Alzheimer’s Society. Everyone at AfriKids

would like to say a huge thanks to Jane, and wish all the Trekkers at

CVC Capital Partners the very best of luck with their trek.

Operation Sirigu, which won the 2007 International Service Award for Protection of children’s rights,

has pioneered a new and inclusive approach to tackling harmful traditional practices. It has been

working with local concoction men, who were responsible for killing spirit children since 2006 and

has formed an association of concoction men against infanticide.

A special mention for the Grossmann family

AfriKids has been supported by the Grossmann family

since Patrick, an orthodontist, and his wife, Paula,

first visited Ghana in 2007. Two years later Patrick

revisited Bolgatanga and put his skills to use visiting

AfriKids’ projects and advising the children, families

and communities we work with on dental care.

The next generation is now getting involved, with

their son, Ben, recently taking part in the epic Pa-

trouille des Glaciers in support of AfriKids and the

Army benevolent Fund (ABF) with two friends, Ned

Truman and Alex Baker.

On the 23rd April, in spite of the volcanic ash that

threatened to delay their departure, Ben, Ned and

Alex set off on the hardest Alpine ski race in the

world; the biennial Patrouille des Glaciers. The race

took place in Switzerland and went from Zermatt to

Verbier which is over 53 kilometres in distance with a

difference in altitude of over 2,000 metres. This was

no small challenge and all three had been preparing

for months in advance, including a previous trip to

Switzerland in order to train with the Swiss Army.

Sadly, having missed a checkpoint by just 40 minutes,

the team had to pull out of the race. However, this

hasn’t deterred them and Ben has said he’s very

tempted to give it a go in two years time.

The fundraising efforts by the trio have been a fantas-

tic boost for AfriKids and the ABF, raising over £4,000

for each charity. Thank you so much to Ben, Ned and

Alex, and all the very best for 2012.

AfriKids staff, family, friends and partners run the first ever

Brighton Marathon, raising over £9000 for AfriKids

On Sunday 18th April 2010, eight people ran the

Brighton Marathon for AfriKids, completing a 26.2

mile run.

Lissa Wallington, Kerry Ortuzar, Jeeger Kakkad, James

Viviyan, Olivier Kouao, Michael Gavin, Alex Wilson and

Matt Ponting collectively raised over £9,000 for Af-

riKids!

We are extremely grateful for their commitment and

drive in undertaking such a big challenge.

Brighton Marathon 2010 took place for the first time

ever this year and proved to be a successful day and

we hope to repeat this again next year. If you would

like to find out more about Brighton Marathon 2010

please contact Ama Atteen at amaatteen@afrikids.org

Once again, thank you to all of the runners, sponsors

and supporters.

Alex Wilson is cheered on by all

supporters and spectators (above)

and Jeeger Kakkad takes it all in his

stride (below)

Michael Gavin smiles in the sun

(above) and Matt Ponting rewards

himself with a chocolate milkshake

after receiving his medal (below)

Kerry Ortuzar keeps

the speed up , un-

able to stop for the

camera (left), whilst

Lissa Wallington,

Communications

and Events Manager

of AfriKids proudly

shows off her

medal! (far left)

James Viviyan en-

joys his well de-

served rest after the

finish line (right)

and Olivier Kouao

runs with determi-

nation and stamina

(far right)

Rally your friends and come along to AfriKids’ BIGGEST EVER pub quiz!

It’s at a new and exciting venue and we’re expecting it to sell out extremely quickly.

Our Host and Quiz Master for the evening will be the (in) famous BINZAY!

HELP!

If you are able to source or

donate any prizes for our raffle,

we would be truly grateful!

You are all invited to...